## Being nice is not a 'liability' - [[A new book argues that decency pays off in business as well as in life]][^3] - [[NICE GUYS finish last.]][^3] - [[That pithy motto was coined by Leo Durocher]][^3] - [[In his case, nasty guys finished behind.]][^3] ## The power of decency in "The Art of Fairness" - [[This is one of the tales told by David Bodanis]][^3] - [[The core message in his book 'The Art of Fairness', can be found in the subtitle - 'The power of decency in a world turned mean'.]][^3] ### Supporting Example – The Empire State Building - [[The Construction of the Empire State Building]][^3] - [[Paul Starrett, the builder, treated his workers rather well by the standards of the time, paying much attention to safety and paying employees on days when it was too windy to work.]][^3] - [[Daily wages were more than double the usual rate and hot meals were provided on site.]][^3] - [[The concept is known as “efficiency wages”.]][^3] - [[Companies that compensate workers well and treat them fairly can attract better, more motivated staff.]][^3] - [[But Starrett was not naively generous; he hired accountants to patrol the works, checking that all materials were accounted for, and staff attendance was recorded four times a day.]][^3] ### Example Public Project – Danny Boyle's Olympics - [[Public projects also require management skills.]][^3] - [[The conventional approach would have been to make the volunteers sign a non-disclosure agreement.]][^3] - [[Instead, he asked them to keep the surprise—and trusted them to do so.]][^3] - [[They did, thanks to the grown-up way he treated them.]][^3] ### Counter Examples - Eastern Air Travel and Microsoft - [[The author contrasts Starrett’s story with the tale of Eastern Air Travel, an airline built by Eddie Rickenbacker, a pioneer aviator who had granted mechanics a 40-hour week, profit-related pay and a pension.]][^3] - [[Another contrast cited by the author is that between Steve Ballmer, the hard-charging chief executive of Microsoft notorious for his towering rages, and his more emollient successor, Satya Nadella.]][^3] ### Leadership means truly listening to overcome the "Power Distance" - [[This relates to a concept known as the “power distance”.]][^3] - [[Mr Boyle demonstrated one of the most important traits of good leadership, the author argues, which is a willingness to listen.]][^3] - [[Perceptions may differ sharply over whether listening takes place.]][^3] - [[A study by Johns Hopkins University found that 64% of the medical specialists interviewed felt that their operations had high levels of teamwork, whereas only 28% of their nurses agreed.]][^3] - [[Individuals can become fixated on a particular approach to resolving a problem and ignore any advice that suggests a different tack, especially if it comes from a junior colleague.]][^3] - [[“When your underlings aren’t terrified of you, and you’re modest enough to know you’re fallible, you can set up the channels that will help you avoid fixation,” Mr Bodanis writes.]][^3] - [[Ruling by fear may work for a while, but it is doomed to fail in the long run.]][^3] ## Source - https://www.economist.com/business/2020/12/12/why-fair-play-pays [^3]: [[Bartleby - Why fair play pays]]