Kind Folks Finish First

Introduction: The Story of Pavilion

There is a fallacy in the business world that to succeed you have to be ruthless. There is one way to get rich and have truly global impact and that is to screw the other person before they screw you. Lots of people have succeeded based on that philosophy.

I'm here to tell you there is a different way. Being a jerk, focusing on the short term, emphasizing “the art of the deal” above long‐term relationships—perhaps that is one path.

But within the world, there are many paths to success. The path I will lay out for you offers the same things—wealth, impact, a legacy. But it does so in a way that will make you feel good. That will put positive energy into the universe. That will uplift you and those around you.

And to begin your journey, you don't need a wild stroke of luck. You don't need a trust fund. And you don't need to be a perennially upbeat happy person oblivious to the reality of the world around you. In fact, I'm pretty much the opposite of that. I'm grumpy. I'm moody.

But the lessons I articulate in this book are about a deeper sense of compassion and kindness. They are not about your mood. They are about a way of behaving in the world. A way that aligns you with positivity.

Some of it may seem hokey. And some of it may seem naive. There's a certain power and sense of superiority in cynicism. That's certainly true. It's up to you how you choose to lead your life. And this is just one way. But it's a way that I've found to work.