{"id":4082,"date":"2011-04-17T19:35:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-17T19:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/?p=4082"},"modified":"2011-04-17T19:35:55","modified_gmt":"2011-04-17T19:35:55","slug":"the-most-generous-leader-i-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/2011\/04\/17\/the-most-generous-leader-i-know\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Generous Leader I Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recently my family vacationed in <a title=\"Historic Smithton Inn\" href=\"www.historicsmithtoninn.com\/ \">Amish country<\/a>, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.\u00c2\u00a0 While there,<strong> I had the opportunity to learn about the most <a title=\"The Addiction Of\u00c2\u00a0Generosity\" href=\"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/2010\/12\/03\/the-addiction-of-generosity\/\">generous<\/a> leader I have ever heard of<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Ironically, we have all benefited and enjoyed the work and vision of this man.\u00c2\u00a0 His name is <a title=\"Milton Hershey\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Milton_S._Hershey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Milton Snavely Hershey<\/a>, founder of <a title=\"Hershey Chocolate\" href=\"www.hersheys.com\/\">Hershey Chocolate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some lessons I learned:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Generous People\u00c2\u00a0Are Not Afraid To Fail\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>– Hershey was terminated from his first job in the printing industry.\u00c2\u00a0 In addition, his two initial attempts\u00c2\u00a0to launch a candy business both failed, one due to a lack of funding and belief in him.\u00c2\u00a0 Generous people hold things loosely.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Generosity Flows From What You Have, Not What You Do Not<\/strong> – When Hershey returned to Lancaster County, he took advantage of the hundreds of dairy farms in the area to start adding milk to his caramel.\u00c2\u00a0 This quickly made his third business, the Lancaster Caramel Company, a major success.\u00c2\u00a0 In 1900, Hershey\u00c2\u00a0sold the company for $1\u00c2\u00a0million (est. at $24M+ in today’s dollars) and\u00c2\u00a0began manufacturing chocolate.\u00c2\u00a0 What are the assets that are all around you?\u00c2\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong><a title=\"Money And The Difference Between Philanthropy And\u00c2\u00a0Generosity\" href=\"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/2011\/03\/02\/money-and-the-difference-between-philanthropy-and-generosity\/\">Generosity\u00c2\u00a0Benefits Others<\/a><\/strong> – With the advanced machinery he was now able to purchase and\u00c2\u00a0having proximity to an unlimited supply of dairy milk, mass production of chocolate began.\u00c2\u00a0 But Hershey wanted to do more than just make money, he\u00c2\u00a0desired a better quality of life for those in the Lancaster County area.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Generosity Improves Human Life<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0– Hershey\u00c2\u00a0began the development of a\u00c2\u00a0model town for his employees.\u00c2\u00a0 This\u00c2\u00a0construction would include quality homes with tree-lined streets,\u00c2\u00a0public transportation,\u00c2\u00a0the finest\u00c2\u00a0public\u00c2\u00a0schools, recreational facilities, and cultural opportunities.\u00c2\u00a0 This community\u00c2\u00a0would become known as Hershey, PA.\u00c2\u00a0 Hershey Park was then built in\u00c2\u00a01907 so the residents could have healthy diversions.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Increase\u00c2\u00a0Generosity During\u00c2\u00a0A Tough\u00c2\u00a0Economy\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>– During the Great Depression, Hershey was proactive in ensuring the town and its people’s success.\u00c2\u00a0 While many business owners were cutting back dramatically, Hershey expanded operations so all\u00c2\u00a0people could have a place to work and be productive.\u00c2\u00a0 Because of his efforts, Hershey, PA had a remarkable\u00c2\u00a0<strong>0% unemployment rate<\/strong> during the Great Depression!<\/li>\n<li><strong>You Can’t Outgive God\u00c2\u00a0– Hershey Gave Away His Fortune – TWICE!<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0 Unable to have children, he and his wife Kitty, both Mennonites, \u00c2\u00a0founded the Hershey Industrial School, now called <a title=\"Milton Hershey School\" href=\"www.mhs-pa.org\/\">Milton Hershey School<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 This amazing facility, which you will pass driving through downtown,\u00c2\u00a0houses and educates\u00c2\u00a0disadvantaged and abandoned children.\u00c2\u00a0 Upon her premature death in 1915, he transferred the majority of his assets, including the company, to the school.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0In 1935 through the <a title=\"M. S. Hershey Foundation\" href=\"mshersheyfoundation.org\/\">M. S. Hershey Foundation<\/a>, he again\u00c2\u00a0endowed another\u00c2\u00a0$50 million to Penn State University for the construction of <a title=\"Hershey Medical Center\" href=\"pennstatehershey.org\/web\/guest\/home\">Hershey Medical Center<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Now a teaching hospital,\u00c2\u00a0you will also pass this incredible facility\u00c2\u00a0as you drive to the museum and theme park.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I was told by a\u00c2\u00a0local business owner\u00c2\u00a0that <strong>one of foundation’s major problems is that they simply have too much money<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 It is true, it is impossible to outgive the God who provides every good and perfect gift.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It has been said about Hershey<\/strong> that “<em>He was part of a forward-looking group of entrepreneurs in this country and abroad who believed that providing better living conditions for their workers resulted in better workers\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Milton Hershey conceived of building a community that would support and nurture his workers. Developing the community became a lifelong passion for him.”<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As a leader, think about that next time you eat a Hershey’s Kiss.\u00c2\u00a0 I know I will.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Leaders, especially business owners, are you focused strictly on the bottom line?\u00c2\u00a0 Or are you like Milton Hershey and more concerned with generosity and developing\u00c2\u00a0communities that are changing human life for generations?\u00c2\u00a0 I hope you’re the latter…and so do your employees.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To make your voice heard as a leader, click <strong><a title=\"The Leadership Tribe\" href=\"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/the-leadership-tribe\/\">The Leadership Tribe<\/a> <\/strong>link.<\/p>\n<p>To automatically receive future posts on leadership, simply subscribe or click <a title=\"RSS Feed\" href=\"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/feed\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently my family vacationed in Amish country, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.\u00c2\u00a0 While there, I had the opportunity to learn about the most generous leader I have ever heard of.\u00c2\u00a0 Ironically, we have all benefited and enjoyed the work and vision of this man.\u00c2\u00a0 His name is Milton Snavely Hershey, founder of Hershey Chocolate. Here are some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","iawp_total_views":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,7],"tags":[68,84,120,148,164,181,259,303,349,375,435,457],"class_list":["post-4082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-character","category-church-leadership","category-family-2","category-generosity-2","tag-business","tag-children","tag-culture","tag-economy","tag-faith","tag-food","tag-leadership","tag-money","tag-people","tag-random-thoughts","tag-success","tag-thoughts"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}