I'm Gretchen Ribin and this is a little happier.

I love it when people find the right words for things.

When they can sum up big ideas and a few ideas,

when they can distill the essential into a few words.

And I once had a boss who did this very well.

So I was at the Federal Communications Commission

and I worked for a woman who was this sort of tiny, very fierce woman.

And I was getting a promotion.

And I was sitting to talk to her about how this was going to go into effect.

And I basically said to her, well, you know,

I hope it can do a good job in this position.

And she gave me one of those moments

when a person manages to sum up an entire library's worth of good advice in one sentence.

She looked at me very sternly.

And after a pause, she said,

be polite and be fair.

And you'll be fine.

And I think of that often because it turns out

that being polite and being fair takes you pretty far in most situations.

I'm Gretchen Rubin and I hope this makes your week a little happier.