I know a lot of successful people.What do they have in common? Almost all of them are honest, respectful, generous... and kind. I'm not kidding, they overwhelming majority of them are truly lovely people. (There are exceptions to every rule of course, but remarkably few in this case.).What’s going on here? Could it be that kindness and success are correlated? I think so. Start-ups don’t win by fighting. They win by transcending. The best way to win is to rise. Not to stay and fight on the ground. I look around me and I see a lot of companies fighting for market share, slinging mud, dodging accountability, cutting corners dishonestly... and often even straight-up cheating. In short: they're mean..If you want to build great things, it helps to be driven by a spirit of kindness. Entrepreneurs who are naturally kind are usually trying to improve the world (or at least their small corner of it). I believe this gives them a natural advantage that customers love, and that money can’t buy. Mean business owners also lose because they can't fool great people into hanging around for long. They can only retain the sort of staff who have no other option in life. But the best people always have options..I’m really glad I stopped to think about this. My wife and I work hard to teach our daughters not to be mean. We can tolerate noise, mess, dirty feet on the couch and junk food...but not meanness. Now I have an additional reason to remind them to always be kind, and an additional argument to use when I do: Being mean makes you fail.
I know a lot of successful people.What do they have in common? Almost all of them are honest, respectful, generous... and kind. I'm not kidding, they overwhelming majority of them are truly lovely people. (There are exceptions to every rule of course, but remarkably few in this case.).What’s going on here? Could it be that kindness and success are correlated? I think so. Start-ups don’t win by fighting. They win by transcending. The best way to win is to rise. Not to stay and fight on the ground. I look around me and I see a lot of companies fighting for market share, slinging mud, dodging accountability, cutting corners dishonestly... and often even straight-up cheating. In short: they're mean..If you want to build great things, it helps to be driven by a spirit of kindness. Entrepreneurs who are naturally kind are usually trying to improve the world (or at least their small corner of it). I believe this gives them a natural advantage that customers love, and that money can’t buy. Mean business owners also lose because they can't fool great people into hanging around for long. They can only retain the sort of staff who have no other option in life. But the best people always have options..I’m really glad I stopped to think about this. My wife and I work hard to teach our daughters not to be mean. We can tolerate noise, mess, dirty feet on the couch and junk food...but not meanness. Now I have an additional reason to remind them to always be kind, and an additional argument to use when I do: Being mean makes you fail.