Please read this (pretty please?)

Oh, and Thank you. That's important, too.

Low power mode …

May I have your attention please? Thank you.

I have an idea for a resolution for 2023 2026. Some of you do it already, and you're probably the better for it.

For the rest of us, it costs nothing, it takes almost no time, and there’s actually some research that suggests it makes people trust you more.

The resolution? It’s simple.

Be more polite.

‘Best answers’

A study in the journal MIS Quarterly suggests that being more polite makes people’s arguments more persuasive.

The researchers—Shun-Yang Lee of the University of Connecticut, Huaxia Rui of the University of Rochester, and Andrew Whinston of the University of Texas at Austin—studied conversations on Stack Exchange, which is a network of question-and-answer websites and communities.

Key finding: The more polite an answer was, the more likely it was to be rated highly and chosen as the "best answer."

It's not totally foolproof. If the person offering an opinion was already perceived as a true expert, that helped overcome impolite responses, the researchers said.

But all things equal, polite answers seemed more reliable to readers.

‘Please jump out of this airplane’

When I first heard about this, I thought of the one time I went skydiving (pre-parenthood, by the way).

This was a tandem jump, where you get about an hour of training, and you're physically attached to an experienced skydiving instructor.

If you zoom into the photo below, that’s me in the purple. I’m upside down.

The instructor is wearing the white jumpsuit. You can just make out the airplane at the top of the photo. This was my LinkedIn profile photo for a while.

A friend went with me that day. The qualified skydivers we jumped with clearly knew what they were talking about.

In fact, I remember that while this single jump was a major life event for me, it was one of five or six they each did that day alone.

But I also remember that my friend felt a lot less more nervous than I was, once we got going.

We realized that it was because the instructor she was jumping with was gruff and direct: “Arms up. Stand here. Move over there.”

Mine was a lot more polite: “Okay, put your arm there, please? Great. Now stand up here if you would, and we’ll lock these first two carabiners? Perfect, thank you.”

Zeal of a convert, thank you

My mom reads these emails. I suspect she'll find it funny that I'm writing about politeness. (She already knew about the skydiving.)

She grew up in Montreal, before marrying my dad and moving to the U.S.

My brothers and I used to insist when we were young that while people might say “please” and “thank you” in Canada, Americans weren’t anywhere near as polite.

This was a bone of contention at times, when she’d try to correct us. Yet here, I am, all these years later, writing to thousands of people—with the zeal of a convert.

Just ask my daughter. Man, the number of times I’ve stopped her and said things like: “What’s a better way to ask that?”

Then she’ll respond with something like: “Ugh. Fine. Dad can you please draw Santa and his reindeer and a sleigh and presents and name them all??”

(Okay. Sure. She’s got me wrapped around her finger, as long as she says “please.”)

So, for 2023 2026: Keep on top of your health, cut back on your bad habits, be more mindful. Jump out of more airplanes, metaphorically speaking, and draw more pictures.

Whatever it is that you plan to resolve for the new year is fine.

Just do whatever you resolve to do politely. Everyone will trust you more. So says science.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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7 other things worth the time it takes you to read them

• The United States is offering Ukraine security guarantees for a period of 15 years as part of a proposed peace plan, though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday is pushing for an American commitment of up to 50 years. Not mentioned anywhere: the U.S. already signed a guarantee of Ukraine’s security in 1994, in exchange for Ukraine giving its Soviet-era nuclear weapons to Russia. (AP, Wikipedia article on the 1994 Budapest Memorandum)

• Starbucks spent years trying to become an inescapable storefront on the streets of New York, Los Angeles and other big cities in America. Now that’s coming to an end. (MSN)

• Jazz supergroup the Cookers, scheduled to perform two concerts at the Kennedy Center Wednesday as part of “A Jazz New Year’s Eve,” have canceled both shows. The cancellation comes days after musician Chuck Redd pulled out of his annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam, following the decision by the performing arts center’s board of directors to add President Donald Trump’s name to the venue. (Wash Post)

• AI slop is taking over the internet. And it’s here to stay. Artificial-intelligence tools are more powerful than ever, but they’re creating an internet flooded with low-quality content. (MarketWatch)

• Why a $500 steak dinner only yields a $25 profit: Steakhouse owners dish on their challenging economics as meat and labor costs grow. (WSJ)

• George Clooney has been granted French citizenship, along with his wife Amal Clooney and their two children. “I love the French culture, your language, even if I’m still bad at it after 400 days of courses,” the actor told RTL radio at the time – in English. “Here, they don’t take photos of kids. There aren’t any paparazzi hidden at the school gates. That’s number one for us.” (The Guardian)

• Nice story that frankly says a lot about a lot more than just Taylor Swift, but still ... Taylor Swift Gifted Woman $600 for Working at Chiefs Game on Christmas Day: ‘My Whole Paycheck for Two Weeks’ (People)

Thanks for reading and happy holidays. Photo credit: (a) another guy also falling out of an airplane, but taking my photo at the same time, and (b) me! See you in the comments!