Business

Last weekend I was discussing with my six year old boy the difference between being nice and being kind.  Explaining this to a six year old is kind of like explaining the difference between ethics and morality to an attorney (I have had this discussion with several Indianapolis attorneys).  Kindness is something deeper than niceness.  Being nice is situational.  Being kind is a sincere ability to care about someone else’s well being.  Niceness is easy to fake.  Kindness is not.  Being kind is sometimes nice, but often it is not.  Kindness is real; it is relational.

I believe that the strongest business partnerships are based on kindness – not niceness.  Whether your dealing with a relationship with a co-owner, investor, professional partner (see Alerding Castor’s Partners in Success page), vendor or customer, ask if you are truly looking out for the good of your partner, or whether your goal is merely to be pleasant.  The former creates a relationship of trust that has long term benefits for all involved.  The later creates nothing more than a pleasant situation - one that is good enough to keep business going for a while, at least until something better comes along.