Are “Thank You” and “Sorry” Stunting You Professionally?

One of the most valuable things my father ever told me was that it pays to be nice. That’s how he established connections and networked, maintained a social life, and earned fat tips as a New York City cab driver in the late sixties and early seventies. If I always kept my friendly disposition, he said, I’d excel professionally and personally.

But the word “nice” may be in need of a makeover. In August of this year, Dr. Timothy Judge of Notre Dame published a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology finding that women who exhibit more traits corresponding with agreeability earn less money than women who exhibit less of those traits. Judge found that agreeable females may be walked all over as a result of their good nature.

Others have come to a similar conclusion: a few weeks ago, Daily Beast columnist Amy Reiter penned a contentious column titled, “Email Etiquette: Why Being a Jerk at Work Pays.”

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