{"id":202679,"date":"2017-08-05T21:44:48","date_gmt":"2017-08-05T21:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transformativetraining.com\/?p=202679"},"modified":"2017-08-05T22:10:19","modified_gmt":"2017-08-05T22:10:19","slug":"be-kind-to-your-employees-but-dont-always-be-nice-harvard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transformativetraining.com\/dev\/be-kind-to-your-employees-but-dont-always-be-nice-harvard\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Kind to Your Employees, but Don\u2019t Always Be Nice &#8211; Harvard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;section&#8221; transparent_background=&#8221;on&#8221; background_color=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; allow_player_pause=&#8221;off&#8221; inner_shadow=&#8221;off&#8221; parallax=&#8221;off&#8221; parallax_method=&#8221;off&#8221; padding_mobile=&#8221;off&#8221; make_fullwidth=&#8221;off&#8221; use_custom_width=&#8221;off&#8221; width_unit=&#8221;on&#8221; make_equal=&#8221;off&#8221; use_custom_gutter=&#8221;off&#8221;][et_pb_row admin_label=&#8221;row&#8221; make_fullwidth=&#8221;off&#8221; use_custom_width=&#8221;off&#8221; width_unit=&#8221;on&#8221; use_custom_gutter=&#8221;off&#8221; padding_mobile=&#8221;off&#8221; allow_player_pause=&#8221;off&#8221; parallax=&#8221;off&#8221; parallax_method=&#8221;off&#8221; make_equal=&#8221;off&#8221; parallax_1=&#8221;off&#8221; parallax_method_1=&#8221;off&#8221; parallax_2=&#8221;off&#8221; parallax_method_2=&#8221;off&#8221; column_padding_mobile=&#8221;on&#8221; custom_css_main_element=&#8221;width:95% !important;||max-width:1200px !important;||margin:auto !important;&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_3&#8243;][et_pb_testimonial author=&#8221;SAP&#8221; url_new_window=&#8221;off&#8221; quote_icon=&#8221;on&#8221; use_background_color=&#8221;on&#8221; background_color=&#8221;#4f4f4f&#8221; background_layout=&#8221;dark&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;left&#8221; use_border_color=&#8221;off&#8221; border_color=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;||10px|&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;||0px|&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>The activities and interactions were great. They really helped to push the material forward without being corny. The program was very professionally delivered<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_sidebar orientation=&#8221;left&#8221; area=&#8221;sidebar-1&#8243; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; remove_border=&#8221;off&#8221; disabled_on=&#8221;on|on|&#8221; disabled=&#8221;off&#8221; \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;2_3&#8243;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Author and Title&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.64&#8243; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;center&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;50px|||&#8221; module_class=&#8221;author-info&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h1>Be Kind to Your Employees, but Don\u2019t Always Be Nice<\/h1>\n<h2>Dan Pallotta of Harvard Business Reviews<\/h2>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.64&#8243; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.transformativetraining.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/pexels-photo-165907.jpeg&#8221; show_in_lightbox=&#8221;off&#8221; url_new_window=&#8221;off&#8221; use_overlay=&#8221;off&#8221; sticky=&#8221;off&#8221; align=&#8221;left&#8221; always_center_on_mobile=&#8221;on&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221; force_fullwidth=&#8221;off&#8221; animation=&#8221;off&#8221; \/][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Content&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.64&#8243; background_layout=&#8221;light&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;left&#8221; border_style=&#8221;solid&#8221; text_font_size=&#8221;18&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>At 39, I was the CEO of a company with a few hundred employees. Depending on the day and the employee you asked, I\u2019d rate anywhere from a zero to a seven on the unkindness scale (10 being a tyrant). I\u2019d guess that I normally hovered around 4.5. I doubt anyone would have rated me a 10\u2014that takes a particular kind of malevolence. I wasn\u2019t taken to raging, other than on one occasion when the lives of the participants in our Montana AIDS Vaccine Ride (a 1,500-person, seven-day bike ride across the Rockies to fight the disease) were in jeopardy during a horrific mountain wind storm that literally blew our temporary city apart. But day to day, I was fairly consistently stern and serious.<\/p>\n<p>Stories of the raging, maniacal CEO are the stuff of legend, from American Apparel\u2019s CEO, Dov Charney, who was accused of choking an employee with both hands, to Walt Disney, whose underlings warned each other he was approaching by repeating the line from Bambi, \u201cMan is in the forest!\u201d Bill Clinton was infamous for his temper tantrums. Even Tim Cook, Apple\u2019s seemingly mild-mannered CEO, terrifies people. In an upcoming book on the CEO, author Yukari Iwatani Kane writes, \u201cWhen someone was unable to answer a question, Cook would sit without a word while people stared at the table and shifted in their seats. The silence would be so intense and uncomfortable that everyone in the room wanted to back away\u2026Sometimes he would take an energy bar from his pocket while he waited for an answer, and the hush would be broken only by the crackling of the wrapper.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Is fear and intimidation the only way to build a truly great (not just really good, but great) company? Is kindness a recipe for mediocrity? It\u2019s a tough question. And let\u2019s not kid ourselves that we are always the champions of kindness. When we, as customers, are on the receiving end of a consumer brand screw-up, whether it\u2019s an airline gate attendant ignoring delayed passengers or a software update that disables our cell phone, we sure wish that the company had a dictator at the top prohibiting a culture where these things could happen.<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button _builder_version=&#8221;3.0.64&#8243; button_text=&#8221;Read the full article&#8221; url_new_window=&#8221;off&#8221; button_alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; background_layout=&#8221;dark&#8221; custom_button=&#8221;on&#8221; button_letter_spacing=&#8221;0&#8243; button_icon_placement=&#8221;right&#8221; button_letter_spacing_hover=&#8221;0&#8243; button_bg_color=&#8221;#a75050&#8243; button_border_width=&#8221;0&#8243; button_use_icon=&#8221;on&#8221; button_icon=&#8221;%%24%%&#8221; button_on_hover=&#8221;off&#8221; button_text_color_hover=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; button_bg_color_hover=&#8221;rgba(167,80,80,0.86)&#8221; custom_css_main_element=&#8221;width:100% !important;&#8221; button_url=&#8221;https:\/\/hbr.org\/2014\/03\/be-kind-to-your-employees-but-dont-always-be-nice&#8221; \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Depending on the day and the employee you asked, I\u2019d rate anywhere from a zero to a seven on the unkindness scale (10 being a tyrant)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - 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