Kindness is a Special Key in Business

In a warm bustling Italian café sitting across from a friend, who is also one of my board members, we talked about challenging teenage life faced by our children. My friend laughed as I recounted my own shenanigans in an attempt to make her daughter’s current experiences seem normal since my friend admitted to being a straight A student who never rebelled. She acknowledges she was a nerd as I giggle with her.

As we walked out the door in a lighthearted mood, a woman near the door looked at me with my pink hat and lack of hair and said, “I’ve just been diagnosed myself.” I knew she thought I had cancer since I get that comment a lot by my appearance. I responded, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear your news. What were you diagnosed with?” She told me about her recent bile duct cancer diagnosis and admitted she was having a hard time. Then she said, “What do you have?” I responded, “It is not cancer, it is alopecia.” Then I said, “But I love giving hugs to women who need support,” and I reached out and hugged her.

My friend was witnessing the exchange and said to me, “Tracy, it must be hard every time someone thinks you have cancer.” I admit I typically feel guilty but realize it is okay because it is about the other person needing to acknowledge and share their own story, more than it is about me or my appearance. “If I can give someone a hug and it makes them feel better, I’m glad. If I could hug every woman who has cancer, illness or a health condition, I would if it made them feel better,” I announced. “You are kind Tracy,” my friend says.

In the current American state of affairs and throughout social media, kindness isn’t often talked about. In fact, it’s ignored. Kindness isn’t talked about either in customer service policies. Kindness is typically a word reserved for young children making friends or helping someone who is in need. It is not part of business vocabulary as much as it should be. Perhaps because I learned to be kind from my two grandmothers, I am.

I believe in delivering kindness as a woman entrepreneur working with other women. Entrepreneurship can be a tough, solo journey and who better than another woman to soften the hard times by lending an ear or shoulder. The genuine act of touch is needed in today’s world. It might not be what we want from men in the #metoo age but it is a natural gift women can give each other. I often apologize for hugging everyone I meet by saying, “I’m sorry I’m a hugger!” It might not be what gets me to the top of the most accomplished women in business charts but it’s the essence of relationships and how I care for people. At the core, kindness is simple and underrated.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to have you think of kind people who have been in your life and then infusing their gentle, affirming spirit into yours. Could your business use more kindness as a principle customer service policy? Could you do more kind acts for your clients or staff? What type of difference could weaving kindness into your business principles do to change customer loyalty or office attitude?