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What happens when Kindness in missing at work, especially from leaders? David in Melbourne talks with Anita Stephen in Malaysia).

Anita is the author of "A Cup of Kindness", about why kindness belongs in leadership and what it costs when it's missing. As a lawyer, Anita spent close to ten years as a civil litigator, which had been her goal since childhood. Then when her mother died suddenly of complications from rheumatoid arthritis, she was overcome with grief. Grief left her, she says, going "from Tigger to Eeyore," and litigation became unmanageable.

She retrained as an English teacher and moved into corporate and leadership training, where she began to see her experiences through the lens of kindness. She tells the story of her pupillage under a hostile "master" who berated her in front of staff. Afterwards, every interviewer called her "rude" or "aggressive" for standing her ground, until a sole practitioner said simply, "That's fine. Start over," and gave her real high-court work from day one.

Anita and David also discuss how women in law are pushed to give up warmth to be taken seriously, and how her book grew from a blog that reached more than 10,000 readers. Her training work has taken her into rooms with leaders from Sri Lanka, Latin America, Japan and the Middle East.

She explains why kindness is the one message that "cuts through everything."

In David's three closing questions, Anita talks about the time her beloved father was injured in an accident. She had just returned from a wonderful overseas holiday and was in the middle of important work, but her kind boss just told her to go and do what she needed to for her parents.. Anita talks about why "a boundary does not make you unkind," and her honest view that public life has largely failed on kindness.

She ends with some reasons for hope. Key takeaways:

• Unkindness at work has real human costs.
• Kindness is a leadership practice, not an optional extra.
• Feedback can be honest without being cruel: "You're just being given a really good opportunity to change."
• Boundaries and kindness can coexist, and the process is "messy… painful. It isn't linear."
• Kindness translates across cultures in a way few leadership ideas do.

A Cup of Kindness by Anita Stephen (Penguin Random House Southeast Asia): https://www.penguin.sg/book/a-cup-of-kindness/

Anita's blog: https://anitastephenblog.wordpress.com/

The Singapore Kindness Movement: https://www.kindness.sg/

Connect with Anita: https://www.facebook.com/anita.stephen.12 https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitastephen-culture/

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A conversation with young author and podcaster Jacob Farkish about the message behind his creative work.

Jacob shares what first drew him to speaking up about kindness and emotional growth, his perspective on disability and respect, and what bullying taught him about spotting real friends.

We close with where to find his books, podcast, and social content.

Opening vision for a kinder world and show introduction

What introduced Jacob to the need for kindness in our world?

What sort of supports does the government provide for people with disabilities and special needs?

What did he learn about the difference between true friendship and bullying from middle school experience?

Closing with where to find his books on Amazon and his public profile on LinkedIn, Substack and his podcast - Don't Give Up with Jacob Farkash

Search for Jacob Farkash on Amazon,com to find books like: The Adventures of Even Steven and Dr. Odd Man Out: The Evens vs. The Odds

Produced by www.Zorzle.org with a vision for a global kindness movement led by children.

Join the cause by subscribing today.

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Jonathan Chrimes is a registered nurse with Lifeblood in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia — and one of LinkedIn's most consistent voices for kindness.

In this conversation we talk about what got him started posting about kindness, the "economy of kindness" and what Singapore's national kindness movement got right, why he thinks kindness has to be practised rather than assumed,

An uncomfortable truth about bullying culture in nursing ("nurses eat the young"), and his response to my pitch for a national "kindness audit" of government policy. We also talk Dolly Parton, Australian classic comedy movie, The Castle, Famous nurse for all, Florence Nightingale, World War 1 hero of many Simpson and his donkey, and why the happiest people Jonathan ever met were kids in some of the poorest villages that he visited on an overseas trip..

If you believe kindness is more than a nice idea — that it's a practice, a policy lever, and an economic force — this one's for you. 🔗 More episodes: https://zorzlekindness.substack.com//🔗 Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn / jonathan-chrimes-831071229 #Kindness #Nursing #Lifeblood #NDIS #LinkedIn #Leadership

Produced by www.Zorzle.org with a vision for a global kindness movement led by children.

Join the cause by subscribing today.