Being nice is difficult even when you try to remind yourself every day, like i do with a post-it that has been on my desk for a year now "Be smart, honest and t

Being nice is difficult even when you try to remind yourself every day, like i do with a post-it that has been on my desk for a year now "Be smart, honest and thoughtful". As a "startup founder" I do honestly try to be nice through considering those three items as often as possible. Having said that, there are lots of examples I can think of where I have not been nice and need to do better. Lets face it: Founders are often young, trying to move quickly, less experienced managing stress, and regularly making mistakes due to all of these things. Some of the biggest mistakes you make are under pressure, and its often as simple as saying the wrong thing. Personally don't know startups are any nicer than the rest of the world, but they are certainly smaller groups of people, which means you tend to form a tighter relationship with your co-workers / employees (like it or not). In my experienced that is what creates the accountability to be nice, provides people with context and understanding when something doesn't go to plan and ultimately gives others the ability to say things like "Yeah they're nice guys/girls, but pretty stressed out most of the time", which if you took away the "nice guys/girls" part of that sentence when referencing the founders you would just be left with someone who you would probably not describe as all that nice. Relationships can truly make up for a lot and there are benefits for everyone involved. Advice i often give to founder is: If you can, invest in becoming as real of friend to the people who you work with as you possibly can. It really does pay back, especially when things do not go as you had planned. Edit: Spelling.