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The dictionary definition of this one simple word is “the expression of approval or admiration for someone or something.” I would add the word “sincere” to that definition. Praise can be a word with powerful consequences that many people don’t feel comfortable with.

Criticism is a more preferable expression. Praise can yield amazingly good results for the user in business, or in one’s personal life it can also make the individual giving praise feel good. It should, however, not be used to obtain anything, which is why I added the word “sincere” to the definition. You don’t need to know the person you praise. Their act of kindness, knowledge or whatever just resonated strongly with you in a positive way and deserves to be acknowledged with a simple expression of praise.

I always like to offer real-life anecdotes to make points more easily remembered. Here are two of mine. I was winding up one of the 16 ventures I founded when I was reading an interview with an iconic professor of the Harvard Business School that was published in their alumni magazine. I was stunned by the clarity of his words and breadth of knowledge, including his street smarts. I immediately wrote him saying that from my vantage point as a graduate of the Harvard Business School, I felt he was the first academic whose business thoughts I agreed with. He quickly replied thanking me for my kind words and offering to meet on my next trip to Boston.

Fortunately for me I got to Boston frequently as I had a number of good customers there and some close friends including my former roommate at HBS. During our meeting the professor asked about my business. I was happy to share and after asking great questions asked if he could write a case history about my business. That request took me by surprise, but I was flattered and of course agreed. Shortly thereafter he sent down a case writer to my New York office and later he came down alone. The case history, called “R&R” was a major success and became one of the all-time best-selling cases in HBS history. It has been taught at more than 100 schools worldwide and has changed my life.

I ended up guest speaking at major universities over the course of 30 years and have met and become friends with many esteemed educators. I could write a lengthy ancestry chart that emanated from that one short praise letter to someone I didn’t know. It led me into writing three books on entrepreneurship, two of which I self-published. My daughters went to colleges that taught the case and were able to sit in my class with a friend (that made me look much smarter than I was). Over the years, many students in the classes followed up with me or remembered my materials and talks, which they told me contributed to their eventual success. That has been very fulfilling.

My second anecdote is of recent vintage. About three years ago, I came down with sleep apnea and discovered that many of the doctors here in Florida are not as competent in the treatment of it as they think they are. If untreated, it can lead to serious problems. My condition was getting progressively worse when I came across a sleep book written by an eminent sleep doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and published by the Harvard Medical School.

The doctor devoted eight pages of his book to sleep apnea. The information included taught me more than I knew from three years of South Florida doctors. I wrote the Boston doctor and told him so. He wrote back from my spur-of-the-moment praise and told me If I’m ever in Boston, he would be happy to see me despite fact he doesn’t take on new patients. I thought a lot about his generous offer and my growing sleep problem and decided to fly to Boston with my wife for a 40-minute appointment. Our visit lasted two hours and included some testing. The result was I received an accurate diagnosis and was placed on the correct path for treatment.

I would now say my praise letter gave me a few additional years on earth.

So, hopefully when you have a “wow” moment after witnessing an act you greatly approve of or admire, you might think of praising the wow creator. It should require no thought and come to you naturally. It’s a win-win for you personally and for the recipient.

In today’s world of negativity where many don’t even use words like please and thank you, your example will stand out and maybe even be rewarded similar to the anecdotes above.

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