Gratitude as a business strategy

Given that today is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states, I was reflecting back on the past year and compiling a list of everything that I'm thankful for.  I find as I get older, the list gets longer.  As I was scanning some of my favorite blogs this morning, I stumbled across an article by Howie Jacobson on gratitude as a business strategy.

Given that tomorrow is the official kick-off to the holiday shopping season, its something we should all take time to read and ponder.

Most of us are fantastic complainers. When someone doesn't meet our expectations, we let them know. We may even let their boss or mother know.

There's nothing wrong with expecting excellence, and taking steps to get it. The problem is, we tend to take excellence–and thoughtfulness, and kindness, and joyfulness–for granted.

When things go as we expect, we don't even notice or acknowledge it. Dennis Prager refers to this as the “broken tile” syndrome: look at a ceiling with one broken tile, and where is your eye naturally drawn? To the broken tile, of course. Not to the hundreds of whole ones.

To see if this is true for you, think for a moment about your many contributions to the people around you. Do you get thanked enough for them? Does the gratitude to criticism ratio you experience feel right to you?

… continued on FastCompany

One item on my list this year is you — the readers of the blog and listeners to the podcast.  I want to express my gratitude and say — Thank you!

Does the gratitude-to-criticism ratio you experience feel right to you?