Turning February Warmer
Depending on where you live, February can be the cruelest winter month. But there is a proven way to make it feel warmer while simultaneously contributing to the type of culture you want to build in your company.
Please tune in this week as Wayne advocates a type of contagion everyone actually wants. What works well in your experience? Please share with us in the comments.
FBI is offering The Contractor Business Boot Camp in Dallas, Denver, Toronto, and Raleigh in 2023. Contact Charlotte at ckopp@familybusinessinstitute.com to learn more about this one-of-a-kind offering.
Hi, this is Wayne Rivers at FBI where We Build Better Contractors.
This week I want to talk about turning February warmer. Depending on where you are in the country and your tolerance
for cold, you might be cold and wet and miserable, and February is kind of the deepest part of winter in most parts of the
country. So, I want to talk about, how do you make February warmer? Before I do that, I want to talk about Boot Camp.
Boot Camp, we have four classes coming up. One is full already, the one in Raleigh in February is full. So, we've got Dallas
in May, Denver in August, Toronto in October, and Raleigh again in November. So, if you have an interest in putting your
folks in Boot Camp, contact Charlotte, and we appreciate that.
There is a proven way to make February warmer, believe it or not. Scientists know that being kind to others improves our
senses of wellbeing. Well, that's not new. You've heard me talk about that before. You probably read a dozen articles
yourself about it. What they have recently found is being kind to others improves the mood of the recipient to an even
greater degree, and it encourages the recipient to pay the act of kindness forward. So, it kind of builds on itself. University
of Texas at Austin and the University of Chicago had professors that did an experiment, and they said that random acts of
kindness... And what they did is they measured how the giver felt about the random act of kindness and also how the
recipient felt about it. And the recipients consistently rated the act of kindness as bigger and more impactful than the
giver did. I think this is true, people want to perform acts of kindness, but often they don't because they think, "Ah, it's
just a little thing. It's no big deal. Ah, it's just probably not even worth the effort. They won't even notice."
Well, they will. They do. Givers of kindness consistently underestimate the value that the recipients place on the kindness.
So, it's a win-win if you think about it. So, you improve your mood by doing an act of kindness, you significantly improve
the mood of the recipient, and you encourage the recipient to pay the act of kindness forward. I mean, it's really an
inspiring thing, isn't it? So, if you're going to come down with something contagious this winter, let it be an act of kindness,
and that's the kind of contagion that can make February warmer.
This is Wayne Rivers at FBI. We'd like to hear what works for you. Thank you.
