Pay it Forward!
Is this how we should all try to live? Listen here
“Pay it Forward” is a 2000 American drama film directed by Mimi Leder. The film is based loosely on the novel of the same name by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Set in Las Vegas, it chronicles 14-year-old Trevor McKinney’s launch of a goodwill movement known as “Pay it Forward”.
What this means is the recipient of a favour does a favour for three others rather than paying the favour back. However, it needs to be a major favour that the recipient cannot complete themselves.
Trevor does a favour for three people, asking each of them to “pay the favour forward” by doing favours for three other people, and so on, along a branching tree of good deeds.
Many years ago, business was quite different. Time was found to do good deeds and to find ways to help each other. Perhaps the pace of life was a little slower.
Bank Managers would know their Customers on a personal level. No need to crunch profiles into a lending algorithm.
Is small business more lean and able to offer the personal touch and do things to delight their customers in better ways…Can bureaucracy prevent those random acts of kindness?
Many organisations will have a Corporate Social Responsibility Project (CSR). As important as CSR is for the community, it is equally valuable for a company. CSR activities can help forge a stronger bond between employees and corporations; boost morale; and help both employees and employers feel more connected with the world around them.
Random acts of kindness are shown to have psychological benefits…It also puts life into perspective. The very fact that that you can do something for someone else, regardless of your personal circumstances makes you realise that that there is more to life than the routine processes with which we handle our Customers, no matter how well considered they are.
As we enter a “new world” post Covid19, will random acts of kindness remain? Can we operate a model similar to “Pay it forward”?
What will YOU do?
“You cannot do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late”
Ralph Waldo Emerson