Sunday, December 10, 2006
Are you nice?
I sped read through The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World With Kindness, a thoroughly inspiring and refreshing new book, while commuting to Yonkers for this Saturday's swim meet. Even Thaler and Koval's introduction made me smile:
Nice has an image problem. Nice gets no respect. To be labeled “nice” usually means the other person has little else positive to say about you. To be nice is to be considered Pollyanna and passive, wimpy, and Milquetoast. Let us be clear: Nice is not naive. Nice does not mean smiling blandly while others walk all over you. Nice does not mean being a doormat. In fact, we would argue that nice is the toughest four-letter word you’ll ever hear. It means moving forward with the clear-eyed confidence that comes from knowing that being very nice and placing other people’s needs on the same level as your own will get you everything you want.
