Comments on: Being nice as a long term strategy

By: farhanlalji

farhanlalji — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:08:27 +0000

I think that's a Yahoo! thing. The senior people I've met from Goog, MSFT, Voda and a lot of other companies and many entrepreneurs are not aloof at all.

Agreed though that nice doesn't need to extend to being fraternal, it's about being polite and helping people who are trying to do stuff without anything in it for themselves at the moment.

By: Dave McDowell

Dave McDowell — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:05:18 +0000

Nice is important. But, one characteristic I have noted among the most senior people I interact with is being a bit aloof. You could call it a poker face. It's good to be polite, but it's also good to keep people guessing, keeps them on their toes. So, I don't think nice necessarily has to extend to being fraternal.

By: yahnyinlondon

yahnyinlondon — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:35:43 +0000

Great post Farhan and totally agree with its sentiments.

By: farhanlalji

farhanlalji — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:31:47 +0000

Thanks for the comment Palwasha, although there is a low rate I do believe that you can find the nice ones when you look for them – and often when you're good the nice people find you out.

By: farhanlalji

farhanlalji — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:30:10 +0000

nice. I'm with Trump with the exception that my comeback isn't about crushing the people who's names I've taken, it's about being so successful that people are like crap I should have been nicer to him when I had the chance.

By: Palwasha N. Minhas

Palwasha N. Minhas — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:14:05 +0000

Oh what a wonderful thought and a super wonderful post! I totally agree with you. But theres a very low rate of chances to find nice people to work with now a days.. All this competition hype takes away the nice part from those people and made them act insane and totally crazy. You are lucky to have found such people. God bless.

By: Ed Freyfogle

Ed Freyfogle — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:11:28 +0000

reminds me of an interview I saw w/ Donald Trump during one of his comebacks. His quote was something like “When I was down and being ridiculed so many people had a chance to help me, but didn't. I remember each and every one of them and my comeback is all about crushing them”. Gotta love the motivation.

By: farhanlalji

farhanlalji — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:10:27 +0000

Definitely James, and return on niceness (RON) over time has got to exceed return on being an ass (ROBAA)! So why not invest some time in being nice to people? Seems a shame that not everyone is nice to peeps.

By: James Thurlow

James Thurlow — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:41:49 +0000

Couldn't agree more. There's only so much creativity, intelligence, analytical prowess, etc, that you are born with and can train up. Being nice is something anyone can master.