Ashish KothariMake flourishing your competitive edge

Are you overspending on corporate rewards while overlooking the simple power of genuine appreciation

29 Mar 2026 · 0 min

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In this brief excerpt from Ashish Kothari’s YouTube discussion, the speakers argue that organizations should focus on investing in people through genuine appreciation rather than relying heavily on costly monetary incentives. They note that a large industry exists around formal reward programs, but emphasize that authentic, skillful expressions of gratitude—showing employees they matter and recognizing specific contributions—can be practiced intentionally without large expense. The conversation positions appreciation as a core leadership skill that can drive collective greatness.

We're going to invest in you, and we collectively are going to, through that, become great together.
Absolutely. You know, people, people think that there has to be a lot of money associated with these things, and there's a whole industry wrapped around incentives and rewards and codifying appreciation, like, which, which is great. I mean, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those things, and it doesn't have to be expensive for us to simply learn the skills and intentionally practice the skills because we've been told as managers, supervisors, leaders, employees that this is important, why somebody matters to you at work, how what they did made a difference for you.