[2022-04-04] Kindness award
Going through old emails once again, I came across a gem from an executive I mentored a few years back. She wrote to tell me that her staff had awarded her a kindness award—the very award she had established when she took over the team. She regularly sent me announcements of the monthly recipients, which always put a smile on my face.
Her kindness award certificate included these words of praise:
It is our turn to provide you with your own kindness award. Because, you've always been there for us, always have supported us and always had our backs. Thank you for always recognising our...work and efforts to senior management. Over the past 4 years, you've created an atmosphere that was fun and positive where we worked hard but played even harder. Thank you for simply being so kind. You have been a really really great boss.
In forwarding the email and certificate to me, the executive said, "My team sent me the email below with the attached Kindness Award. I know it is directed to me, but I attribute it to you as well. For being a leader that values kindness and exudes it in her daily actions and interactions. You continue to inspire me."
I did value kindness as a boss (and still do today). Being kind made my interactions with staff and colleagues better, my days brighter, and my relationships stronger. It made us all more productive, and the demands easier to tolerate. I know that I wasn't always kind, letting the pressures of the job get to me. I regretted those occasions, wishing that I had remained courteous despite my frustrations and stress. But more often than not, I managed to keep my negative emotions in check. At the same time, I delivered the messages I needed to communicate, but with gentleness and compassion.
Returning to my friend, she embodied the sentiments expressed by Leo Buscaglia:
The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear[,] an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt.
Be kind. Be a model for others. Be the person others are waiting for.
