Recently, I got a worried call from someone who wanted me to give them advice on technical machinery for setting up a small design room. The architects were demanding technical data. I did give some information and was generous with my time to a point because I knew this person was well over there head. 2 days later they paid me to come in and organize this project for them and thanked me for my initial advice which led them to believe how inexperienced they were. So had I refused to give them any information I probably would not have gotten an unexpected consulting job.

In our garment industry in NYC the old guard was so suspicious and competitive that it created shortsited goals which has hurt the whole industry. These days I always tell my suppliers that I will freely refer anyone to them to keep them in business. They are so appreciative – Do I lose? No way, because I can keep them in business and they like me so much they often give me first choice or save the stuff I like for me as a thank you. Everyone wins all around and that’s the attitude I prefer to have.

One more funny thing – I remember seeing an old new yorker cartoon when I was very young.

The cartoon was showing a man with scissors jumping out of the window of a factory building with is his partner looking out the window in anguish. As he is passing the floor below on his way to his death he yells up “Murray! Cut Velvet!”. I wish I had a sample of this cartoon. It really struck me as a kid and I’ve remembered the irony and tradgedy of it my whole life.

I didn’t really understand it at the time and my Aunt had to explain it to me. After she explained it to me I asked her why couldn’t the man walk down the stairs to the guy below and ask him what he was doing? The innocence of the young!

Generosity always comes back to you tenfold!

Thanks for posting this, Kathleen!

Generally speaking, it applies to any insular community. Currently, I’m gravely distressed with a group to which I belong. As they believe themselves to be the elite of social progressiveness, they’ve gated themselves just as tightly. They’ve either decided they are LEAN (so poorly informed they think it means “shoe-string budget”) or they discount its necessity entirely.

For our purposes, it gives me pause. We still have gate keepers, of which I am admittedly one (the forum and trade information in the book I don’t publish here). Still, this blog is an open door. I console myself with the idea that gate keeping can mean leaving it open but monitoring who goes and comes. Similarly, leaving the door open doesn’t mean you have to show everyone everything; they must be qualified. Under usual circumstances, you wouldn’t invite a door to door salesmen into your bedroom to show them your ditties.