John Stanko

"If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?" - 1 John 3:17.

God blesses individuals and companies with resources but He expects those financial blessings to be utilized, in part, to meet the needs of individuals and communities. It is up to leadership to help foster empathy and generosity within the ranks of their families or organizations through community involvement, grants, focused giving, and volunteer initiatives. Leadership must also help focus those efforts to build relationships within their communities so they can oversee the successful deployment of their generosity. Thus, any benevolent or community development work must not only be money but should be the involvement and investment of people's time and effort, including that of the leaders.

LEADERSHIP STEP: Your Step today is to look at your organization's community involvement beyond just doing business. You should work to be a good neighbor by looking for, and then investing in, community needs. Ideally these efforts should be tied to the mission of your organization if possible, but your staff can also direct and connect your investments of time and money to the causes that are most important to them—and they will appreciate you for it.