In Defense of Kindness

Being a jerk makes it harder to succeed. Not easier.

“Nice guys finish last.”

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world.”

“You have to be a jerk to be successful.”

I’m sure you’ve heard these maxims at some point in your life. Perhaps you’ve even espoused them yourself?

Such sayings are often repeated and rarely questioned. But are they even true?

If you view the world as a zero-sum competition, where there are simply ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, and ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ in every human endeavour, then I understand how these sayings may ring true. After all, if this perspective is true then in order to ‘win’ you must be selfish and ruthless, willing to crush anything that gets in the way of your success. If that includes your fellow human beings, so be it.

Let’s consider these sayings more carefully. Like many memetic ideas, they persist and are propagated despite their lack of precision. Perhaps their popularity and stickiness are due to their simplicity and low-resolution.