Can goodness and power coexist?

We've been told that nice guys/girls finish last. That you have to be the “Alpha Male” type to win in business. That you have to be brutal to succeed.

But I recently found an article on being good in the most unlikely place (by conventional standards). It was one of the essays by Paul Graham, who typically writes about startups. https://www.paulgraham.com/ronco.html

In his essay 'The Ronco Principle', Paul writes:

"When I first came to Silicon Valley, I thought, 'How lucky that someone so powerful is so benevolent.' But gradually I realized it wasn’t luck. It was by being benevolent that Ronco became so powerful. All the deals he gets to invest in come to him through referrals. Google did. Facebook did. Twitter was a referral from Evan Williams himself. And the reason so many people refer deals to him is that he’s proven himself to be a good guy."

How does being good help?

• Good people choose to work with people they like. Being good is the easiest way to be likable.
• Good people attract other good people. The reverse is equally true: Not-so-nice people repel good people and attract others like themselves.People are comfortable referring good people to their networks, as they pose a lower risk to reputational trust.

Being good doesn’t mean:

• Being a people-pleaser
• Being a pushover
• Being unable to say "No"

In fact, good people can say "No" more easily—without being misunderstood. When you’re consistently genuine and fair, people understand that your “No” isn’t personal, it simply reflects the situation.

Good people can and must be assertive. Assertiveness is not a contradiction to being good; in fact it is an essential part of it.

Paul writes - "Good does not mean being a pushover. I would not want to face an angry Ronco. But if Ron's angry at you, it's because you did something wrong."

Why be good?

• It’s easier
• There's no guilt
• There's little risk of offending the wrong person

Why should entrepreneurs be good?

Not just with investors or customers—but with everyone. Startups are hard by nature, and you need all the help you can get.

• Good people get help. You wouldn’t believe the lengths people will go to help you—just because you’re a good person.
• You build a reputation—and in business, reputation can be everything.
• You attract the right people: co-founders, investors, mentors, advisors, vendors, and customers.
• Being good, like any other habit, compounds over time.

This doesn’t mean you can fake being good to get these benefits. Sooner or later, people can tell fake from real. It’s hard to act like a good person without being one.

As Paul Graham puts it: “You can’t seem good without being good.”

What if you're not good?

In today’s interconnected world, if you’re not good, word gets around—from investors to customers to vendors. And it becomes very hard to do business with that kind of reputation.

So, how to be good?

It’s actually simple: Avoid behaving in ways you wouldn't appreciate from others.

How to be a good manager? check out this article by my teammate Kethana- https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7330816571038162946/

For a more comprehensive to-do list, refer to my earlier article on Culture  - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/culture-cause-effect-behaviour-kaushal-singh/