| June 2006 In this issue... A BE NICE Story People Profile/ Monthly Audio Message Corporate Corner Do Something! Quote of the Month And on BeNiceOrElse.com: Featured Article Reward Nice People Past Newsletters May 2006 Community Responsibility April 2006 Find Your Own Path March 2006 Motivate Yourself and Others February 2006 Let Your Inner Beauty Shine January 2006 Teamwork 2005 Archives 2004 Archives And from the BeNiceOrElse Audio Archives:  Helice BridgesWho You Are Makes a Difference Hear from the inspiring woman who left a successful real estate career to pursue a mission to bring “acknowledgement” to the world. Send this newsletter to everyone you know or mean people will track you down! (Or Else!) identifies the factors that keep people from being nice — and how to overcome them. Learn More Testimonials Buy the Book Quantity Pricing Attention We’d love to hear your comments, suggestions, and stories! Send them to editor@
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BE NICE IS CATCHING ON!
 Hi Everyone,I recently had an amazing experience that left me both ecstatic and hopeful that there truly is a kindness/BE NICE movement. On May 20, I was on American Airlines flight 114 from Los Angeles to Newark. As I boarded the flight, the American Airlines employee who was taking tickets at the door was so pleasant, funny, and charming that I turned to my partner and said, “She just made my whole day!” Had she been the only kindness guru that day, it would have been sufficient, but it did not end there. On board there were at least five flight attendants, and every single one of them was over-the-top nice, fun, nurturing, and downright loving toward everyone on the plane. I have to tell you . . . their attitude and approach toward “doing their job” set off a chain reaction throughout the entire flight. All of a sudden, passengers were getting up out of their seats to help fellow passengers store heavy bags in the overhead bins, giving up their seats to accommodate families sitting together, and simply having pleasant conversations to get to know each other. Throughout the long five-hour flight, I witnessed groups of passengers huddling with flight attendants in sections of the plane, chatting, laughing, and even exchanging contact information to stay in touch. I tell you, it was magical! So, in tribute to the American Airlines employee Traci Lorraine Young and others, and to passengers Janis Adamo, Renato Blaskovic, and others, I thank you for restoring my faith that this BE NICE message lives in many, many people. Thanks for helping me live my fantasy of spreading this BE NICE message and giving nice people a voice! XOXO, Winn A BE NICE Story Do you have a BE NICE story to share? Send it to editor@BeNiceOrElse.com. If it appears in the newsletter, you’ll receive a BE NICE T-shirt and CD! This letter brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. Being nice really is contagious!  Dear Winn,Last Wednesday I brought home a new puppy. On the way home, I was admittedly more focused on what was happening in the back seat than on the “rules” of the road. A police officer put his blue lights on and signaled for me to pull over. I pulled out my license and registration, rolled down the window, and the conversation went like this: O: You were speeding. M: Oh dear. How fast was I going? O: You were going 65 mph in a 50 zone. M: Oh no. That’s bad. I am sorry. I just picked up this puppy, probably/definitely why I wasn’t paying attention to the speed limits. The officer runs my license and registration, then comes back and says: O: Right now I don’t much like my job. M: I’m sorry. O: I have to give you a ticket. You were going 15 miles over. M: I understand. Again, I am sorry. Nineteen years without a ticket, my time is up. (Let me tell you I was holding back tears! My record was ruined.) O: I know. You seem like such a NICE lady. M: Thank you! I promise I won’t speed again or I will at least be aware of my speed and limits. O: I know you will. (Hands me ticket.) M: Thank you. At 9:30 that night, my phone rings. O: This is Officer Hearned from the police department. I pulled you over this evening. M: Yes? (Wondering what else I could have done wrong.) O: Shyla, I can’t be the one who ruins your 19-year record. You are just too nice. Please put your ticket in the mail to my attention and drive safely. M: WOW! Thank you! Now if that’s not a testament to how being nice makes a difference, I don’t know what is. Thank you Winn! Shyla Boyce PS: I am donating the amount of my ticket to a charity to keep karma up as well. People Profile / Monthly Audio Message  My good friend David Wagner is a world-renowned hairstylist, artist, entrepreneur, educator, and Daymaker. The author of Life as a Daymaker: How to Change the World by Simply Making Someone’s Day, David goes out of his way to catch people being nice. He notices even the tiniest stories of people being kind. David’s Daymaker movement asks, “What if you could change the world by making someone’s day?” He suggests that you just notice the people you encounter in life and provide a small gesture to make their day. When you give others the quality of attention that makes them feel important, smart, beautiful, or unique, it’s nearly impossible to focus on your own problems. “As a Daymaker, all of a sudden everything you do, whether it's letting someone merge into traffic or simply offering the waitress a friendly smile of appreciation for serving you, creates what I call ‘perfect moments,’” David says. “After all, days are made of moments and it's how we choose to be in those moments that shape our day and, in fact, our lives.”  We’ve featured David’s interview in this newsletter before, but it’s so good we decided to run it again. Listen in and find out how you can become a Daymaker.If you enjoyed this month’s audio message, you’ll love our MASTERS Audio Club. CLICK HERE for more information. Corporate Corner This month’s Corporate Corner comes from Melissa Giovagnoli, founder and president of Networlding and the Networlding Leadership Resource Center and speaker, coach, consultant, and author of the bestselling book Networlding. Both Melissa’s book and her company focus on building transformational relationships between organizations that share a common belief in integrity and treating people right. Networlding is a simple and powerful process to build transformational opportunities with small groups of friends and colleagues. It’s all about doing well by doing good so you can do even more for the world. Anyone can start a Networlding circle. For example, you can help a group of disadvantaged youth adopt a park to clean up for three months. Or you can host a mentoring session to teach these same youth how to write résumés or network for jobs after they graduate. For a free 100-page guidebook to start your special community project, send an e-mail to info@networlding.com or visit www.networlding.com. Do Something! Here’s one of my favorite ways to recognize niceness and bring more fun into a workplace. In every single location of my company, and in many other businesses I know of, we have what we call our “Caught Ya!” board. Near the Caught Ya! board, we keep preprinted three-by-five-inch cards with the caption, “Caught Ya!” on the top. Whenever a staff member sees another staff member doing something wonderful for a customer or coworker, they’re encouraged to “write them up.” A Caught Ya! message could read something like, “To Janet: Your smiling face and jokes are what I most look forward to when I walk into work each day.” Or, “To Derrick: Thanks for surprising me by cleaning up the stock room.” It’s so easy to catch someone doing something wrong. Someone in your organization makes a mistake, and you say, “Aha! I caught ya!” Remember, you’ll promote, encourage, and create what you look for and focus on. If you look for people to make mistakes, they will. If you think it’s your job to be a policing agent and catch people doing things wrong, then that’s what you’ll encourage people to do, and they won’t let you down. How about trying a different approach? How about encouraging your entire organization to catch each other doing things right? If you like this idea, how about creating a family Caught Ya! board at home? Families can be so busy, and they rarely get the time together they long for. Plus, Mom and Dad can easily fall into the trap of recognizing and punishing all the bad things their children do. Imagine how a family’s dynamics could change if Mom and Dad came home from a hectic day, glanced at the family Caught Ya! board, and read, “Hey Matt: Thanks for sticking up for me in front of those kids at school today. You’re the best brother a girl could ever have!” CLICK HERE to download a Caught Ya! PDF. Just print it out, cut each sheet into individual cards, and place them near your Caught Ya! board.
Walk the talk and wear the talk.
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Winn Claybaugh’s Be Nice (Or Else!) The Newsletter! |