How many times have you heard someone say, “Business is business” in some situation or other?
For me, while “business” may be business, business is also personal. VERY personal. I’m not interested in doing business with someone who is looking for shortcuts or doing things at someone else’s expense. I’m not interested in partnering with another party who has differing basic moral standards. We don’t have to belong to the same race, religion or political party, but I am not going to capitulate who I am and who I stand for solely to become a “success.” Some people cal it ‘karma,’ some people just say, what goes around comes around, and while I may share the same basic notion, it’s more about just doing the right thing. Don’t do it for recognition or for a future potential reward. Do it so you can sleep at night.
Sometimes people start out with great intentions and humility and a true desire to do business “clean.” But then the hard part comes. They start tasting the sweet flavor of success, and slowly make concessions. Maybe it’s just 1% here and there–but over time, they become different people, less interested in helping their brother and more focused on winning at all costs. I could summarily say that ‘these days…people will do and say anything they have to in order to make a sale or close a contract or be successful in whatever they are doing.’ It’s the ol’ Red-Ocean/Blue-Ocean thing. The only way to compete in the Red Ocean is to use a crutch of deceiving people that your competitor is inferior. What happened to letting products stand on their own? Let the USER decide if the product meets their needs, and go from there.
I don’t get when people feel the need to lie about something and then say “business is business.” Hold on a minute: are you saying that in the name of business, it’s acceptable to lie cheat and steal? Since when?
While the practice may be slowly fading, I know that in the earlier years, handshakes meant something. A person’s word was their bond, and a promise was never justified away due to extenuating circumstances. But the reality is…for all I know, it has been this way for many many years before I stumbled in to this game.
I remember playing my very first computer game in 1980. It was a TEXT ONLY game called “Adventure.” Every nerdy computer owner knew of this incredible game. I played it on my friend’s Compaq, fold-down keyboard computer. It was a confusing time-wasting frustrating wonderful game we all loved. “YOU ARE IN A MAZE OF TWISTY LITTLE PASSAGES, ALL ALIKE.” I remember spending hours trying to figure out how to get out of that damned forest. (N-S-N-N for those of you still stuck in the woods) I feel fortunate to have lived in the past number of years and see the progression of games along with other technologies. But the fundamental DNA of games is pretty much the same. Sure, the graphics are better and the CPU’s are faster, but the requirement for games are the same: time and persistence.
And while the process may have also changed for business, the core intentions and values remain the same. So I would only say that every now and again, it might be good to re-evaluate what those core beliefs are. What are you willing to sacrifice in the interest of success?
About 12 years ago, I met this guy that was a body builder. I was interested in speaking to him because my son was interested in lifting weights and the like. His advice caught me off guard. “Be careful” And instead of the expected warnings about performance enhancing drugs or pulled muscles, he warned me, “Body building doesn’t have a definitive successful ‘end.’ You just end up wanting to do more and and more if you aren’t careful, it can be addictive”. Body Building? Addictive? Really? I thought about what he told me for a long time and began to identify many other activities that also have no pointed “end”.
The best advice I can think of is to really understand what you are doing and why. Is this a day-to-day process. or is there in fact an exit strategy with a clearly defined goal? One is not better than the other, but it will help to know the difference. Once you have identified that, make sure you enjoy the process and understand that the process may be all you get from it. For some people, the process may be going to work every day That’s cool: just enjoy what you are doing. Of course, lining up with other people who are clear on the issue and working alongside you is always helpful. But be careful to not align with someone who may SAY they are aligned with you, when in fact, they have their own secret agenda–ready to drop you for some other key person and leap frog in to a position they desire more than staying true to themselves. Don’t give in to something that changes your core of who you are. That part lasts a LONG time, but success through quick and deceitful actions, lasts only a short while. If you are lucky, “things” will last only as long as their warranty or expiration date. But relationships are forever.