Words White Women should STOP using...

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A quotation from Ben Franklin

If you’d be belov’d, make yourself amiable.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1744 ed.)

More about this quote: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/81…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #benfranklin #benjaminfranklin #affability #amiability #friendliness #geniality #goodnature #lovability #niceness

Franklin, Benjamin - Poor Richard (1744 ed.) | WIST Quotations

If you’d be belov’d, make yourself amiable.

WIST Quotations

In praise of nice people

https://youtu.be/TEh7Ui-Fm0k

… but this is something to forget something key about human nature. That we tend to categorically, and tragically, ignore and trample upon goodness and niceness whenever it crosses our path. We are spoilt children who rarely pay heed to the glories we are gifted.

life is too awful to treat niceness with anything other than wholehearted reverence.

#humanity #kindness #nice #niceness #people #philosophy #youtube
In Praise of Nice People

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A quotation from Naomi Shulman

   Nice people made the best Nazis.
   Or so I have been told. My mother was born in Munich in 1934, and spent her childhood in Nazi Germany surrounded by nice people who refused to make waves. When things got ugly, the people my mother lived alongside chose not to focus on “politics,” instead busying themselves with happier things. They were lovely, kind people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away.

Naomi Shulman (contemp.), American writer, essayist, editor
Essay (2016-11-17), “No Time To Be Nice: Now Is Not the Moment to Remain Silent,” WBUR, National Public Radio

More info about this quote: wist.info/shulman-naomi/80028/


#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #naomishulman #compliance #complicity #gettingalong #looktheotherway #makingwaves #Nazis #niceness #pleasantness #politeness #politics #self-distraction #tyranny #willfulignorance

Reading Round-Up – Resiliency, Kindness, and Feedback on Personality

The last month has been a whirlwind! I left one job and started another (Thank you to the SLIS team at the University of Iowa for such a warm welcome!). The ThriveLib team hosted a successful first conference! I have a couple more presentations to give before I’m done until 2026, and I’m working away on a whitepaper for PLA. While I have multiple blog posts as drafts, I thought I’d return to a weekly round-up format for the next few months. Social media feels more dispersed now more than ever (which maybe isn’t a bad thing) so returning to the blog, which people can get via email (do I want to switch to a newsletter?) seems like the best way to connect and share.

Stop Telling Employees to Be Resilient

“Lately, it feels like “resilience” has popped up as the answer to just about everything. Having a hard time because of a toxic environment? Just be resilient. Struggling to home-school your kids while working 50-hour weeks during a global pandemic? Try some resilience.

Resilience, or the ability to withstand hardship and bounce back from difficult events, is useful when it comes to work. But, too often, it’s presented in a way that overlooks structural issues and instead encourages employees to grin and bear whatever tough stuff comes their way — and to do so on their own, without disturbing their colleagues.”

This pretty nicely sums up my issues around “resilience”. It’s too often used to push responsibility onto staff rather than addressing culture, policies, or procedures that lead to burnout, lack of psychological safety, or toxic work environments.  

Self-Silencing Is Making Women Sick

“Specifically, it seems that the very virtues our culture rewards in women—agreeability, extreme selflessness, and suppression of anger—may predispose us to chronic illness and disease.”

Study: 88 Percent of High-Performing Women Get Critiqued on Their Personalities in Performance Reviews

“Focusing on someone’s personality traits rather than their skills is a waste of everyone’s time — and likely to lead to your employee’s resignation.

Being collaborative makes a difference. Being ambitious makes a difference. Or do they? Because what exactly do each of these things mean? We can look up dictionary definitions. (Collaborative: “produced by or involving two or more parties working together.” Ambitious: “having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed.”) But those don’t seem very helpful in determining the performance level of an employee.

You could call two employees who worked together collaborative even if one was an absolute jerk who argued against every suggestion from the other. They worked together on a project, therefore, they both were “collaborative.””

I would hope it’s obvious why I’m grouping these two together. We have to be aware of our continued gendered expectations of women in the workplace (and outside of it) and the harm they cause before we can address it.

Why Kindness Isn’t a Nice to Have

“Kindness isn’t soft. It’s not optional and it can’t be left to chance. Like safety protocols and performance reviews, kindness must be built into how people work. That means expectations, systems, and accountability. It’s part of the social infrastructure that builds trust, collaboration, and connection within and across an organization.

To make this real, organizations need a shared, clear understanding of what kindness looks like so that employees know when they are doing it well and consistently between colleagues, across teams and organizations, and with customers.”

I have been thinking a lot about the different types of toxic work environments lately, including the veneer of niceness vs actual thriving environments. Creating a healthy workplace takes work, including leaning into things that make us uncomfortable, like addressing the missing stair in our organization. Too often, we avoid conflict in the name of niceness and  which allows a toxic workplace to develop.

#kindness #niceness #resilience #resiliency #veneerOfNiceness

ナイスネス“バスケットボールシューズ”着想のレザーシューズ&ブーツ、艶やかコードバンで
https://www.fashion-press.net/news/135587?media=line

#fashionpress #ナイスネス #NICENESS #ファッション #アイテム #ソール #レース #コードバン #ナイスネス_エビス #NICENESS_EBISU

ナイスネス“バスケットボールシューズ”着想のレザーシューズ&ブーツ、艶やかコードバンで

ナイスネス(NICENESS)から、メンズのレザーシューズが登場。2025年7月5日(土)から25日(金)まで、ナイスネス・エビス(NICENESS EBISU)にてオーダーを受け付ける。ベースとなる...

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ナイスネス“野蚕シルク”のデニムパンツ、ブランド初の旗艦店「ナイスネス・エビス」限定で

ナイスネス(NICENESS)は、ブランド初となる旗艦店「ナイスネス・エビス(NICENESS EBISU)」を、2025年6月20日(金)、東京・恵比寿にオープン。店舗限定のデニムパンツ&Tシャツが...

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Being nice makes people like you. Hardly breaking news. But the effects of even small acts of niceness, like smiling more, can have cumulative effects. Consider niceness as a weakness at your peril. It's something of a superpower.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1085795
#sciencenews #niceness
Want better cooperation? Practice niceness

Close relationships, work teams and local communities... Cooperation is necessary for their proper functioning. It turns out that niceness can be conducive to it, as it strengthens bonds and the sense of satisfaction with teamwork, according to a study conducted in collaboration with researchers from SWPS University.

EurekAlert!

A quotation from Addison

Good-nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty. It shows virtue in the fairest light, takes off in some measure from the deformity of vice, and makes even folly and impertinence supportable.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-09-13), The Spectator, No. 169

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/addison-joseph/6068/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #josephaddison #amiability #beauty #character #cheer #cheerfulness #conversation #forgiveness #goodcheer #goodnature #niceness #rogue #vice #virtue

Essay (1711-09-13), The Spectator, No. 169 - Addison, Joseph | WIST Quotations

Good-nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty. It shows virtue in the fairest light, takes off in some measure from the deformity of vice, and makes even folly and impertinence supportable.

WIST Quotations
ナイスネスのアーバンリサーチ限定半袖シャツ、手紡ぎ・手織りの“格子柄”コットンで

ナイスネス(NICENESS)から、アーバンリサーチ(URBAN RESEARCH)限定のメンズシャツが登場。2025年5月2日(金)より、アーバンリサーチ ルミネ新宿店ほかにて発売される。アーバンリ...

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