A set of research studies reported in the Wall Street Journal found that nice people–people who are polite, honest, outgoing and compassionate–are more likely to rise to positions of power in the organizations they worked for. These findings held true for corporations, the military and politics. It turns out that people bestow authority on people…
My wife recently made a trip to Costco on a Sunday afternoon to purchase, among other things, a rotisserie chicken. When she arrived at the counter where the chickens are displayed, she noticed that all the cooked chickens had already been taken. As she looked around, she saw that the rotisserie was full of chickens…
My wife, who directs a foster care and adoption agency, recently taught a class to would-be foster parents. She was discussing some of the challenges and difficulties that come with being a foster parent when one of the people attending the class raised her hand and said, “We do not want to have our life…
A good friend of mine, who is a social worker, made the following touching post on Facebook about the importance of listening. “For the last several months I’ve been working with teenagers who are getting ready to age out of foster care. I’m teaching them life skills such as how to apply for and get…
The Wall Street Journal recently carried a story by Glenn Ruffenach about a New Jersey resident named Paul Giannone. Mr. Giannone retired from spending nearly 30 years in the information technology field. He said he picked his career because, “I made good money…but I had absolutely no passion for it.” What he did love was…
Katheryn Robinson posted a story about Chris Lamb, a terminal cancer patient from Tucson, on nbcnews.com. Mr. Lamb is partially blind and has a slightly paralyzed right side and three tumors in his brain. Instead of moping about his condition and feeling sorry for himself, Mr. Lamb stands at an intersection, five days a week,…
My friend Mary was in a checkout line at her neighborhood grocery store. In front of her was an elderly woman who looked frail and was hunched over. When it came time for this woman to pay her bill, she didn’t have enough money. Without hesitation, the checker, who was a young man in his…
Many people try to avoid difficult situations. They say to themselves, “I think I’ll be kind to myself and take the easy way out. After all, the easy way out involves less effort, less hassle, less stress and it hurts no one.” In reality, taking the easy way out is actually not being kind…
I used to play on a co-ed softball team and I was, by far, the oldest person on the team. One night, as I was picking up a bat, Heather, who batted ahead of me said, “When I first started playing, people would say to me, ‘Keep the bat on your shoulder and try to…
A friend shared this quote with me at a recent meeting. It makes so much sense. If you don’t start, you can’t finish. If you don’t attempt, you can’t succeed. A philosopher once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” The same thing holds true for a journey of a…