City Journal Article

He Said, He Said

To pat backs or stab 'em, that is the question.

Burlington-based consulting firm Nice Guy Strategies has written a business guide called Nice Guys Can Get the Corner Office. Does kindness really kill a career here, as the title implies? Two local CEOs weigh in.

NO: "When you make friends with key players across your industry, they want you to succeed and help pick you up when you fall." —Bert Jacobs, Life Is Good

YES: "The road to financial ruin is strewn with leaders who were too nice and unable to demand high standards. While appearing to be everyone's pal, businesspeople need to be doggedly focused and determined." —Joseph O'Donnell, Boston Culinary Group
Originally published in Boston magazine, August 2008
 

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