The Nice Blog

Fri, August 27, 2010 - 8:46:08

“Awesomeness Reminders” Gets into the Business of Compliments

Mark Twain famously quipped, “I could live for two months on a good compliment.” But, what if you could earn a living just by saying something nice to people all day long? According to a post by Time Magazine’s blog, Newsfeed, that’s exactly what one new company is aiming to do.

The business, appropriately named “Awesomeness Reminders,” offers monthly, biannual, and annual subscriptions for their one and only service, which—you guessed it—is a daily phone call from a live person telling you “you’re awesome” (or any other “custom” compliment you would like to request). 

This unconventional new service is already garnering attention from big names in the media and blogosphere and while it’s too early to tell if Awesomeness Reminders will turn a profit, it’s a clearly turning heads.  Why? Because NICE has more power than you might expect—especially when it comes in the form of a compliment. But, you don’t have to start your own compliment delivery service to harness its unique power. You can use NICE to your professional advantage starting today.

Posted by Linda and Robin
More    (5) Comments

Wed, August 25, 2010 - 9:00:08

NICE Means Resolving Conflict, Not Avoiding It.

When we wrote THE POWER OF NICE, we set out not only to share the unique way it shaped our company, the Kaplan Thaler Group’s, dramatic ascent to the top of the advertising industry, but to correct a common—and dangerous—misconception about NICE people everywhere: that they’re pushovers and Pollyannas, simply too weak to get the job done. 

As countless business success stories, scientific research studies, and personal experiences shared with us from readers around the world have shown, NICE really does finish first. But, even today, NICE has a bit of an image problem. So, granted, we weren’t terribly surprised this morning when we saw a Harvard Business Review blog post on inter-office conflict bearing the headline: “Is Your Culture Too Nice?” But, we would like to set the record straight. Being NICE doesn’t mean walking away from conflict. It means resolving it in the most constructive—and effective—manner.

Posted by Linda and Robin
More    (19) Comments

Thu, August 19, 2010 - 9:36:56

Power and NICE

Which came first: the power or the tyrant? It’s the perennial “chicken-and-egg” question of the business world that Wall Street Journal columnist Jonah Lehrer asks in his essay, “The Power Trip.” Although everyone from 16th-century Italian philosopher Machiavelli to 21st-century Harvard Business Review contributor Jeffrey Pfeffer has theorized about the link between overt aggressiveness and power, psychologists tell Lehrer quite a different story. Contrary to popular opinion, NICE characteristics such as politeness, honesty, and outgoingness are much more likely to lead people into positions of power. But, once they get to the top, experts caution that it can be a slippery slope. Why? Because of something scientists call the “power paradox.”

Some scientific studies suggest that being in a position of authority has a unique effect on the human brain, that can cause people to become less sympathetic to the emotions and concerns of others—and as history has shown us, this can have a devastating effect on a business’ bottom line. But, fortunately there is hope. In order for NICE guys who made it to the top to avoid falling victim to the power paradox, all they need to do is flex their NICE muscles, daily.

Posted by Linda and Robin
More    (2) Comments

Fri, August 13, 2010 - 10:17:25

Bowing Out Gracefully

It’s been quite an entertaining week for working people across the nation. Tuesday, a series of 33 photos featuring a twenty-something assistant quitting her job in dramatic, whiteboard message fashion was posted on TheChive.com and became a viral hit. Although it was later revealed to be a hoax, her brazen “I quit!” moment really struck a chord. But, no matter how fun it might be to live vicariously through “the white board girl”, emulating her behavior won’t do you any favors.

Posted by Linda and Robin
More    (10) Comments

Thu, August 12, 2010 - 2:20:43

Women and the Uneasy Embrace of Power: A NICE Rebuttal

Throughout our lives, many of us are bombarded with statements like “it’s a dog-eat-dog world” and you “can’t get to the top without stepping on a few people’s toes.” But, our experience in climbing the ranks of the ad industry and founding the Kaplan Thaler Group, one of the nation’s fastest growing agencies—a company, which we might add includes NICE-ness as one of its core values—tells a very different story.

Even with the popularity of our book, THE POWER OF NICE: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness, we’ve found that NICE still has an image problem. And that was apparent as we read Jeffrey Pfeffer’s Harvard Business Review blog post, “Women and the Uneasy Embrace of Power.” So, we’d like offer our thoughts.

Posted by Linda and Robin
More    (11) Comments