Nice

Each semester my office has the opportunity to have one to two interns. My colleagues are so incredible and friendly and include them in various groups and other activities to gain experience. One of the comments I hear often from these students is the positive, supportive environment they feel at our office.  This warms my heart.  Recently again I heard -- everyone is just so NICE to each other.   I believe that you can have a nice, positive work environment where everyone treats each other well.  I am so very grateful that is the environment that I go to each day.    

I recently found there is actually a leadership philosophy called Nice Leadership!

The Power of Nice - How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness, written by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval.  The book identifies the following six Power of Nice Principles:

1 - Positive Impressions are like seeds.  Every time you smile at a messenger, laugh at a co-worker's joke, thank an assistant, or treat a total stranger with graciousness and respect, you throw off a positive energy wave that rolls out endlessly in all directions.
2 - You Never Know.   You really never know who the next person you're nice to know or how they ultimately may connect back to you in some way.  It is therefore important to treat EVERYONE nicely.  Simply make it a habit not to discriminate when it comes to being nice to others.
3 - People Change.  People change, grow, and take on new roles.  
4.  Nice must be Automatic.  It is important to become skilled in the art of being nice - being nice must become a habit - something that is 'second nature' to you.  Small gestures and random acts of kindness can have an enormous impact.
5.  Negative Impressions are like Germs.  Rude gestures and remarks are like germs - you may not see the impact they have on you for a while, but they are there, silently infecting you and everyone around you.
6.  You will know.  Even if you never see a person you have treated with rudeness or bad behavior again, YOU will know.  It will be on your mind and heart when you walk into a meeting and try to convince the people in the room they should put their faith in you.  Your belief in yourself will be compromise ad the negative energy you carry with you will ultimately manifest in some way to your disadvantage. 

Be the role model for being nice to others.  The energy of consistently being nice to others will return to you many times over.  That is the POWER of nice.  

This summer was especially special with our intern, Brooke. She was awesome: she put us on facebook (you can go like us here ), amazing self-starter, dependable, worked well with all in the office, fun sense of humor, ... I could go on and on.  Brooke and I also share the same eye condition - Retinitis Pigmentosa.  I loved her attitude of I don't know but I will find out!  She entered each day with a positive attitude and a willingness to participate in whatever activity we had for the day.  She is going to make an amazing marriage and family therapist or whatever she chooses to do in life.  Good Luck, Brooke.  We are going to miss you!