Smile and the world drives better

NOT long ago, I got a new haircut - a damned good one - and spent the entire afternoon secretly viewing my chic cover-girl reflection in store windows. Who was that Nordic beauty with the uplifted chin and sunny expression? Shouldn't she be on a ski slope somewhere?

Friends and colleagues also noticed the new do. "Did you get a new haircut," they would ask, clearly amazed by the transformation.

"Yes," I would respond, eyes slightly downcast. "But that was days ago."

I was so tickled by the new look that, for a couple of weeks at least, I stood taller, gave better tips and actually found pleasant things to think about while stopped in rush-hour traffic.

During this post-haircut time period, I noticed something curious happening in the world around me. Salespeople became more helpful. Strangers more friendly. Even my neighbours - the strident Republicans with thin, strained smiles - seemed to wave at me with more enthusiasm. Did they have new haircuts, too? Or had my own attitude changed to the point where everyone else seemed more pleasant?

I pondered this until my new look faded and then I comfortably returned to my frowning, self-indulgent self.

Three weeks after the haircut, I went grocery shopping. After I had unloaded my metal cart full of bagged groceries into the back to my car, I faced a choice to: a) wedge the cart between two parked cars and hope no one noticed; or, b) hike several miles across the windy parking lot and deposit the cart in the designated cart stall. Although option "A" was clearly more attractive, I angled my head into the wind and returned the cart to its proper home.

I was smiling as I got back into the car, knowing I had made the right, civic-minded decision about the shopping cart.

I pulled out of the parking lot and entered an extremely busy, four-way intersection where traffic lights were malfunctioning. Drivers were accelerating madly into the intersection and then braking abruptly causing passengers to slam forward like crash- test dummies. On a normal day, I would have attributed the bad driving to the idiotic nature of all drivers. But on that afternoon flush with my grocery-cart triumph, it was clear to me these drivers were just doing the best they could under trying circumstances. I felt so good about my ability to be a good citizen, that the worst driving in the world would not have bothered me.

Like the haircut, it was a startling lesson in how attitude changes everyting.

The story is not over yet, however, for just this morning I was given yet another reminder how one's own disposition can influence other people. (I am, obviously, needing a full course of study on this topic.)

I was in my car waiting for a light to change when I spotted a gray-faced young woman in a faded blue parka holding a cardboard sign that read: "Need food for family".

The woman had several missing teeth and pale red hair the texture of dried wheat. My dashboard thermometer read 21'. She wore no gloves. Before the light changed, I managed to unzip my wallet, remove a $10 bill and hand it to her. From there I drove on to one of my favourite coffee shops.

I confess: I felt good about giving the woman money for that is something I rarely do. I entered the coffee shop and noticed that instead of the usual crowd of self-absorbed professionals hunched over their laptops and lattes, there were tables full of smiling, friendly people. "No, you go first," said a short, blonde woman in the coffee line. "Why don't you sit down and I will bring the coffee to your table," offered the woman behind the counter. My new expansive mood made everyone there seem so much more generous.

What do $10 bills, grocery carts and haircuts have to do with corporate management? Well, as I reflect on these experiences, it occurs to me that managers of all types spend far too much time worrying about how to train, motivate, excite, encourage, discipline, incent and otherwise change their employees.

Maybe it is not employees who are the problem.

Maybe managers need to turn the mirror around and examine what is it they are doing to make employees seem so unruly.

Instead of spending millions of dollars on employee training programme, motivational seminars, employment handbooks and productivity incentives, the money might be better spent teaching managers how to change their attitudes and improve their effectiveness.

For me, getting a new haircut made people friendlier. Returning a shopping cart improved the skills of Denver drivers. And donating a mere $10 made people seem more generous. The funny thing about it was that nobody changed but me.

Perhaps if more managers worked to improve their own dispositions and effectiveness, then employees would not need to change at all. Sometimes the actions and attitudes of just a few people - even one - can have an amazing impact on others. It is true what they say: Smile and the world smiles with you. Frown and you frown alone next to a shopping cart that has dented your car in the wind.

The writer is an award-winning journalist and corporate communications consultant based in Denver, Colorado, U.S.. She is a contributing editor to numerous American management publications, including Workforce, Industry Week, Business Finance and Training and Development.

SHARI CAUDRON

E-mail her at OTCHindu@aol.com

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