This month's contribution to SmartBlog on Leadership is by Jane Perdue. In her post, Jane discusses the often perplexing paradox of kindness. "Employees complain in engagement surveys that their bosses don’t treat them with respect or as unique individuals. Yet on the flip side, research shows that bosses who treat people with kindness, respect and dignity are “seen as less powerful than other managers.”

What a dreadful paradox: We want to be treated with kindness yet don’t respect those who do so. What’s up with this?"