Being Better.

To be amp8220tough as nailsamp8221 and be amp8220messianic in missionamp8221To strut and take a stance that projects amp8220dominant presenceamp8221To show no weakness and to amp8220go for the killamp8221While sometimes these approaches may work there may be a better wayTo be generous To be kind To treat people with dignityGenerosity as StrategyIf strategy is future competitive advantage generosity is smart for individual or company strategiesGenerosity builds good will which is both an asset and a moatIt is an asset in that it can be tapped in the futureIt is a moat because when an individual or a company has been generous in times of trouble their employee or customer are less likely to switch to a different firm for a lower price or higher payGenerosity is also a key differentiator in that usually when a person or firm needs help there are few people willing to help someone out of power or in trouble Those individuals and brands who do help stand out and their showing up and helping when others are not burns into the emotional and mental memory of the recipientEmotional connections are harder to sever or replace than financial connectionsA story shared with meamp8220Long ago must be 30 years ago or more I went into Tiffanyamp8217s to purchase one cufflinkThe night before I had attended a blacktie event and one cufflink must have worked itself free it was the solid type and was difficult to get on and off and I lost it off my sleeve Just wasn39t there when I got homeI said to the counter person that I just wanted to buy one cufflink to match the other oneShe leftShe returned with the typical Tiffany39s blue box with the white ribbon quotHere you gono chargequot she saidI couldn39t believe itYou must be at least the 400th person I have told this story toamp8221Brands today cannot succeed unless their employees are happy It is the employees who after all provide the service to customers and clients It is the employees who generate the ideas and solve the problems It is often the employees who are most believed and can be the greatest ambassadors and advocates of a brand Often employees are far more authentic ambassadors than a celebrity that companies give tens of millions too Why not be generous in care money and attention to employeesKindness is KeyOne of the keys to a good life and possibly success at work is kindnessThis includes not just being kind to other people but kind to oneselfOften we spend our time regretting selfflagellating doubting our decisions and wondering if we can ever measure up especially in a world filled with standards and measures that are unattainableIn todayamp8217s competitive marketplace of rapidly transforming landscapes and constant benchmarking we often forget that we are dealing not just with buyers sellers users members competitors analysts scientists management and employees but with analog carbon based feeling filled peopleHumansMessy and Moody Dream filled and desire driven Anxiously ambitious Undulating with uncertaintyKindness is a way to connect in a world where connections are keyBut it not easy to model in an Excel spreadsheet display in a PowerPoint or be described with any depth by GPTThe machine will rapidly compute an answer garland it with perspective refine and correlate what has been fed into its innards and then emit an output in a dazzling display of verbosityAnswers that may awe usBut rarely move usThe author George Saunders gave a short and remarkable speech on the importance of kindness which everyone should listen toA key theme is amp8220to err in the direction of kindnessamp8221Some key passages of his talk to studentsamp8220When young weamp8217re anxious amp8212 understandably amp8212 to find out if weamp8217ve got what it takes Can we succeed Can we build a viable life for ourselves But you amp8212 in particular you of this generation amp8212 may have noticed a certain cyclical quality to ambition You do well in highschool in hopes of getting into a good college so you can do well in the good college in the hopes of getting a good job so you can do well in the good job so you can And this is actually OK If weamp8217re going to become kinder that process has to include taking ourselves seriously amp8212 as doers as accomplishers as dreamers We have to do that to be our best selvesStill accomplishment is unreliable amp8220Succeedingamp8221 whatever that might mean to you is hard and the need to do so constantly renews itself success is like a mountain that keeps growing ahead of you as you hike it and thereamp8217s the very real danger that amp8220succeedingamp8221 will take up your whole life while the big questions go untendedDo all the other things the ambitious things amp8212 travel get rich get famous innovate lead fall in love make and lose fortunes swim naked in wild jungle rivers after first having it tested for monkey poop amp8211 but as you do to the extent that you can err in the direction of kindnessamp8221Later George was interviewed on this talk which went viral after it was posted in the New York Times on why kindness was important and here is what he saidamp8220Ninetynine percent of the time if you just do your best to be kind youamp8217re better off Itamp8217s the basic things like trying to have good manners keeping your assumptions about the other person a little open being willing to revise your opinionDignity MattersDignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake and to be treated ethically It is of significance in morality ethics law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenmentera concepts of inherent inalienable rights The term may also be used to describe personal conduct as in quotbehaving with dignityquot WikipediaMarcel Proust wrote that it is amp8220not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes that is the only true voyageamp8221In Dignity Seeking Respect in Back Row America a book combining essay and photographs Chris Arande reminds Front Row America amp8220that we have removed ourselves physically and in spirit from much of the country and when we look back we do it through papers and books filled with dataamp8221He goes on to note that amp8220we have implemented policies that focus narrowly on one value of meaning which is the material We emphasize GDP and efficiency those things that we can measure leaving behind those that are harder to quantifylike community happiness friendship pride and integrationAnd if economics and material goods are the primary form of valuation then education is the way out implying that those who do not make it are dumb lazy and stupidamp8221 And education is harder to get more expensive and the elite schools a luxury good that resemble amp8220Hermesamp8221 bagsHe warns that amp8220this has ensured that all those at the bottom educationally and economicallyblack white gay straight men and women feel excluded rejected and most of all humiliatedamp8221We have denied many their dignity leaving a vacuum easily filled by drugs anger and resentmentTry generosity kindness and dignityIt is not easyBut it may be the way to being betterShareFull spectrum writing for wide spectrum leaders Every Sunday Totally free Join tens of thousands of leaders by subscribing belowamp160Four years of Rishad Tobaccowalaamp8217s best thinking and writing herePosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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