Limits of Kindness vs. Niceness

Why being kind is the best investment.

Can kindness be a company’s competitive advantage? Bonnie Hayden Cheng says yes — and she’s got a business metric to prove it: return on kindness.

Cheng is a professor of management at City University of Hong Kong who researches how workplace behaviors affect interpersonal dynamics and well-being. In her book, The Return on Kindness, she explores how organizations that foster a culture of kindness see a measurable ROK — one marked by a more committed, more productive, and less expensive workforce. “Organizations that have this kind of culture around acts of civic virtue, helping, or showing support for people, those end up having employees that want to stay, are less likely to call in sick, are more committed, their performance goes up,” she says. “There's also benefits for the company in terms of higher productivity and efficiency, and even lower costs.”

In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Cheng and host Matt Abrahams explore how to build cultures of kindness — from Cheng’s RISE framework for kind leadership to why candor and compassion go hand-in-hand. Whether you're leading a team or simply trying to show up better for your colleagues, Cheng offers a compelling case for measuring what really matters: the return on kindness.

Episode Reference Links:

• Bonnie Hayden Cheng
• Bonnie’s Book: The Return on Kindness
• Ep.93 All the Feels: The Personal and Professional Power of Emotional Awareness
• Ep.132 Lean Into Failure: How to Make Mistakes That Work

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• Matt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (02:49) - What Is Kind Leadership?
• (04:51) - The RISE Framework
• (07:26) - Everyone Can Be a Leader
• (08:45) - Kindness vs. Niceness
• (11:14) - Kindness and Candor
• (12:46) - Communicating Kindness
• (14:45) - The Power of Tone and Pause
• (17:02) - Building a Culture of Kindness
• (19:14) - Protecting Kindness in Organizations
• (21:43) - The Final Three Questions
• (24:24) - Conclusion

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