READ my latest piece for Harvard Business Review, 'Why Kindness Isn't a Nice to Have', co-written with Harvard legends Thomas Lee and Amy Edmondson

Publications

I have a PhD in Organisational Kindness in Healthcare Teams, achieved at the University of Auckland Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Here are some examples of my published research (click on the links to explore):

Macklin N, Lee T, Edmondson A. (2025). Why Kindness Isn't a Nice to Have. Harvard Business Review (online) https://hbr.org/2025/07/why-kindness-isnt-a-nice-to-have?ab=HP-hero-latest-1
Macklin N, Wilkinson-Meyers L, Dowell A. (2024) Kindness: poor cousin or equal kin to compassion and empathy in the healthcare literature? A scoping review. BMJ Leader (Editors Choice)
Bailey S, Allwood D, Macklin N, Montori V, Bisognano M & Klaber B. (2023). Healthcare education needs radical reform to emphasise careful and kind care. BMJ, 382.
Macklin N, Morris C, Dowell A. (2022) Hearing the patient voice: a qualitative interview study exploring the patient experience of a nurse-led initiative to integrate and enhance primary and secondary healthcare pathways. BMJ Integrated Healthcare Journal. Apr 1;4(1):e000067. Accessible at https://ihj.bmj.com/content/4/1/e000067
Macklin N and Abdalla H. (2022) Blog. Chains of Kindness. British Medical Journal Leader. Accessible at https://blogs.bmj.com/bmjleader/2022/10/11/chains-of-kindness-by-nicki-macklin-and-hesham-abdalla/
Macklin N. (2021) Blog. Using intelligent kindness to achieve herd immunity against workplace incivility. British Medical Journal. Accessible at https://internationalforum.bmj.com/blog-using-intelligent-kindness-nicki-macklin/
Lillis S, Macklin N, Thorn M, Wicks E, Good K, Lack L, Medlicott R, Proffitt C, Rodenburg H, Souter V, Duncan P. (2019). Repeat prescribing safety survey. Journal of Primary Health Care. Sep 1;11(3):243-8.
Pert, H., Siesicki G., and Macklin, N. (2017). Towards Integration: Dispatches from the Front Line. International Journal of Integrated Care, 17(3)

Click the image to read our latest work for Harvard Business Review:

KindFrame Media Feature in Hardvard Business

Our scoping review on kindness won the BMJ Leader Editors Choice award in 2024:

KindFrame Media Feature in BMJ Leader Editor Choice Award

It also formed the basis for this Forbes article on leadership (click to read):

... And was featured in the media here and overseas.

KindFrame Media Feature in Medical Republic

Media & Speaking

Nicki Macklin KindFrame Kindness Podcast for Goodfellow Unit

Nicki Macklin speaking at a healthcare conference on kindness

I have extensive public speaking experience within New Zealand and on the global stage. Here are some examples of keynote, lecture and workshop highlights from the past few years:

Macklin, N (2025). Guest Speaker: Kindness in Healthcare Leadership. Podcast: The Specialist GP. October 2025 (Online).
Macklin, N (2025). The Business Case for Kindness. Conference of Regulatory Officers (CORO), Christchurch, 17 October 2025.
Macklin, N (2025). Visiting Scholar - Guest Lecture Series - Organisational kindness and kind leadership topics. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. TORONTO, Sept-Oct 2025.
Macklin, N & Ashraf, N (2025). A dialogue on Kindness, Cultural Humility, and Leadership in Academic Communities. School of Cities, University of Toronto. TORONTO, 30 September 2025.
Macklin, N. (2025). Kind and courageous conversations for Women in Law. New Zealand Law Society Nelson Branch Suffrage Day event. Nelson, 19th September 2025.
Macklin, N (2025). Guest speaker: Kindness in Healthcare. Podcast: Goodfellow Unit. August 2025 (Online) https://www.goodfellowunit.org/podcast/kindness-healthcare
Macklin, N (2025). Invited speaker: Understanding kindness as a tool for social capital and high performing organisations. The NHS Health Economics Unit. London, UK, 28 May 2025.
Macklin, N (2025). Group presentation: Theory into evidence and practice: How the 'Conversations for Kindness' and the ‘What Matters to You’ social movements are changing how we do things in healthcare. BMJ/IHI International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare. UTRECHT, Netherlands, 22 May 2025.
Macklin, N (2025). Kindness: what it is and why it matters in legal settings. New Zealand Law Society People Leaders’ Forum. Wellington, 30 April 2025.
Macklin, N (2025). Exploring kindness as a tool to enhance organisational performance in law environments. New Zealand Law Society Governance Symposium. Wellington, 11 April 2025.
Macklin, N (2025). Understanding kindness as a tool to enhance the performance of individuals, teams, and organisations. New Zealand Law Society Otago/Southland Conference. Queenstown, March 2025.
Macklin, N (2025). Understanding kindness: What it is, why it matters, and how to build on it. Brightstar Nursing Leaders Symposium. Auckland, February 2025.
Macklin, N (2025). Guest speaker: Kindness in Healthcare. Podcast: MedicsVoices.com. January 2025 (online).
Macklin, N (2025). Why does kindness matter to us, our teams, and our organisations and how do we get more of it? Southern Cross New Plymouth. Workshop. January 2025.
Macklin, N (2024). Guest speaker: Kindness in teams. Podcast: Hauora Nurse Practitioners. November 2024 (online). https://open.spotify.com/episode/
Macklin, N (2024). The Great Conversation 2.0: Kindness is my superpower. Panel discussion facilitator. Health New South Wales. November 2024 (Online).
Macklin, N (2024). Risks, returns and investment in kindness and human connection in healthcare. Keynote address. New Zealand Nurse Practitioner Conference. Rotorua, October 2024.
Macklin, N (2024). The importance of kindness in supporting and sustaining our healthcare teams through murky waters. Royal Childrens’ Hospital, Melbourne, July 2024.
Dowell, A and Macklin, N (2024). Practising intelligent kindness – what it means for you, your patients, and the health system (aka I want to be kind in my work, but do I always have to be nice and compassionate?) Workshop. General Practice (GPCME) Conference New Zealand. Rotorua, June 2024.
Macklin, N (2024). Leading with kindness: How nurturing human connection helps us all to thrive. Webinar. Southern Cross Healthcare Pink Shirt Day event. May 2024.

Macklin, N (2024). Changing course: Can kindness help put the wind back in our sails and lead our teams to smoother waters? Keynote address. Presented at the Midwifery Leadership Conference, Royal Hospital for Women NSW. Sydney, February 2024.
Macklin, N (2024). Ahoy there 2024! Can kindness help put the wind back in our sails? Keynote presentation and workshop. Presented at the Southern Cross Healthcare Conference. Rotorua, January 2024.
Macklin, N (2024). Intelligent kindness in healthcare. What is it? Have we got it? How can we hold on to it? What gets in the way? Presentation and workshop. Presented at the Western Australian District Health Board’s Elevating the Human Experience Day for Leadership. January 2024 (Online).
Macklin, N (2023). The great debate: Is kindness soft and fluffy? Online debate: Team captain. Health NSW Elevating the Human Experience event. November 2023.
Macklin, N (2023). The importance of dignity in healthcare: Televised panel discussion with people with lived experience. Host and facilitator. Gathering of Kindness event, Hush Foundation. October 2023.
Macklin, N (2023). Kindness in healthcare. Understanding how we define and conceptualise kindness in our work environments, to create conditions that allow kindness to flourish. Presentation. Presented at University of Auckland’s HEALTHEX Research Showcase. Auckland, September 2023.
Macklin, N (2023). Kindness in healthcare: Soft and fluffy or vital to the business of care? Presented at Canterbury District Health Board Anaesthetist Grand Rounds. Christchurch, July 2023.
Macklin, N (2023). Kindness in healthcare: Soft and fluffy or vital to the business of care? Presented at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Conference. Rotorua, June 2023.
Macklin, N. (2023). A call to action: Getting serious about the business of kindness in healthcare. Presentation and workshop. Presented at the Human Experience Forum: Health NSW (Govt). March 2023. (Online).
Macklin, N. (2022). Working together to define and aspire to kindness in healthcare. Presented at the Values in Action Forum, Health NSW (Govt). December 2022. (Online).
Macklin, N. (2022). The Case for Kindness. Keynote address. Presented at the Gathering of Kindness. Melbourne, November 2022.
Crock, C, Robins, S and Macklin, N. (2022). Gathering of Kindness, Hush Foundation and Connections in Kindness. Presented at the Conversations for Kindness Global Forum October 2022. (Online).

Macklin, N. (2022). Needles and Noodles: Time to reframe our language, theories and values in institutional culture and policy? Presented at the Conversations for Kindness Global Forum March 2022. (Online).
Macklin, N. (2021). Using intelligent kindness to achieve herd immunity against workplace incivility. Presented as part of a team session. Proceedings of the BMJ IHI International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare. (Online).
Macklin, N. (2019). Te Akatea Transitional Care Team: Travelling the journey with our patients and whānau. Proceedings of the Health Navigator Long Term Conditions Conference, Wellington. Retrieved from https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/media/7098/day-one-session-5a-nicki-macklin.pdf
Macklin, N., Dowell, T., & Morris, C. (2018). Exploring patient perceptions of a hospital to home integrated care initiative. Proceedings of the Primary Health Care Research Conference, Melbourne. Retrieved from https://phcris.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/phcr18/home
Macklin, N., Dowell, T., & Morris, C. (2018). The influence on wellbeing and health outcomes of a novel patient-centred care initiative. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Wellbeing & Public Policy, Wellington. (pp. 69). Retrieved from https://www.confer.nz/wellbeingandpublicpolicy2018/
Macklin, N., Dowell, T., & Morris, C. (2018, September). Exploring patient perceptions of a hospital to home integrated care initiative. Verbal presentation at the General Practice and Primary Care Research Weekend, Hanmer Springs, New Zealand.
Pert H, Siesicki G, Macklin N. (2016). Towards Integration: Dispatches from the Front Line. Proceedings from the 4th World Congress of Integrated Care, Wellington. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.3254