Embracing Radical Generosity

In one of the last face to face meetings I had just before the pandemic massively changed our lives, someone said to me “the only way forward is through radical generosity”.

We were talking about the arts sector and how it could withstand the year on year eroding of funding and support.  But the phrase struck me as something that might be useful in all aspects of my life. 

Radical Generosity is the practice of sharing information, skills and stuff with an openness that is entirely at odds with the capitalist narrative we have been brought up with in the western world. It is about kindness and caring for the community, rather than focusing on yourself as an individual.

When the first lockdown came just days after I first heard the term, it seemed more important than ever and, despite the silly hoarding of toilet roll, I could see most people starting to embrace it even if they didn’t know what it was called.

It’s easy to now find articles, blogs and podcasts bemoaning the fact that the camaraderie and community-minded approach of lockdown has waned since restrictions have been lifted and the emergency has (in some ways) subsided.  But I’d argue against those voices.  I can still see a big shift has occurred, the reason it’s less visible now is that we’ve all got a lot busier again with much of our old normal coming back in, but the fruits of the communal extended reflection time that was forced upon us remain.

One way I’m seeing this infiltration of greater radical generosity is in the arts.  Policies are shifting towards more community focused, empowering and participatory forms of art.  This is something that I’ve been championing for my whole career and, to be honest, it feels quite surprising that it’s finally being reflected in the strategies of the funding bodies and in the work of arts organisations across the UK.  (See ACE’s Let’s Create strategy as an example).

As with most things in my life, I will always endeavour to practice what I preach, so I have been business planning with radical generosity in mind.  It’s taken quite a bit of work to shift my mindset so that this doesn’t feel at odds with running a thriving, successful business.  In fact, I’ve found the more generous I am with my time, expertise and resources, the more successful my business becomes.

One way of doing this is through giving some of my time and ideas away for free.  As well as this being a darn nice thing to do, especially during the cost of living crisis, it also makes good business sense.  My weekly planner is a free download which can help focus your priorities for the week ahead and acknowledge the achievements of the previous few days.  

When you click to download the planner, you join my mailing list, so things like this blog are more likely to reach you through my Monthly Musing newsletter.  Maybe that will lead, some day, to you working with me.  Or maybe you’ll recommend me to someone else.  Or maybe you’ll just enjoy reading the occasional blog or click on one of the inspirational or funny links in the e-news.  All of those outcomes are a win to me.

The important thing to bear in mind is to perform acts of radical generosity without expecting payback each time.  It needs to be a gift without needing something in return.  Yes, I will build my email list from giving my planner for free, but no, I don’t expect those people to then pay for my services automatically.  However, when you do give generously, people are far more willing to support you.  It’s also, after years of being a bit of a hustler, quite a relief not to be pushing to monetise everything.

Alongside the planner I am offering a free Creative Planning session on zoom each Friday afternoon.  In the past, setting up events like this has felt quite arduous.  The pressure to get people to turn up and the anxiety of potential embarrassment if it doesn’t quite achieve the numbers I’ve decided in my head would signify success.  However, with these Friday planning sessions, that pressure has gone.  I spend a bit of time every Friday doing this planning anyway, so to do it in company is just lovely, whether that’s with a big zoom-full of people or just one or two.  It’s a total win win as it ensures I do my planning, and I’m able to give my energy and enthusiasm to others to help them sort out their thoughts on the week ahead and reflections of the week past.

There’s also the proven link between being kind to others which actually rewires your brain to make you happier.  I’ve written about this before but I feel it’s worth repeating as we should be reminding ourselves of it daily.  Weaving acts of kindness into all aspects of my business not only feels excellent and gives me a greater sense of purpose, it’ll also help my business thrive.  In a fabulous book I’m currently reading (The Science of Storytelling: why stories make us human and how to tell them better, by Will Storr), he talks of various studies which prove that people who have a passion and purpose in life, are more likely to be healthier and live longer.  Radical generosity surely plays a huge part in that purpose driven way of living. 

How can you practise radical generosity this week? 

Do you have any spare time which you can give in helping someone else with something?

I’ve recently set up my phone to give me a weekly report on my usage.  Whilst some of the time using it is important for both my social connections and my business, definitely not all of the (gulp) average FOUR hours a day from last week’s report is time well spent.  Even if I halved that, what could I do instead?  SO much time for radical generosity for sure...