Illustrated Blog

That act of kindness you think is insignificant likely does more good than you know. We tend to think that expressing empathy to the receptionist whose arm is in a cast, for example, is frivolous. We expect him to enjoy our nicety mildly and momentarily, but nothing more to result from it. Researchers from the University of Chicago and University of Texas at Austin, however, uncovered that the positive impact of our acts of kindness are typically greater than we think. Their new study suggests that the receptionist likely considers our interest and empathy a palpable contribution to his wellbeing and correctly so.  In fact, research shows that small acts of kindness can  improve the receptionist’s life in several concrete ways: Health. Another study found that when doctors empathized with patients

“If they can get away with it, every employee will act unethically to benefit themselves,” said Zach, a member of a team I advise. In response, his four colleagues at the table rebutted him eloquently. They told compelling stories of benevolence that made all present teary-eyed. It took the rest of the lunch hour, but they eventually cracked his cynicism. The discussion ended with him saying, “Fine. Maybe most people, most of the time aren’t self-centered pigs.” Zach’s colleagues gave him a gift more valuable than a check made out in the amount of his annual income: A non-cynical mindset. This finding is from a survey data from 125,000 people across 121 countries, as presented in the World Happiness Report 2021. The survey asked how likely respondents thought it was that

Carl, a newly-appointed regional director at a fintech company, learns that his region hires shockingly few women. In response, he works with the human resources department (HR) to establish a target for the percentage of new hires who are women. Over the next few months, however, the gender balance in hiring does not improve. Carl asks recruiters what they need to achieve the target. They request — and promptly receive — a larger budget and specialized diversity training and consultants. Several months later, there’s only minuscule progress toward the target. Carl talks again with his recruiters and provides more support. Still, the percentage of new hires who are women remains atrociously low. Finally, Carl tells his recruitment team, “I’m instituting a moratorium on male hires. We’re hiring only women for the foreseeable future. Figure it out.” Carl is trying to promote workplace gender equity. He is job purposing, defined as making a meaningful work-based contribution to others or a societal cause (Do Good at Work, chapter 4). Therefore, he will likely reap the benefits of job purposing, including greater professional success and personal wellbeing (Do Good at Work,

I recently took a walk in greater Indianapolis, where I had traveled to give a keynote. Block after block, I brooded over a question: “Why keep trying when success is unlikely?” You may know that much of my work is guiding corporate executives toward operating in a manner that serves their business and society. I agree with journalist Thomas Friedman that, in the United States at least, business is “our last best hope” – for American democracy, the natural world and our semi-functioning society. Yet, despite my efforts and those of thousands of competent and diligent colleagues, American businesses don’t appear to be on track to save much of anything. Meanwhile, time is running out. There will soon be nothing left to save. These were my dark thoughts as I shuffled across

Ukrainians are putting stickers specifying blood type on their children and signs saying “Get out of my home” in Russian on their doors. They’re being bombed. They’re fleeing senseless violence on foot. Some have lost their lives. With news like this, it’s hard to do business as usual. We want our workday to counter these injustices. But how? Following are several options. Reach out via email or social media to Ukrainian employees, clients, suppliers and other business contacts to ask how you can help. Because their countries also face the threat of war and are already managing a refugee crisis, you might want to add Poles, Moldovans, Hungarians, Romanians and Slovakians to the list of business contacts to reach out to. Invite team members to attend an anti-war protest with you.

In recent years, thousands of Amazon workers have signed a letter making demands of their employer, hundreds of Wayfair employees have walked out in protest and 5% of Coinbase employees have quit due to unacceptable employment terms. Were these workers demanding higher pay? Work-from-home flexibility? Health care benefits? None of the above. The signatories demanded that Amazon improve its environmental sustainability. The walkers urged Wayfair to stop selling furniture to U.S. migrant detention camps. The Coinbase team members found it unacceptable that their employer didn’t publicly support Black Lives Matter. These workers were risking – or altogether forgoing – their jobs for employer actions they would not directly benefit from. They were demanding corporate practices supportive of societal causes, what is known as CSR (corporate social responsibility), ESG (environment social