I’ve had the privilege of posing questions to over 1,000 business leaders. So, I’ve been on the receiving end of many excellent answers from some of the most respected CEOs on the planet. On the other side of that, I’ve also heard responses from less skilled managers.

A video podcaster recently asked me, “What’s the most important mindset for success in business?” For a moment, I doubted I could identify just one key mindset for success. As trusted advisors to CEOs and investors of large companies, our consultants at ghSMART typically emphasize the importance of context. For example, there is no “perfect candidate” to hire for a job. Success depends mostly on a leader fitting a given context, which has many variables – the customer landscape, strategic challenges, operating challenges, financial or legal factors and culture (among other things).

But then it dawned on me. There is one mindset that I have observed in successful versus unsuccessful ventures. The most important word in business, which you rarely hear, is generosity.

Leaders who succeed are generous and treat everyone with a fundamental mindset of generosity. In contrast, people who lack a spirit of generosity fail in the long run. Over the years, I’ve witnessed many examples of both selfishness and generosity. Here are a few lessons you can learn from my own experiences.

(Don’t) Trick The Customer: Once, while talking with the CEO of a mortgage company, I instantly got a bad feeling about his character. His mindset was selfish. He implied that his business succeeded by “tricking” low-income homeowners into signing up for mortgages with hidden terms that were unfavourable to them. Well, that mindset backfired. When the housing crisis happened in 2008 and 2009 (caused partly by bad actors like this guy), a pile of lawsuits snuffed out his company and career.

(Do) Create Unexpected Experiences: At ghSMART, one of our colleagues, Alan Foster, expressed an interest in improving his “storytelling” skills. Alan is a charming Brit who leads our UK office. For anybody who knows him, they understand that he’s already a fantastic storyteller, but he just wanted to take his game up a notch – to dazzle audiences when he gave talks about leading talented teams. Some other colleagues took the initiative to research opportunities and found an upcoming two-day seminar hosted by a star Hollywood movie screenwriter and master storyteller. They got Alan admission to this exclusive seminar, comped the cost and gave the experience to him as a present. How cool is that? Can you imagine working at a firm where people look for ways to give you what you need or want? As the chairman and founder, I am very happy to see our culture of generosity and gratitude continue to blossom as we grow.

Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko may have said, “Greed is good,” but a mindset of generosity is better, especially if you want to succeed in your career and live a fulfilling life.