Rule 5 of 21 · Chapter I — Show Up as Yourself
Repeat one small kindness on a fixed schedule so people can rely on it arriving.
Why this rule exists
Unpredictable generosity registers as mood, and people manage moods rather than trust them. A small thing that arrives every time becomes evidence about you that survives a bad week, which is exactly when your team needs to believe the warmth is structural. Reliability, not size, is what turns a gesture into a signal.
In practice
Pick something you can sustain without resenting it — Friday afternoon walking the floor, a note to whoever had the hardest week, coffee on Monday for the early shift — and protect it in the calendar like a meeting with your boss. Keep it small enough that it survives travel, deadlines, and your own low days. If you must miss it, say why and resume the next cycle.
When it doesn't apply
Stop if the ritual becomes an obligation people perform back at you, or if it starts substituting for pay, promotion, or a hard conversation you owe someone. A kindness that papers over a structural problem is a bribe.