Another word daily cracker for us! The gift that keeps giving in or out of the festive season. Here’s a word I’ve recently fallen for: lagniappe.
It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t posture. It doesn’t arrive with a KPI or a comms plan.
It simply means a small, unexpected extra — a bonus, a gift, something added because it feels right.
Traditionally, it’s the thirteenth doughnut. The extra biscuit in the bag. The shopkeeper who slips something in without comment or expectation.
And that’s precisely why it matters.
People: the extra that builds trust
In the People dimension of PPP, lagniappe shows up in how we treat employees, colleagues and stakeholders — particularly when we don’t have to.
• A leader who gives context, not just instruction.
• A manager who protects time, energy or wellbeing when pressure is high.
• A colleague who shares credit, insight or opportunity instead of hoarding it.
• A partner or supplier treated with fairness and humanity, not just leverage.
None of this appears in a contract.
None of it is mandated.
But it’s often the difference between people feeling used and people feeling valued.
Lagniappe at a human level isn’t about grand gestures or corporate “care”. It’s about small, deliberate acts that say: you matter beyond your output.
Planet: the extra that costs little, but matters
Planet is too often reduced to compliance: targets, reports, offsets, certifications. Necessary, yes — but rarely human.
Lagniappe offers a different lens.
It’s the organisation that chooses the better environmental option even when no one is watching.
The procurement conversation that goes beyond price to ask about impact.
The decision to repair, reuse or extend life — not because policy demands it, but because it feels responsible.
These choices are rarely dramatic.
They’re small. Incremental. Sometimes inconvenient.
But added together, they compound.
Planetary progress doesn’t only come from regulation or breakthrough technology. It also comes from thousands of quiet decisions where people give a little more care than the minimum requires.
That’s lagniappe at a system level.
Progress: momentum comes from generosity
Progress is usually framed as efficiency, optimisation and scale.
But sustainable progress — the kind that endures — often starts with generosity.
• Investing in people before the return is obvious.
• Communicating openly when silence would be easier.
• Allowing curiosity, learning and dissent rather than just execution.
That “extra” doesn’t slow progress. It strengthens it — because people move faster, and further, when they feel trusted rather than managed.
Lagniappe doesn’t replace strategy.
It amplifies it.
The paradox of lagniappe
Lagniappe only works if it’s not performative.
The moment it becomes a tactic, it stops being a gift.
True lagniappe is quiet. Often invisible. Rarely measured.
And yet it’s remembered.
In a world obsessed with dashboards and outcomes, lagniappe reminds us that some of the most powerful contributions — to people, to the planet, to progress — happen off-metric, but on a deeply human level.
A final TTH thought
What would change if organisations routinely did what was required — and then added a little extra?
Not as policy.
Not as branding.
But as habit.
Because sometimes the most meaningful progress doesn’t come from big declarations or bold strategies.
It comes from the small, unexpected extra.
That, in itself, is lagniappe.