Random Act of Kindness Day
Last week, I told my husband a deep, dark secret: the meaning behind my first-ever, AOL screenname: RAKG14. Ready for what it stands for? Random Act of Kindness Giver. And then my age of 14, obviously. So after suppressing this cringe-worthy secret for 25 years, why would I suddenly announce it to the world? Well, because February 17th is Random Act of Kindness Day.
As an adolescent, I was the nice girl, no question.
I didn’t like being a teen trapped in the nice girl box, but it seemed that I couldn’t escape the fate, so I just went with it. But when I started my career as a young adult in NYC, I had a chance to be perceived differently. And don’t get me wrong; I certainly didn’t get mean. But I had the chance to be someone else – especially professionally. I feared that if I showed too much of my softness, people would assume that I lacked a killer business instinct.
For years, I played around with different proportions of career woman and nice girl. My stamina for tough work was um… high, to say the least. And I was known as the person who’d write professional thank you notes for everything. Colleagues teased me about writing thank you notes for the thank you notes.
But as I continued getting promotions and wider exposure among executives, I had to face a reality, if I wanted to keep growing my career (on its then-track): I’d have to up my political skills. More business woman. Less nice girl. And please know I don’t say this in a negative way. Two of my best female friends have masterful political skillsets, and they exercise them in a graceful, integrous way. But for me personally, I couldn’t conjure a version of myself that could hold both identities: the badass corporate warrior and RAKG14.
Enter Ellevated Outcomes. Random Act of Kindness.
Since our business began, a lot has evolved. But there’s one opening statement from our 2017 business plan that still holds true today.
We want to delight clients so much that they can’t help but tell other people about us.
If you want to look at this through a business lens, it just makes plain sense, right? Referrals are notoriously the best clients. Birds of a feather flock together. 90% of consumers trust their peers’ recommendations.
All of this adds up to earned marketing: the most powerful kind of marketing. And of course, you get this by offering a great product. But as markets get more crowded and things become commoditized, I personally think it’s all about experience. Do a great job and delight people.
Yet believe it or not, this isn’t at all the root reason why delight is its own function in our business. The reason why we (try to!) delight clients and colleagues is because it’s a lovely way to live and be present in the world. It’s “treat people how you want to be treated” on steroids. It’s Airbnb’s secret to scaling. It sets you apart as a business, of course. But I’d offer: it sets you apart as a human.
I recently sent my faux niece a text message with a mantra to test in her now-teenage life:
It’s cool to be warm.
My very personal vision for myself, is to be a role model business person, setting the example of what I couldn’t reconcile during my younger professional years: you can be a sharp, smart, money-making business person. And you can do good, be the reliable nice girl, and maybe even the random act of kindness giver 😉
Whether the Julie-Vision-Statement speaks to you personally or not, I’ll make 1 small request this week. Whether in your business or personal life, on this February 17th, think of RAKG14. Bestow on someone a random act of kindness.
Afterall, we’re slowly but surely nearing spring: Cool is out. Warm is in.
