Traveling around the country interviewing dozens of people who work for and run these amazing companies, it’s hard not to catch the kindness fever. Television crews are tight knit teams of three to five people working long hours under stressful conditions. Often tempers can flare and relationships turn sour.

However, on this project, the positive vibes seem to have worn off on us and our team is working amazingly well. We’ve learned a number of little tricks, and I’ve found they instantly lead to a happier, more productive crew.

For instance, at Mitchell’s, a small family-owned chain of three high-end clothing retail stores in Connecticut and New York we attended a management meeting in which they went around the room to each person and everyone in the group said one thing about each person that they appreciated or admired. After each round of praise, the group as a whole began snapping their fingers.

I asked them what the finger snapping was all about, and they said it came from Jack Mitchell, one of the owners who first saw it as a student at Wesleyan University. It’s like a little low-key applause. Now my crew and I have begun snapping our fingers. Often when someone has done something well, one of us will acknowledge it and the whole group will start snapping our fingers. It makes that person feel good, and the individuals adhere as a team. It’s amazing how this lifts the spirits and contributes to group morale and productivity.

Gino Del Guercio

Film Director

While talking to some of the people at Google recently about how the company managed to score #1 in the “Fortune 500 Best Companies to Work For” for the past two years in a row, I came across a term that I had never heard before: Googly.

Several different people mentioned it during our interviews. Apparently it’s what you have to have in order to be one of the lucky few among the 761,000 applicants a year who gets hired at this enormously successful and fast moving company.

I asked Tim Anderson, one of the first one hundred employees to be hired. He’s been at Google for eight of the ten years the company has been in existence.

Tim explained that when someone is “Googly” it means that they’re very smart, very motivated, very good at working with others and very good at taking complex things and making them simple. But more important than anything, it means they’re very curious and they bring this curiosity with them to work.

The Googlers at Google are all Googly and some are even Super Googly. Now that must be something.

Gino del Guercio

Film Director

Kind Leaders aren’t sissies. When we say “kind”, we do not mean to imply that some one should be a pushover or sucker. A kind leader is not a permissive person whose underlings run wild.

 

Kindness like many other traits, has an optimal level that makes it a virtue as opposed to a vice. Too little or too much kindness transforms it into something ugly or disdainful. Too much courage can make one foolhardy; too much pride can make one haughty and too much politeness can make one officious.

 

Kindness it not the same as likeability. It does not preclude a full range of expression, including at times, displeasure. Nor should it be interpreted as excessive amicability. What kindness implies is an interpersonal closeness and fondness between boss and employee, but unlike a simple friendship, it comes with a lot more baggage.