This week's Blog is devoted to a very simple subject - do the right thing.  The basic lesson is if a person does the right thing, more people will want to work and collaborate with that person, more ideas will surface, and innovation will continue to be easy.

The opposite is also true.  If a person is selfish, focused primarily on his or her own personal gain, and does not value the input and ideas of other, people will start to walk away.  In this scenario a person finds him or herself 'lonely at the top' and ideas and collaboration begin to dissipate.

Without going into details, I have learned ths lesson from my daughter continuously.   While she is only three, her ability to grasp this concept is absolutley amazing.  There are times when other children take things from her, don't want to share, or are down right mean.  When I see these behaviors my first thought is one of anger or frustration.  Who wants to see his or her own kid sad or upset?  What she does when these situations occur simply astonishes me and is a lesson for all of us.  Rather than 'retaliate' or mirror the behavior, she keeps on sharing, keeps on trying to be nice...keeps on trying to do the right thing.  Sure, she has her moments of selfishness, tantrums, and bad behavior.  More often than not, however, she focuses on re-building the relationship with the other child and continuing to play and be happy.  Trust me, my kid is not an angel.  It is just amazing to me to see this lesson so visable in such a young child.

In corporations and organizations, people so often get focused on their careers, advancement, and own gain, that they forget one simple idea - do the right thing.  If you do the right thing, people will want to work with you and ideas and innovation will be easy. Behave in the opposite manner, and be prepared to have very lonely brainstorming sessions.