Andrea Pietrini | Chairman, YOURgroup | Author of "Fractional Manager"
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Last year, I was chosen as the ambassador of a club called "Club Uomini Gentili," and it was an incredible experience. I've always considered myself a kind person, but having this soft skill officially recognized was truly rewarding for me.
Recently, however, I've noticed a new trend in the USA and U.K.: the so-called kindness economy. I was intrigued—has someone finally recognized the importance of kindness in the business ecosystem? It seems that kindness is slowly gaining the significance it deserves.
Based on my own experience, I think kindness is part of a valuable set of skills that allow someone to exhibit deep empathy.
I think the kindness economy is deeply rooted in the broader concept of empathy and the bonds generated by these soft skills. The concept of empathy comes from ancient Greek roots. It's composed of two parts: ἐν (em, in English) meaning "in," and πάθεια (pathos), from the Greek word παθ- πάσχω, which means "suffering" or "feeling." Roughly translated, it means "I'm in suffering" or "I'm suffering." Over the centuries, this concept evolved from Greece through the Roman Empire to Britain, which later created a new colony called the USA. It's fascinating to observe how words and their meanings evolve over time.
Today, we define empathy as understanding others' feelings—it is, or should be, part of human nature. Kindness is one of the many tools that allow for a more structured empathy to understand others' feelings. Unfortunately, these concepts, especially in the Western world, are often overlooked in favor of more "efficient" approaches like "fail fast, fail safe" or "work hard, play hard." These are cool mottos, but in my experience, they often overlook the broader and more evolved aspects of human nature.
When I consider value exchange, focusing on simple monetary exchanges—like trading money for items (products or services)—is efficient among strangers. Money is ultimately the tool of distrust: I don't trust you, so I prefer to receive something neutral like money for my service or product, something I can exchange for other services or products. But what happens when you introduce kindness or even more empathy into the transaction?
Nowadays, even in the Western world, there's a more colorful approach to exchanging time, services or products. For example, in Italy, we have "caffè sospeso": When we buy our morning coffee at a bar, we pay for a second one for someone who can't afford it. Many Iranian people leave second-hand clothes on external walls for the poor to take for free. To see things from a broader perspective, empathy and kindness need to be leveraged. In a more structured society where economics dominate, value-exchange practices tend to emerge within niche groups. Clusters of people sharing common visions and values accept a different value exchange system.
As Geoff Easton and Luis Araujo wrote in "Market Exchange, Social Structures and Time," "Exchange processes are embedded in the dense fabric of social relations, and economic exchange is rarely able to rid itself of non-economic exchange baggage such as social exchange, kinship and friendship networks, altruism, and gift-giving." Essentially, even scholars agree that some level of nonmonetary exchange can exist but is not entirely separate from monetary recognition for the value of products or services.
When I founded my company, after a decade as a CFO, I wasn't aiming to create a pro-bono organization. However, I questioned whether it was possible to bridge the gap between doing things for pleasure and doing things for business. All the managers who joined my organization had a monetary vision in mind, which is a fact, but during the selection process, I made a significant effort, and later my recruitment team did as well, to delve deeper into each candidate's human layers. I wasn't looking to create a classic management consultancy where people join just for money. Money is important—no one denies this fact—but it should be a byproduct.
I believe work should be about solving problems, enriching lives and making the world a better place. Money should be the reward for your contribution, not the main drive. Following this approach, I put a lot of effort into finding candidates with kindness, sympathy and a strong sense of empathy.
Finance is often seen as a heartless industry. But what happens if you manage to spread empathy within the company you join as a fractional manager? Near-money exchange practices involve trading value items for equivalent near-money items, implying an exchange of nonmonetary items like traditions and values. Many of the companies where the managers I work with are involved are family businesses with strong family governance.
When a “stranger” enters the governance of an inner circle built on empathy and other nonrational elements, they need more than just efficiency. Family governance embodies the entire history of the family that founded and manages the company. It includes the founder’s traditions, the emergence of new visions from the founder’s offspring and clashes within the family that deepen divergent strategic visions. As a fractional manager, kindness is a crucial skill to integrate into a family business, followed by empathy to enhance each relationship between the manager and the family.
So, while money talks, kindness gently whispers to those willing to listen. Speaking loudly in a family company is rarely a good strategy. Each of my managers comes from a well-structured multinational company where maintaining a position is a good strategy. But in a family company, each decision is made with a rational approach embedded with feelings, nostalgia for past positions and fear of the unknown—all understandable feelings requiring a kind approach from the manager, who needs to incorporate a strong empathic vision.
This is what I consider the kindness economy: a vision strongly rooted in a money-based framework but kindly shaped to support nonmonetary approaches, allowing family companies, big or small, to be nurtured by nonfamily managers driven by a vision combining rationality with traditions, empathy and other human values that create the company.
The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.
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