Over the last week, several of my colleagues have forwarded me recently published articles about the “end of nice management.” No, I’m not going to link them because I’m not here to spread bad advice. These writers claim with glee that organizations are rolling back remote work, eliminating inclusive practices, and returning to command-and-control leadership.

Let’s be clear:

  • Flexible work is not “nice.”
  • Psychological safety is not “nice.”
  • Empathy is not “nice.”

All of these things are evidence-based leadership strategies that drive better performance, higher engagement, and lower attrition. Don’t believe me? Costco’s stock is up 8.5% over the last six months, while Target’s is down 21.8%. There are plenty of other examples, but there is also nuance to every headline that’s beyond the scope of a post like this.

Here’s the TL;DR: We moved away from command-and-control leadership, not because it wasn’t “nice” but because it didn’t work.

When work evolved from repetitive, well-understood, task-oriented jobs to knowledge-based, problem-solving jobs, it changed the way leaders lead because what motivates creativity is not the same as what motivates task-oriented work.

We have academic studies from brilliant researchers including Teresa Amabile, Amy Edmondson, Adam Grant, Nicholas Bloom, and plenty of others providing abundant evidence that leaders who create psychologically safe, flexible, empathetic work environments drive better business outcomes.

So next time you read about organizations moving away from “nice,” what they’re really doing is voluntarily choosing to lower their own performance and demotivate their talent.

How nice.