Last week, we listed down several reasons why being nice has its advantages in the office. Taking a few pointers from book, The Power of Nice, we reinforced the notion that you don’t have to stoop to lowball tactics just to get ahead. Today, we want to cement this philosophy by sharing an inspiring story told by book authors Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval.

There used to be a security guard at their office named Frank who would always greet everyone a warm hello. "He set a positive tone for the entire day. But we never considered how Frank might be helping our business, other than preventing intruders from entering the premises," the authors share. One day, Richard Davis, the president and COO of a large bank in the US, arrived at the office. He had flown in from Minneapolis to New York because he needed to choose which agency he should award his account. At that time, it was just between The Kaplan Thaler Group and another agency.

When Richard arrived at the building, he was warmly greeted by Frank the security guard, and when he reached the office a few minutes later, he couldn't help but talk about him. "'This guy gave me a huge hello,' he said. 'And all of a sudden, I thought, how could I not want to work with a company that has someone like Frank? How can I feel anything but good about hiring an agency like that?' Because of Frank, Kaplan Thaler was able to win the account.

You may not notice it, but being nice actually does pay off. Check out how niceness can help you shine at work below:


(Photo by Kheel Center via Flickr Creative Commons, edited by Jennifer Chan)