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2. His thoughts
The Passion and the Romance
Turning our Values into Value
Business must also take valuable inputs from the bees. They do not take part in the rat race of living. They just carry on building the hive which is meant for them all. Meanwhile, bees simply hum while they work. Bees are always happy until they bite your salty, sweaty neck. If we find ourselves fagged out at the end of the day, uninspired to come back for the morrow to do the same task, why do we have to continue the business? The only valid reason why we hold on to what we are doing is that it brings us happiness. Life is so simple: if you are not happy doing what you are doing, why the hell do you keep on doing it? But life is not that simple. What really make us happy are not the incentives. They are our motivations that pull us out of our sleepy beds to boldly face another day. And motivations are merely the articulation of what we truly value in life like family, love, connections, hope, joy, fulfillment. So this early in our repartee, let me propose a mission for you at the beginning of each working day: “I will end this day by quitting time happy and joyful!”
Nowadays, we speak about the triple bottom-line of business: healthy profits, social impact, and environmental contributions. These goals, especially the last two, cannot be realized unless we are guided by a set of values and principles. Right away we have to accept the essential importance of values in the creation of wealth. The pursuit of wealth brings an avalanche of blessings if it is coupled with concern for others and respect for nature, rejoicing in the blessings of others and responsibility for what we have appropriated. Good values, good business. Poor values, poor business; nay, it is not even a business.
Lest we forget, the very nature of business itself is the creation of wealth with value: the creation of more wealth for the common good that is. Easily, we see the values of community, sharing, service, unity among others.
Let us also learn from the snake: it bites only once. Functional training is good up to a certain extent. And so, we think that business is about smartness and sharpness. Skills and even experience do not ultimately define a human being; what really matters is what describes a man when there is no one watching over him. It is called character; and character is the unwillingness to break away from one’s own values. This sums up his integrity.
Inspiring people remain committed to their value system. Not that they are perfect; they also backslide, but they pick their values right up as their one non-negotiable resource in the journey of life.
Business is a passionate affair.
Here is one big question: why does your enterprise exist? Profit? No, it is to satisfy somebody’s needs. The moment somebody else satisfies that need before us or better than us, we have no business. It’s like life itself. We need oxygen [profit] to live, but that is not the reason why we live. At the heart of the business exchange of value for products and services is the willingness to extend myself out of my comfort zone to be of help to somebody in need out there. I am entitled to a reasonable profit accruing from my industry and efforts, but if my product or service does not answer the need of somebody, I have no business. Business cannot thrive healthily along the selfish agenda of the agent alone.
That spells sacrifice. The willingness to take on sacrifice is the undeniable proof of my concern for you and your needs, and this begets trust that cements our business relationship. Trust is the one basic foundation of any human interchange, and your spirit of sacrifice is the undeniable proof of your trustworthiness. Sacrifice therefore cannot be reduced to an adjunct value added to my product.
Too, sacrifice qualifies my actions as genuine. If I scrimp on my personal sacrifice, I engage myself in a selfish enterprise. Obviously, sacrifice and selfishness cannot and will never make a happy partnership. They say that honesty is the best policy, but very difficult to keep in a letter of recommendation. Similarly, love and sacrifice make the world go round, but no one wants to become round. There goes sacrifice.
Sacrifice is a mighty word. Originally it comes from the Latin “sacrum” which means sacred or holy, and “facere” that is to make or create. Far from the stoicism of bearing the pains attendant to the pursuit of my own agenda, sacrifice is the effort to focus or dedicate my action for the one purpose of satisfying your needs. It demands shouldering the pains of going out of my own skin, and come hell or high waters, your needs are tops on my list.
Message from the Publisher
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