KIND
The quiet power of kindness at work
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
**Winner - Business Book Awards 2025**
What if someone told you the key to success was kindness?
While it doesn't always make headlines, there is a growing recognition that kindness is vital to strong performance at work. In the broad range of leadership skills, kindness is inherently quieter, more personal and harder to see – and yes, less interesting or cinematic than controversial tweets and 'bullying boss' behaviour. But kindness builds empathy and trust, which ultimately creates a sense of psychological safety – and that safety leads to more creativity; a better quality of decision-making; safer critical thinking; higher levels of staff loyalty, flexibility and retention; a heightened sense of engagement; and, ultimately, higher productivity and profitability.
In KIND, Graham Allcott explores how we can create work cultures that encourage kindness. He argues that, far from being a 'fluffy' or nebulous idea, kindness and empathy are 21st century superpowers, which can transform any organization into a dynamic environment where people want to work. The author aims to convince the doubters, as well as helping already 'kindful' people, to articulate the power of kindness and make a stronger case for its greater profile in their working environments.
Drawing on psychology and neuroscience as well as management theory and business research, he shows how kindness helps encourage productive and positive work cultures. From busting three important myths that need to be addressed to engage the more cynical reader – or the reader's more cynical colleagues – to covering 'The Eight Principles of Kindfulness at Work', Graham Allcott offers practical advice on how to make kindfulness part of the fabric of your working life so both you and your team can thrive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This compassionate manual from executive coach Allcott (How to Fix Meetings) argues that acting with kindness in the workplace is better for business and employees. Pushing back against the veneration of such cutthroat "business bastards" as Jordan Belfort and Steve Jobs, Allcott cites a study that found managers who engaged in "ostracism, incivility, harassment and bullying" depressed employees' productivity, retention, and quality of work. Being kind doesn't mean being a pushover, Allcott contends, suggesting that readers tell colleagues what they need, rather than want, to hear. For example, he recommends providing feedback to underperforming employees even if doing so feels uncomfortable, explaining that managers should "make clear you're FOR the person" and address their actions, not their character. Among Allcott's "eight principles of kindness at work," the mantra "people first, work second" best illustrates his empathetic outlook by suggesting that personal matters should sometimes trump business considerations. For managers, this might look like granting requests for time off even when doing so means sacrificing productivity. Unfortunately, other "principles" are just common sense, such as when Allcott exhorts readers to "listen deeply" by holding eye contact with and refraining from interrupting interlocutors. Aside from a handful of studies and anecdotes about famous CEOs, this doesn't provide much evidence to back its claims. Still, business leaders will appreciate Allcott's sensitive spin on management.
