Today, I’m thankful for the reminder that kindness is a worldwide phenomenon.
It was 20 years ago today that I learned the power of paying it forward (actually, it was not exactly today but sometime in the autumn of 2000, but the temptation to sing the opening line to the Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album was just too immense). So, I’d like to share a story from my first year at Merck in 2000.
At that time, I was encouraged by my manager (who I’ll call Sarah as a means to protect the innocent) to present the latest antifungal data at Merck’s Closed Research Update at the International Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), a critical conference where scientific exchange on microbes and the new agents to treat them were being presented. The Closed Research Update was an event attended by nearly 300 experts in the field of mycology. These physicians were attending because many were intrigued to learn about the echinocandins, the newest class of antifungals at that time. Intimidated, anxious, and apprehensive, I spent a week familiarizing myself with the available data for Merck’s first-in-class echinocandin, caspofungin.
However, when the big day came, I totally flopped.
I spoke way too fast and failed to answer the audience questions accurately. Worse, my shaking hands were on full display, complicating any attempt to highlight key data on the slides with the laser pointer. As one of the key scientific leaders told me at the dinner table after my lackluster performance, “The spastic red laser on the slides looked like flies circulating over human [excrement].” Instead of piling on, my manager, Sarah, took me aside that evening, shared her own prior less-than-stellar experiences in public speaking, and informed me of her willingness to mentor me to become a more poised, refined speaker. Prior to my next talk, she let me deliver a dry run to her as a single-person audience and offered priceless pointers. She even advocated for my attendance at a Merck-supported course, “Powerful Presentations.” The next year, I had the opportunity to watch Sarah present at several painful FDA Advisory Committee prep sessions, where I learned even more from her graceful approach. In due time, my comfort level with public speaking rose and my skills in delivering a presentation improved. When my time came to answer complex questions at a contentious FDA Advisory Committee meeting a few years back, I channeled my inner Sarah and did my best to stay calm and carry on. To this day, I feel enormous gratitude to Sarah for her generosity and warmth. She was a kind leader who taught me what Aesop first preached close to 3 millennia ago: No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.
That day, I recognized how important it is for me, now that I’m a manager, to pay it forward to my own direct reports. I appreciate that small acts of kindness have a way of perpetuating themselves into fortuitous actions. In turn, these actions result in a betterment of science, our industry, and humanity, eventually resulting in the creation of a virtuous cycle.
How fitting that I share this story with you on a day (Nov 13) that we celebrate World Kindness Day. First conceived in 1997 at a conference in Tokyo involving representatives from 28 nations, the mission of this annual celebration is simple: Create a gentler world by inspiring all of the world’s inhabitants and their governments to pledge to perform more community acts of kindness, whether random or not. The underlying premise is that we are all bound by a human condition, irrespective of who we are, where we live, what skin color we have, or what political party we support. And, fittingly on this day, what better way to tackle triskaidekaphobia (the fear of Friday the 13th) than to perform a random act of kindness.
Despite researching the topic for some time, I cannot find a reason as to why November 13 was chosen as the specific date for this celebration. Perhaps it was because back on this day in 1956 the US Supreme Court struck down segregation on buses in Montgomery, Alabama, as a violation of the 14th Amendment. The decision was borne out of an unfortunate incident that had happened the year before after Rosa Parks had been arrested for refusing to vacate her seat on a public bus.
Or perhaps it was that on this day in 1940 the same US Supreme Court struck down a covenant in a predominantly all-white, Chicago neighborhood that prohibited an African American couple from purchasing a home within their subdivision. The recent incidents in Minneapolis involving the brutal murder of George Floyd, and the protests that followed, are a stark reminder that we still have a long way to go to address the racial divide that we have in the United States.
Sadly, the prejudice we have in the world – whether it is against a particular race, ethnicity, or religious creed – is both extensive and deep-rooted. I’m not naïve to presume that my simple blog will move the world to eschew its evil tendencies. However, I do believe we can all commence by performing small acts of kindness.
So what can you do?
Well, let’s start small, like Aesop taught us. Say hello to a complete stranger at the grocery store. Or donate blood or plasma, especially if you previously had COVID-19 infection. Or come up with three organizations where you might donate during the upcoming Giving Tuesday (by the way, it’s less than two weeks away, on November 24!). Or write a thank you note to someone who helped you in the last month.
And, if none of these ideas truly appeal to you, I’d suggest you help a colleague with a challenging, upcoming presentation. Just think where this might leave them two decades from now.
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