Nice Girls Get Even

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Even manners have improved as a result of greater female presence, reports Barbara Pachter, a business etiquette coach and author of New Rules @ Work: 79 Etiquette Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead (Prentice Hall). Says Pachter: "There are a lot fewer sexual jokes and sexual innuendos, which has made it nicer. Technology has also made it easier to be nice because you can very quickly write an e-mail thank-you note. On voice-mail, you can practice what you want to say before you say it. So technology has helped make us nicer--or potentially make us nicer."

Niceness is on the march, darn it. Power of Nice's Thaler and Koval are exporting their philosophy with printings in such countries as New Zealand, Brazil and South Korea. All the female theoreticians need now is to get men to listen. That's an area where Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office's Frankel and The Power of Nice authors enthusiastically agree. Says Frankel: "I spend half my time working with men, teaching them to be more like women. I talk to them about the importance of things like listening, collaborating, motivating and seeing the human side of their staff." Koval too is hopeful that male executives will join their collegial team. "There are a lot of closet nice guys out there, who actually would like to be nicer in business." So, boys and girls, kisses all around. Hershey's Kisses.