The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines charity as an attitude of helping others and considers it a Christian theological virtue, along with Faith and Hope. However, in this article, I will focus on how charity can help to form, and even strengthen, work teams.

In this regard, I’d like to share a brief personal story from about 35 years ago, just as I was entering my fifth year of business administration. During those final semesters, I did my first pre-professional internship at a Swiss food company. There, I was fortunate to meet wonderful people who were also excellent professionals, always willing to share their knowledge and experience in real-world situations.

Likewise, how could I forget that back then, supplier checks were generated on a typewriter, and my first task was to type a couple of them. I made 13 mistakes on the first one. Nevertheless, my coworker “Queca” told me, “That’s how you learn, and you won’t forget.” Meanwhile, under Félix’s guidance, I learned about production lines, efficiency, productivity, and the associated costs per recipe. And with Raúl, I learned how to track the plant workers’ time, calculate compensation for hours worked, and manage overtime. Then, over a couple of weekends (including Saturdays and some Sundays), I helped out and eventually was able to handle the bi-weekly payroll for the plant workers on my own.

In those years, most employees preferred to be paid in cash, and the payroll system issued the exact amount of money needed (itemized by denomination of bills and coins, and the exact quantity of each), so I also learned how to fill out the pay envelopes. The first time, I had an extra coin and a couple of bills, which was impossible, so I had to check almost 60 envelopes to find the mistake. I started with the last envelope, and to my surprise, the error was in the first one. It was like doing that bi-weekly pay twice.

Therefore, that summer was undoubtedly very productive, full of learning, in an atmosphere of camaraderie and real friendship, all this despite having missed out on enjoying that season in my hometown, in northern Peru. However, I was rewarded, because six months later I received a call from the same company and was hired to start my first job.

The characters in this story have reminded me of some aspects of the charity they showed me:

1. Patients, there is no doubt that they had that gift, because the opposite would have been that they would have been annoyed and even angry, since the student was slow?
2. Helpful, generously teaching what they knew, without a trace of selfishness.
3. Cheerful, always smiling about how he was progressing in the assigned tasks during those short summer months.
4. Ready to correct, with the truth upfront and always in a kind and polite manner.

In that sense, I accompany these characteristics associated with charity with some inspiring phrases so that you and I can reflect on them.

• “Leadership is not a title, it is a behavior that unfolds when we put the well-being of the team and the community above our own.” – Robin Sharma, Canadian writer.
• “Charity is undoubtedly more important than any rule” – Saint Vincent de Paul.
• “I have discovered that, among other benefits, charity liberates the soul of those who practice it.” – Maya Angelou, American writer.

Therefore, I suggest you don’t wait until you are team leaders and have collaborators under your responsibility. I am sure that we can start right now to take our first steps, even if they are small but firm, to incorporate patience, service, joy, and truth into our daily actions and in every facet of our lives.

Don’t get discouraged, we still have time to start again and remember: go against the current, rowing out to sea!