Setting an amazing example in business and in life

As we race through our day to get the kids off to school, push our careers forward, check our BlackBerrys and iPhones 50 times a day, throw supper on the table and slide the kids under the sheets…we often have no time for the small stuff. No time to write a handwritten thank you note, respond to incidental emails, make eye contact and small talk at the grocery store. No time because we have bigger, more important, more cost efficient ways to spend our time. Or do we?

I’d like to introduce you to two women who have made a huge impact in my work and in my life—Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval. They run a billion dollar+ advertising agency which they founded 11 years ago. But more interesting to me than the money they have generated has been the way they have achieved this level of success.

They have flown in the face of convention—in an industry dominated by dog eat dog, they were…nice. Their books, The Power of Nice and The Power of Small site example after example of how they landed their largest clients, attracted the top talent in the country, and kept turnover to a minimum by reaching out with a kind word, a bit of empathy and paying attention to the smallest details. The very things we don’t think we have the time for as we race toward our goals or scramble just to survive.

Linda and Robin have proven that the opposite is true—that we don’t have the time to forget our common decency, our sense of compassion and the hundreds of small opportunities that present themselves each day—small things which could make a big difference to others. To ourselves.

So how did their work impact me?  Lord knows this is not fun to admit. A couple of years ago as I was wrapping my promotional tour for Side Effects and also in the midst of launching the radio show, Linda and Robin’s first book, The Power of Nice, landed on my desk. I picked it up, not at all in the mood to read, but the title called to me so I thought I’d skim a couple pages. Two hours later, I turned the last page and sat there alone and quiet in my office for the next hour. I thought about all the times over the previous two years when I had been so busy doing the big stuff—making movies, creating the radio show, interviewing with the media—that I had failed to return phone calls, or send a heartfelt thank you note or take the time to offer a word of encouragement to those reaching out to me with their own dreams. The times where I overlooked the importance of individual, human connection—because I was lost in a fog of 'too damn busy'.

And this made me choke. And realize why my success to that point had felt so empty. And why I felt so exhausted. Somehow in the midst of the push I had lost my way—forgotten my roots, my values and sometimes the very people who were making it possible or cheering me on. For a second, I wanted to throw that darned book across the room.

But instead, I gave it a little kiss. And quietly said “thank you”. Thank you Linda and Robin. Your fun and gentle reminder ended up being a big kick in the tush for me. A kick I needed.

I may not get as much ‘done’ now in terms of productivity as the business or media world define it…but I do take a big chunk of my day to interact with people within my reach—my kids, my audience, the clerk at the drugstore. And I feel more successful than ever.


Read Linda and Robin's books, follow them on Twitter, and listen to Kathleen’s previous interview with one half of this dynamic duo, Linda Kaplan Thaler.