Leadership Training

Who says that nice guys (or gals) finish last? Certainly not Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval, co-authors of The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World With Kindness.

In their national bestseller, the two chief executives of the Kaplan Thaler Group illustrate the surprising power of nice with an array of real-life examples from the business areas as well as from their personal lives. They also include examples of what can be lost when people are NOT nice; for instance:

“A friend recently told us the story of three consulting companies vying for a very large contract. One was summarily dropped, even though the firm did a terrific presentation. Why? they wondered. It turned out that when the prospective client arrived at the airport, an executive from one of the consulting firms neglected to help with her bags. She was miffed at his rudeness and lack of manners, and decided that she didn’t want to do business with them.

Here their team had worked day and night to give the client a knockout presentation, and the entire account was lost over a suitcase.”

I found their book full of great stories and lessons learned, and felt it was a great continuation of the principles taught by Dale Carnegie in “How to Win Friends & Influence People” over 70 years ago. I especially enjoyed the chapter titled “Shut Up and Listen“. Here, not only do they show just how important listening is in business today, but they also share a great story regarding how they ended up winning a huge campaign with Foxwoods just by listening and keeping things simple.

So I highly recommend adding “The Power of Nice” to your book list as well! Ironically enough, the reason I ended up with it was because a Boston University alumnus, Jack Schecter, gave it out as a gift at a College of Communication event held in Los Angeles. The power of nice indeed!