October 4, 2019
This week, as I made my way through the Denver airport, I walked past a kiosk for a little company I love. The company is called, Be Good to People. It was started 11 years ago by Kris Wittenberg, a promotional products executive after she had an awful experience with another human being. She wondered aloud, “Why can’t people just be good to each other?” Then she put it on a t-shirt, “Be Good to People.”
And that’s the point for the week.
Treating others poorly, taking advantage of others, being mean to others, profiting unfairly from others, or relishing in the humiliation of others – all of these things, and more, are easy to do. They take no courage. No guts. No fortitude. They are signs of great weakness of character.
But showing kindness to others consistently – being good to others – requires effort and often self-sacrifice. It requires honesty and integrity. It requires conscience and an ability to put oneself in the place of others. It requires a willingness to stand against the tide of conventional wisdom. and cancel culture.
But when you commit, like Kris Wittenberg, to being good to others, something mancentifical happens. It becomes contagious. And the be gooders start to organ reject the bad parts within the organization that start to stick out, like proverbial sore thumbs.
People who care for one another keep each other safe. They teach each other things. They welcome others, regardless of their background and beliefs. They help each other achieve goals and dreams. They help prevent falls and failures; they don’t celebrate them. They console after mistakes; they don’t try to capitalize on them.
These are the people we want and need to lead this company forward. I care less about how many mistakes someone had made than how kind they are to other human beings.
Because kindness is the rocket fuel of organizational growth. Individual interests, profiteering, falsehoods, and the celebration of others’ failures are cancers that will destroy us.
But when all of us wakes up each day intent on doing good, on being kind to others, the payoff will be astounding. The bonds we create will be unbreakable and the growth we can achieve will be unmeasurable.
So be good to people.
And win.
Oh, and you can learn more about Be Good to People and even buy their great products at https://begoodtopeople.com
If you like the blog, you’ll love the book. To purchase a copy of Phillip’s book, The Not So Subtle Art of Caring: Letters on Leadership, from John Hunt Publishing, London, please follow this LINK. “Letters” is based on 85 story-backed lessons Phillip used while leading actual teams to accomplish extraordinary things. It is an outstanding resource for those who wish to commit to becoming the sort of leader that people WANT to follow.
To learn more about Phillip, please click HERE.