From the day we were born we have been hearing various people in our lives (parents, teachers, bosses, to just name a few) to remember to always be nice. While it may seem like a cliché, I truly believe that the simple act of just being nice can get you much further along in your career, as well as life, than you would expect.
As a business owner, how people interact with others on the team is the number one thing I look out for. Creating an environment where people are excited to come to work and inspired is largely created by people being nice. It fosters teamwork, creates new relationships and makes new employees comfortable. If I see someone going out of their way to pitch in, welcome someone new, help out in any way – that sticks with me. Often times it’s that little act of just being nice that sticks with people much more than if you answered your email at lightning speed.
Conversely, having a negative attitude in the office often spreads like wildfire. Of course everyone has off days but when someone simply isn’t nice to others on the team it is a sign to me that maybe our company is not the right environment for them. It is unfortunate when people’s accomplishments are overshadowed by their attitudes.
I also firmly believe your day to day life will be more enjoyable if you focus even a tiny bit of your attention to being nice. Smiling at the person at your gym in the morning, saying hi to the people in your building, being kind to a waiter, all of these things add up and contribute to a much more positive mood and outlook on your day. You will also most likely find that it is contagious and that the niceness you put out you will get back, and then some.
So while this may seem like a small and somewhat insignificant act, just being aware of being nice can have great impact on both your career and life!
Stephanie Mark is the Co-founder and Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships for Coveteur, the leading destination for a luxurious, behind-the-scenes look at all things fashion, lifestyle and culture. She uses her innate sense of style to help drive creative direction for the company’s partnerships and collaborations, and her serious street cred in the fashion industry has led to explosive growth for the brand.
As a graduate student from Parsons with a focus in Fashion Marketing, Mark interned with Kate Lanphear, Style Director at ELLE. She then assisted celebrity stylists Leslie Fremar and Annabel Tollman with dressing and accessorizing their A-list clientele, including Michelle Williams, Charlize Theron and Julianne Moore, among others.
Mark’s experience in fashion and celebrity styling, coupled with the rapid rise of personal blogging and social media, provoked her to create Coveteur in 2011. She distinguished the brand’s identity by offering visitors a behind-the-scenes look at homes and closets of today’s most popular influencers, celebrities and tastemakers.
Most recently, Mark uprooted Coveteur’s headquarters from her hometown of Toronto to New York City; to further expand the brand (and position it for global domination).