Everyone watches what a leader does when things go wrong. The real tell is what you do when things go right. This week, two companies gave a public lesson in giving your team credit, and it came with a dollar figure attached.

The windfall nobody planned for

American companies are collecting more than $100 billion in refunds after the Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs. Most of that money is going where money quietly goes: debt, buybacks, price cuts.

Two companies did something different. Williams-Sonoma is putting $10 million into one-time 401(k) payments for its employees. “They have done such an amazing job,” CEO Laura Alber said of the people who navigated the tariff years. And TJX, handed $331 million in refunds, set aside $112 million of it for bonuses to its associates.

For a year, the people at those companies carried the cost. Hiring freezes. Thin raises. Margin math on every decision. The leaders didn’t choose that. The moment they got to choose was when the money came back. Two leadership teams sent it to the people who carried the load.

Giving your team credit, the SEAL version

In the SEAL Teams we debriefed every operation, success or failure. The rule in that room never changed. When the op went wrong, responsibility ran uphill. The failure was the commander’s to own. When it went right, credit ran downhill. The win belonged to the platoon. By name. By role.

Own the miss. Give away the win. Last month I wrote about the first half: owning the miss, all of it, out loud. This is the other half, and it is harder than it sounds. Wins land on the leader’s desk by default. The board sees your name on the number. Nobody has to decide anything for you to keep the credit. Passing it down never happens by accident. It is a decision, made out loud.

The part nobody plans for

Here is why this matters more than a feel-good headline. Your people know exactly what the hard year cost them. They remember who stayed late, who covered the gap, who absorbed the freeze without complaint. And they watch, very closely, where the relief goes when it finally comes.

Where those refunds went told every employee at those two companies more about their leaders’ values than anything that has ever been put on a slide. Your version of the windfall may not be $112 million. It might be a number the board liked, a save a client praised, a quarter that finally broke your way. The test is identical.

Apply it this week

1. Find the win. Pick one win sitting on your desk right now that your team produced. A number, a save, a client’s praise.
2. Pass it down in public. Names attached. Who did what, specifically. Not “great team effort.” Names.
3. Ask the receipt question. Who carried a real cost this year that was never acknowledged out loud? Fix that this week too.

Giving your team credit costs a leader nothing and buys everything. Two companies just proved it in public, with interest.

Keep your eyes on the target. — Errol