Linda Kaplan Thaler in her book, “The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness”, co-authored by Robin Koval, suggests that “nice has an image problem.” She goes on to say “Somewhere along the way, using the word nice became something you said when you had nothing else to say.”
How right you are Linda and how often do we, as volunteer managers, hear that word in reference to our roles. In fact the other day, a colleague and I were discussing how our roles are often characterized by people, outside the volunteer management sector, by comments of “how nice!” While we cringe at the saccharine, somewhat patronising description of our jobs, we both agreed that there was nothing wrong with being nice. In fact it was essential and we wouldn’t want it any other way.
