Added Value

Gerhard Gschwandtner

During my first years in the United States, back in the 1970s, I was surprised by how easy it was to engage in small talk with strangers. Every time I traveled on a plane, I had fascinating conversations. Today, people on a trip rarely talk to the person sitting next to them. People put on their headphones, watch a movie or work on their laptops. Recent research by online language school Preply suggests that 71% of Americans prefer silence to engaging in small talk. In short, we’re becoming disconnected.

Today, 54% of Americans say no one knows them well. This social isolation leads to loneliness, which experts say is detrimental to mental and physical health. According to the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Connections, loneliness increases the risk of developing dementia by 50%; it increases the risk of early death by 25%; and it increases the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease by 30%. Meanwhile, the demographic that’s been hit hardest by our disconnection is the younger generation. Suicide rates among adolescents and young adults in the U.S. are up by a third.

Not surprisingly, we are also seeing a significant decline in social engagement across the country. In his 2000 book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, political scientist Robert Putnam wrote about how people who live in communities that are well-connected perform better. As we shift our social engagement to virtual channels, joining billions of people online while we gradually disconnect from our local communities, Putnam observes: “Social media does not improve social skills.”

Consider some of the ways our local community involvement has been affected in recent years:

Fewer people vote, fewer people go to church and fewer people participate in community activities.

Fewer people contribute to charity: Americans’ donations dropped by 10.5% in 2022 from the previous year’s $516 billion-plus.

Parent Teacher Association membership has declined by 50%.

Pew Research reports that union membership is down by 60%. Membership in men’s clubs and women’s organizations has dropped 30%.

Red Cross volunteering is down 50%.

While all this has been happening, the United States’ ranking in world happiness has also been in decline. In 2010, the World Happiness Report listed America 11th globally; by 2023, the U.S. had dropped to 15th place. Clearly, personal and community needs are not being met in the ways they once were—which presents both a challenge and an opportunity to those willing to take them on.

Making a difference

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” But you don’t have to be a billionaire or a movie star to help strengthen American society. Bill McDermott, the author of Winner’s Dream and CEO of ServiceNow, states in the company’s Global Impact Report, “Our entire company is united in our purpose to make the world work better for everyone.” His company supports over 5,000 charitable organizations. Its employees contribute 36,000 volunteer hours annually; last year, ServiceNow employees packed over 1 million meals for Rise Against Hunger.

 One of the deals I am most proud of as CEO of Selling Power happened a few years back when one of our employees told me she had heard on the local radio about children going to school in the winter wearing sandals. The station urged the local community to contribute to United Way to help children get shoes for Christmas.

One of our advertisers sold logo athletic shoes, so I called their marketing leader and offered them an $8,000 marketing package to promote their company and generate leads for their sales team in exchange for sneakers for children. I had hoped to get 150 pairs of shoes. When the owner of the company learned that we’d give these shoes to United Way so underprivileged children could get shoes for Christmas, we were told they’d give us 300 pairs of sneakers.

When the boxes arrived, we filled two pickup trucks and drove them to the local United Way facility and stacked them in the middle of their warehouse. Then I watched as kids approached the stack of boxes and tried them on. Their faces lit up and their parents beamed.

What sort of similar contribution might you be able to make to your local community? As I said, you don’t need to be a millionaire to contribute what you can. But trust me: If you do, you’ll feel like a million dollars.

Modeling the way

Change starts at the top. Here are seven ways as a leader you can show the way and add value to your business and community:

Show Humility

While leaders are entrusted with decision-making and guiding their teams, there are limits to their authority. They must operate within the legal framework and adhere to ethical standards. Leaders in publicly traded companies are accountable to shareholders. Many businesses operate in highly regulated environments and must comply with industry-specific regulations. While leaders have the authority to make operational decisions, major strategic decisions often require board approval. Leaders who abuse their authority or engage in discriminatory practices can be held accountable in court.

The key idea is that there is an invisible fence around authority, but there are no boundaries to humility. Humble leaders prioritize collaboration, empathy and open-mindedness over dominance and control. By acknowledging their limitations and valuing the contributions of their team members, these leaders build trust and loyalty—leading to improved team performance and increased overall success. Management guru Ken Blanchard said it best: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.”

Humble leaders actively listen to their team members, valuing their opinions and ideas.

Listen Well

David Abney, former CEO of UPS, is known for his capacity to listen. He actively listened to the ideas, insights and inputs of his employees as a key part of his leadership strategy. Leaders who are willing to listen are approachable and create a safe space for open communication. These leaders display vulnerability—admitting their mistakes and seeking solutions collectively. As former Meta CEO Sheryl Sandberg put it, “I firmly believe that you lead best when you walk side-by-side with your colleagues—when you don’t just talk but you also listen.”

Emphasize Empathy

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, has been widely praised for his transformative leadership style. He advocates for empathy as a core leadership asset. He believes in understanding the unique experiences and perspectives of individuals within the organization. When the emphasis is on empathy, it encourages a culture of inclusivity where every employee feels heard and valued.

Empower Others

I remember interviewing Herb Kelleher, the co-founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines. He said, “If you create an environment where people truly participate, you don’t need control. They know what needs to be done and do it. And the more that people will devote themselves to your cause on a voluntary basis, a willing basis, the fewer hierarchies and control mechanisms you need.” He believed that employees on the front lines should have the authority to make decisions that directly impact customers.

Give Generously

In a roundtable discussion I was part of at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, some years ago, Maya Angelou started the conversation by stating, “Poverty begins with poverty of spirit.” Oprah Winfrey chimed in saying, “In order to move forward and make progress, one needs to give back.” The next person at our table of eight said, “This reminds me of what Mother Teresa said: ‘The happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.’”

These words echo what Wharton professor Adam Grant said during an interview with Selling Power: People can be divided into three categories: givers, takers and matchers. Givers are people who prefer to help others without expecting anything in return, while takers are people who try to get as much as possible from others without giving back. Matchers are people who try to maintain an even balance of give and take.

Grant’s research showed that there is a high demand for leaders who are primarily givers. The former CEO of Avis and bestselling author Robert Townsend said, “True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.”

Assess Yourself

It’s important to take a serious self-assessment:

Do you share the spotlight?

Do you give people credit for their contributions?

Do you ask for feedback?

Do you acknowledge your mistakes and take responsibility for them?

Do you support the development of future leaders and serve as a mentor

Do you give back to your community and help those in need?

Do you show gratitude to your team members and express appreciation?

Without asking, how do you know how people see you?

Remind Yourself

Never forget that your company’s value or market cap is a metric for investors, but the people who work for you will look beyond the financial performance of the company. They will appraise the culture you’ve built. They will measure the opportunities you’ve shared and the engagement and empowerment you’ve offered. They will look at how you’ve treated each individual and how you’ve contributed to your community.

Meaning over money

When leaders create value for their companies, their people and society, they will also contribute to what we all want more of: happiness.

I remember interviewing a financial advisor who cautioned me about the philosophy of “more” when it comes to money. “When people make a million dollars, they want to get to five,” he said. “The next goal is $10 million. Once they reach that, they go for $50 million and then $100 million. Having more money doesn’t translate into genuine happiness or life satisfaction. The philosophy of ‘more’ is like that of a cancer cell that consumes the body it grows on.”

I asked, “Are you suggesting going in the opposite direction and adopting a philosophy of ‘less’?”

He answered, “There is a different way to think about it. Ask yourself, ‘What is enough?’ You can build a fortune with the philosophy of ‘more,’ but you can build a good and happy life based on the philosophy of ‘enough.’”

Malcolm Forbes Sr. once said the business of life is not business; the business of life is living. People who chase wealth often neglect themselves and they are clueless about what a good life is all about. Having lots of money doesn’t protect you from unexpected dangers.

Take Jimi Heselden, the millionaire owner of the Segway company. He died at age 62 after falling from a cliff while riding one of his company’s scooters. Consider the German billionaire Dieter Bock, who choked to death at age 71 while eating a steak in his hotel suite. Or take Thomas H. Lee, a Harvard graduate who helped create the leveraged buyout industry. At age 78 he was worth over $2 billion; his assistant found him in his office bathroom with a single gunshot wound to his head and his revolver next to him.

These tragic examples may help you shift from an obsession with making more and more money to the quest of finding more meaning. Ask yourself two critical questions:

What makes me happy?

What can I do to add more meaning to my life and the lives of others?

Here is my advice: Don’t chase after money obsessively; it will evade you. Money will grow your ego; it will grow your attachment to money and shrink your appreciation of the value of a rich inner life. Eckhart Tolle once said, “Your ego is like a prison you live in all your life, until awareness helps you to escape.” Eastern philosophers emphasize the importance of tuning in to your inner wisdom, intuition and authentic voice rather than being overly swayed by external voices.

Happiness cannot be pursued as an end in itself. It emerges as a byproduct when you dedicate your life to a meaningful cause or you surrender to something beyond yourself. Listen to your conscience and act accordingly, with commitment and character. If you choose meaning over money, success and happiness will find you in the long run precisely because you weren’t fixated on it.