The Currency You Spend Reveals the Power You Seek

Why Your Relational Bank Account Might Be Draining Even When You Think You’re “Nice”

This co-written and syndicated post with my ATOMIQ Opportunity Zone Fund partner came from a podcast discussion we had this past Tuesday on Clubhouse with the “Breakfast of Champions” channel. We felt it was timely, and so we are jointly publishing the key takeaways here.

We’ve all been taught — explicitly or by example — to be nice.

It starts young:

• “Smile even when you’re uncomfortable.”

• “Say you’re fine even when you’re not.”

• “Don’t make waves.”

• “Rock the boat? Absolutely not.”

• “Play nice in the sandbox.”

• “Keep the peace.”

• “Put others first.”

• “Don’t say what you really think — it’s not nice.”

• “Be nice to your brother. Be nice to your sister.”

In homes, schools, boardrooms, and marriages, this kind of conditioning creates an emotional economy built on a polished, predictable, and passive-aggressive currency: the NICE coin.

And like any bad investment that l…