By Ron Schmidt
“I like being a doctor more by each day I work,” she volunteered as I sat listening to Dr. V talk about her family’s flight out of Persia (Iran) before the 1979 revolution, growing up in South Carolina in the ’80s, adapting to a new culture and finally deciding to follow her father into medicine.
As she described her position at the Cleveland Clinic, her work and research in pulmonology, the many talks she gives around the world, I suddenly realized how important she is to the medical community. But then I reflected back on how much she loves what she does. And I thought to myself, how many of us could say we like what we do more and more each day? But not only would she be considered the smartest person in the room, as the saying goes, I thought back to only a few minutes before when I stepped off the elevator onto the ninth floor.
A Big Smile
When I entered the reception area and asked for directions to her office, a big smile broke out on the receptionist face when she learned I was inquiring about Dr. V. She left everything she was doing, walked around from the back of her desk and escorted me through the maze of offices, then pointed me in the direction to follow. And as I was making my way through the corridors, a second employee noticed my wayward look, inquired who I was seeing and again got up from her desk and walked me right to her office; also with a big smile. So here I was in the office of a doctor who was not only very accomplished but also very well liked. And, oh by the way, loves what she is doing.
Very accomplished, loves what she is doing, and nice to others. Think about that combination in your life and those you know. Logically these things seem to fit together.
For the moment we’ll leave the hard work, grit and determination and focus on loving what you’re doing and being nice. Do they feed off one another? The authors of The Power of NICE, Linda Kaplan and Robin Koval, seem to think so. “People know who the smartest person in the room is but they also know who is rude and thoughtless. And they know that behavior affects the outcome of a meeting or relationship…The power of nice is not about running around manically smiling and doing everyone’s bidding…it’s about valuing niceness – in yourself and in others.”
Valuing niceness and valuing what you do and how you do it. In other words, loving what you’re doing.
So for those who are entrenched with the notion that the only way to succeed is to be the nastiest s.o.b on the face of the earth, think about how things turn out for you. How do you affect those around you, how much do you love what you do and do you love it more each day?
Nice Ladies finish…first
We all have our own struggles to over come, but think about the nine-year-old-girl that fled the Ayatollah with her sister, brother and parents and settled on a new continent to teach us about not only hard work but how being nice to others can also enhance how much you love what you’re doing. And oh by the way, Power of NICE authors I mentioned, Kaplan and Koval, they’re doing OK; the ad agency they founded created the Aflac duck.
Ron Schmidt is with CBS Certified Public Accountants, LLC, Solon, Ohio. He can be reached at rschmidt@cbscpasllc.com.