Measuring Kindness

I recently had an interesting conversation with a couple of managers about customer service issues.

The question arose of whether a person who lacks character, kindness, and the inclination to treat people decently can be trained to deal with customers; in short, if those qualities aren't present, can they be poured in?

No magic answers immediately emerged but the discussion also sparked consideration of how seldom kindness is tested for in the applicant screening process. To be sure, there are hypothetical questions regarding how various job-related incidents should be handled, but those scenarios can be a better measurement of judgment than of kindness.

Those little intangibles such as kindness, courage, and creativity are, of course, not so little in the long run. Their importance can be obscured by the high brush of job descriptions and formal credentials.

They deserve more attention.

The Kind Executive

There might be a dissenter somewhere out there somewhere so I'll say that almost everyone likes Paul.

He is always friendly. He takes care of his team. He's a good listener, His high ethical standards are smoothly integrated into everything he does. He quietly achieves things and is willing to give credit to others.

I've never seen him playing power games or manipulating others. He's never pushed for recognition. His reputation has been that of a thoroughly reliable and thoughtful manager.

Paul was promoted to executive positions and he held several that were very challenging. He performed well in each of them. He should have been promoted even further but was not due to a promotion board that was grossly unappreciative of his accomplishments.

Paul was not soured by that setback. He never complained. He continued to work and help others as he had done before. I know what some of you are thinking. "He should have touted more of his achievements." "He failed to make political alliances."

That may be true. He is certainly smart enough to know about those options. He didn't completely neglect those strategies and yet I suspect there was a line that Paul decided not to cross, perhaps out of fear that if he did so he would stop being himself.

Paul is on my short list of one of the best leaders and most decent human beings I've ever encountered. He is far from being weak and yet sometimes I wonder, "Did the promotion board fall prey to the notion that Paul is too nice to be a chief executive officer?"