There is no beautifier of complexion or form or behavior like the wish to scatter joy, and not pain, around us.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

LEADERSHIP

WHAT THIS MEANS

Wanting other people to be glad changes how you carry yourself in a way no deliberate presentation can imitate. It shows in the face and in small choices: what you say about absent people, whether you make the room easier or harder. People find this attractive without being able to name what they are responding to.

Rather than working on how you come across, try changing what you want in the room. Go into your next few interactions with the aim of leaving each person slightly better than you found them. It is a smaller adjustment than it sounds and it does more than any amount of polish.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

What would change if you set out to leave people lighter?

MORE IN INTEGRITY & CHARACTER

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.