One of the stories that Kevin Eikenberry tells in his book, Vantagepoints on Learning and Life is in the chapter “Secret Samaritans.” As you might recall in the days of public telephones, nearly everyone checked the coin return tray to see if there had been any money left by a previous user.
In a study which describe “The Good Samaritan Effect,” researchers placed coins randomly in selected return trays in public telephones. Then, timing the accident carefully, they had a woman drop her books at the exact moment the callers were hanging up and leaving the telephone. They found that those people who had earlier discovered coins in the return tray were FOUR time more likely to help the woman pick up her books.

The point? When we receive good fortune, we tend to pass it on. Kevin suggests that acts of kindness should not be just random and intermittent but that we can increase the power of the “Good Samaritan Effect” by systematically performing acts which provide good fortune for others.

Think of the power that this can have in the work place!  Think of the impact that this approach to servant leadership could have on the well being of workers, not to mention the productivity of the enterprise!

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