or, how to make the impossible shine
I.
We were taught to strike hard, never to welcome softly.
And yet, look around: the whole world mourns a shortage that carries no price tag and no stock index.
So I write this manifesto, barefoot on the cold floor of an open-space in Sidi Ghanem,
to say that kindness is no accessory.
It is the hard core of every business that respects itself,
the backbone of every innovation that lasts.
II. The etymology of kindness
From the Latin gentilis: one who belongs to the same people.
In other words: one who recognizes the other as kin.
In business terms, that means increasing your capital until it reaches the entire human race.
III. First clinical case
One October morning, 9:14 a.m.
A startup CEO, one step before acceleration, collapses at her screen, head in hands, crushed by the weight of the world.
No bug in production.
Just a Slack message:
“You must be tired. Take your time. We’ll wait.”
Signed: the intern she had never once noticed.
That day, she fixed three financial leaks in an hour,
invented a process that saved 13% of budget,
and most importantly: she decided never to tense up again.
Result: turnover down, creativity up,
and a fundraising round that happened… gently.
The market didn’t get it.
The shareholders did.
IV. Archimedes: Theorem of Kindness
Let A be a human.
Let B be another human.
If A treats B with kindness, then B becomes A+, meaning:
an amplified, clearer, faster, braver version.
Proof: every morning someone told you “good luck”
and suddenly, you had the luck.
Corollary: kindness is a lever arm.
It lifts mountains without touching the mountain.
It lifts people.
V. Practical case
A restaurant on the verge of bankruptcy.
The chef replaces the “service included” line with a handwritten note:
“Thank you for existing.”
Customers leave with heavier hearts than stomachs.
They return. They bring friends.
They post.
No photos of the dish, only of the note.
The restaurant comes back to life.
Not because of the recipe,
but because of the breath.
VI. Thought at 7:32 p.m.
In empty open-spaces, you can hear the hum of air conditioners.
And sometimes, something else:
the clicking of an idea being born
because someone, earlier, said “go ahead, I’m listening.”
That sound is more precious than the ring of a cash register.
It’s the sound of the future being built.
VII. Pocket manual for launching kindness
Look at the person in front of you. Truly.
Say hello. Slowly.
Ask the question you’re afraid to ask: “How are you, really?”
Wait. Don’t fill the silence. Let it fill you.
Respond with what you have: a word, a smile, a shared quiet.
Watch the domino effect. It always starts earlier than expected.
VIII. A conclusion that isn’t one
I’m not asking you to be kind to do good.
I’m asking you to be kind to do great.
To grow your teams, your products, your numbers,
but above all: to grow the world around you,
until it’s big enough to live in for a long time.
So, on Monday, when you send that first email,
when you meet someone’s eyes,
when you invent the feature that will change lives,
start with this invisible line of code:
kindness = true;Compile.
Deploy.
Watch the world begin to glow.
And if ever you doubt,
remember there’s already a built-in patch:
if (kindness) {humanity++;} Now, it’s your turn to push it to production.
Translated by AI, with much kindness.
