Emma Seppälä, Ph.D.
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Emma Seppälä, Ph.D.

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Productivity

The Definitive Case for Being a Kind Boss

written by emmamseppala November 24, 2014
The Definitive Case for Being a Kind Boss

Happy Thanksgiving! In the spirit of holiday cheer, here’s some good news: the hard data on being a nice boss. It literally pays to be kind!

There’s an age-old question out there: Is it better to be a “nice” leader to get your staff to like you? Or to be tough as nails to inspire respect and hard work? Despite the recent enthusiasm for wellness initiatives like mindfulness and meditation at the office, and despite the movement toward more horizontal organizational charts, most people still assume the latter is best.

The traditional paradigm just seems safer: be firm and a little distant from your employees. The people who work for you should respect you, but not feel so familiar with you that they might forget who’s in charge. A little dog-eat-dog, tough-it-out, sink-or-swim culture seems to yield time-tested results and keep people hungry and on their toes. After all, if you’re a leader who seems like you care a little too much about your employees, won’t that make you look “soft”? Won’t that mean you will be less respected? That employees will work less hard?

New developments in organizational research are providing some surprising answers to these questions.

Read on at Harvard Business Review

Photo Credit: Namita Azad Photography

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The Definitive Case for Being a Kind Boss was last modified: August 11th, 2017 by emmamseppala

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4 comments

MonsieurJ November 26, 2014 - 8:29 am

Hi Emma,
thanx for this post, reminding us, managers, that we should live and die for and by our teams. I attended a Cade Meng Tan conference in Paris a few months ago and he emphasizes that the most successful managers are the ones who “love” their team. Even in the military sector !
this is what I try to explain in this video as well : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8nvX4T10Oc

Keep fighting for Love !

Reply
varghese john November 30, 2014 - 1:06 pm

I guess the objective being to get `quality work’ done the emphasis of both,the Decision Maker and the Implementor should be to `focus’ on Job to be done.Sufficient Mindfulness, Meditation practices would add an holistic angle.So also additional incentivisation for Individuals or groups as the case maybe should be looked into.I am not thinking only of immediate monetary incentives but a structured long-term plan too.A work out fear attitude I guess will not work.Team-work towards a common goal is the need.

Reply
Bernd March 6, 2015 - 8:41 am

Nice leaders have healthier employees? This sounds resonable. But what about the leaders themselves? Are they healthier if they are kind? If you could proove this, it would be a better motivation for the leaders to change their behavior.

Reply
Emma Seppala Ph.D. January 13, 2016 - 2:03 pm

Yes, research shows that when you live your life with greater kindness you are happier, healthier and even live longer.

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