Recently I saw Elvis Costello in concert. I can’t remember the last time I felt so treasured, so seen, so held by an artist. And, although he thinks that Charlottesville is in North Carolina, it felt like he had a special love for our small town. Mr. Costello got into town early that morning and spent the day…Read on.

Have you ever watched a talk, performance, or concert that felt like a gift? Like the performer is giving us something precious? Wouldn’t it be amazing if we all could harness that generosity when speaking?

Last summer, while spending the afternoon with a dear friend, writer and musician, Jake Slichter, my son asked him who is favorite musicians were. The first name Jake uttered without hesitation was Stevie Wonder. Luke asked him, “Why?” And Jake answered, “Because he is generous.”

The truth is that Stevie Wonder is always in my top three favorite musicians ever, along with Bonnie Raitt and Everything But the Girl, but I couldn’t contain myself and butted-in, “What about the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Al Green? Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, Ella Fitzgerald, Beck, PRINCE!”

Jake agreed that these are all wonderful artists. But to him, the thing that makes Stevie Wonder so phenomenal is his generosity.

Before writing this post, I reached out to Jake to dig a little deeper into his idea of generosity. Here is what he had to say…