Kindness is Free…sometimes

I attended my first #WorkHuman conference this week in Nashville, Tennessee. What an amazing experience of speakers centered around humanity, and how to treat people in and out of workplace with respect, dignity, and to always practice kindness, without judgement.

I stayed a day later to reflect on what my take aways are from this conference as well as enjoy what Nashville has to offer in the daylight. When we go to conferences, the days are spent at the convention center and tourism takes place at night. Although, Nashville can be enjoyed at night (why they earned the name Nash Vegas), going to the same place in the morning and people watch was a different experience.

As I was walking, I came across a sign at a Starbucks that said, “Kindness is free, sprinkle that stuff everywhere”. I took the photo for posterity. A few steps later, a woman came up to me and asked if I could spare $17 to help pay for a hotel room for one more night for her and her children. She said the shelter won’t be able to take them until tomorrow. I opened up my wallet and gave her $20. I was reminded of what I just learned from both keynote speakers at WorkHuman, George Clooney who said that when we help others, it’s not a hand me down, it’s a hand up. I was also reminded of Violas Davis who said, sometimes people need to be given the rope to get out of the hole they’re currently in.

I went to the Frist Art Museum to see Dorothea Lange’s photo exhibit, “Politics of Seeing”. They were 2 college women who were behind me in the admission line. They were debating whether or not to come later because the admission will be free. I don’t know what came over me, I gave the admissions staff my card and paid for them both. They were so happy and surprised that I did that. I told them that, to enjoy the exhibit. These women who are probably on a spring break and are willing to go to an art museum was something I was delighted to gift them.

I believe that I’m already a giver by nature, but the WorkHuman experience made it easier for me to give without needing to assess whether or not it’s the right thing to do. Kindness is free, but sometimes, we may need to open up our wallet to spread it a little bit more. I’m always a work in progress and I’m truly grateful that this conference is helping me evolve as a person and as #HRPro.

There’s so much inspiration and aspiration that I picked up in the past few days. There will be more blog about it in the next days/weeks ahead.

Thank you WorkHuman (formerly Globoforce), Mike Woods and the WorkHuman crews for the amazing conference, and thank you to the WorkHuman influencers for the memories and looking forward to many more! #WorkHumany