Gratitude as a Leadership Practice That Shapes Culture
In a season where leadership often feels pressured, hurried, and transactional, gratitude stands out as a quiet but transformative force. In a recent conversation with Melissa Aarskaug, we explored how gratitude—when practiced intentionally and modeled consistently—can reshape organizational culture, strengthen families, and renew the inner life of leaders themselves.
This reflection isn’t about gratitude as a polite habit or seasonal sentiment. It’s about gratitude as a cultural lever—one that fosters belonging, shifts energy, and creates environments where people feel seen, valued, and motivated to give their best.
Melissa shared how culture changes when leaders go first. When appreciation is expressed publicly and authentically—thanking a team member by name, recognizing unseen effort, celebrating progress—it becomes contagious. Gratitude, when visible, multiplies.
She also offered a simple but powerful daily rhythm that anchors her leadership: beginning each morning by naming three gratitudes, clarifying three priorities, and praying over the day ahead—then returning the next morning to reflect on lessons learned and moments that mattered. This practice creates what she described as a “rhythm with life,” helping leaders renew their minds before the day begins and extract meaning after it ends.
Gratitude, however, is not confined to the workplace. Melissa’s story of her family “adopting” children in need at Christmas—sparked by a sermon on local poverty—illustrates how gratitude becomes formative when it turns outward. By involving her children in giving, she is shaping not only generosity, but awareness, empathy, and purpose.
Professionally, her leadership philosophy echoes the influence of John Maxwell and countless SOLIDleaders she admires—people driven not by recognition, but by gratitude for the mission entrusted to them.
This conversation invites leaders to reconsider a simple question: What kind of culture are we forming by what we choose to notice and acknowledge? Gratitude, practiced daily and modeled courageously, may be one of the most underutilized tools leaders have to build trust, alignment, and lasting impact.
