Kindness
by Miki Saxon
“Kindness is cool” according to Amanda Giese, Founder/President of Panda Paws Rescue, in the opening credits of her show on Animal Planet.
Kindness is a lot more than cool; in fact, kindness can save lives according to new research.
And that applies to work, as well as the world at large.
Old research
A 1978 study looking at the link between high cholesterol and heart health in rabbits determined that kindness made the difference between a healthy heart and a heart attack.
New research
Just to give you an example — because I know that there are probably a lot of CEOs or managers listening to this — but studies have shown that the strongest predictor of a man’s death from heart disease isn’t cholesterol or blood pressure. It’s his job. Or her job. Everyone knows it’s important to have a good doctor, but it’s also important to have a good manager and to give people the skills that they need to be good managers. –Kelli Harding, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, and author of The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness.
Kindness starts with empathy, the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference…
The key here is “their frame of reference.”
This is why it’s so difficult for a man to truly understand what women go through or for a Caucasian to walk in the shoes of a person of color.
So while kindness may start with empathy, it’s also what takes over when empathy can go no further.
Kindness is the most essential trait to teach kids if you want to assure their success.
It will serve them well their whole life.
It’s a critical trait for team members.
It’s the hallmark of the best bosses.
It’s not something AI will ever be able to mimic.
Mark Twain said it best.
Kindness is a language which blind people see and deaf people hear.
And everybody benefits from.
Want to learn more about the benefits of kindness? Here’s a reading list of recent books.
Image credit: Ron Mader
