Give it as if nothing comes back

There's a generous-looking version of crediting people that's really just trade. You praise the new hire in the meeting, then wait for them to praise you. You tag the warehouse crew on the win, half-expecting the favor returned next quarter. The words are kind. The arithmetic underneath is not.

Seneca spent a whole book on this, and his test for a real gift is brutal in its simplicity. The right giver, he wrote, is one "who gives as though he would receive no return, receives a repayment as though he had originally given nothing" (Of Benefits I.VII, Stewart). Credit works the same way. Hand it over with no ledger open. Name what the line cook did, what the night nurse caught, what the junior dev actually built — and then expect nothing back, not even the warm glow of being seen as generous.

That's harder than it sounds, because the ledger is quiet and it runs on its own. You have to catch it.

The practice this week is to keep crediting people on terms that cost you something: no return, no record, no waiting.