Being Nice

Seth Godin writes about how very badly people want others to be nice to them, how little it costs to be nice, and how these two combine to create a terrific business opportunity for many organizations.  I love this posting  on so many levels. 

We have several major stressors going on in American society at this time - a very expensive war, an increasingly vitriolic political race where truth and lie are so intertwined on both sides that neither option seems favorable sometimes, and a major market meltdown that is going to have long-term ramifications that the current bailout plan doesn't address.  In the latter case, it doesn't help that we all know SOMEONE (or ones) made money during that meltdown and will likely go unpunished for their rank greed and carnage.   It adds up to a lot of reasons to be frustrated and not so nice at times. 

Yet, there are many more reasons to be nice:

1. It's the right thing to do.  It would be a shame to allow ourselves to behave in a manner that is less than the very finest we possess inside ourselves simply because circumstances around us have set us off a bit.

2. It feels better.  Being crabby may produce a very brief sense of relief as we blow off steam at co-workers and neighbors, but in the long-term it usually makes us feel rather bad about ourselves.  On the other hand, when we can rise above circumstances and be nice, we can have  lasting satisfaction in a job well done.

3. It's easier than (or at least as easy as) being rude.  If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit being nice doesn't take any more energy than being crabby and rude. 

4. It's profitable.  As Seth Godin notes, there is a very real profit opportunity to be found in being nice to your customers!

Are you nice to others at work?  How can you be nicer starting right now?  How could it benefit your company if you were nicer?

Check out Seth's posting here and leave us a comment with your experience being nice at work (or a time when someone was nice to you) and it made a profitable difference in the business!

Comments

[Jackie Cameron]

Hi Peggy. Being nice is a theme that I have had running since I posted about it myself earlier this year. I make the disctinction though between being polite and being nice. They are not necessarily the same!
I agree so much about how being nice makes you feel better yourself. I can be crabby and it takes me ages to recover and feel good again. How much better to stay on an even keel by being nice!
Nice ( !?!) post

http://www.consultcameron.com/2008/04/14/being-polite-is-not-the-same-as-being-nice/

[Jackie Cameron]

Hello again Peggy. I don't mean to to hijack this topic but I just wanted to share that my husband and I stayed in Fairmont Hotels in our recent trip to Canada. We used the Gold service ( paying a wee bit more which Seth would like) and the staff were so nice in each of the hotels. They remembered details about current - and indeed returning - guests which can't fail to flatter and impress.

[Austin Jobs]

The best portion of a good man’s life – his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
~William Wordsworth