There’s No Such Thing as Business Ethics
by John Maxwell
– There’s no such thing as business ethics and something different for spiritual ethics, personal and home ethics. It is just plain ethics.
– Many people believe that you could not be ethical and still get ahead in life. It may take longer, but being ethical is always better.
– Men must be honest with themselves before they could be honest with others.
– The golden rule should be your north star when it comes to business and life – treating others as you want to be treated.
– Seek common ground with others.
– The golden rule is ideal because you do not have to know any law or specific rules to practice it, you just treat others how you want to be treated.
– The golden rule starts with yourself, think what you want. You’re some general things that everybody wants:
1. To be valued. Employees just like employers want to be valued. If you have ever been humiliated in front of other people, you know how it hurts. Encourage others, value others.
2. To be appreciated.
3. To be trusted. Trust is the foundation of all good relationships: marriage, friendships, business, partnership, etc. The only way to make a person trustworthy is to trust them yourself.
4. To be respected. To have the respect from those that you respect is worth more than the applause of a multitude.
5. To be understood. Many problems come from a lack of understanding. Get to know someone and you will likely find out that their way is not a wrong way it’s just a different way. Seek first to understand others before you seek to be understood.
– Are you willing to see things from another persons point of view or do you expect them to see it from your point of view?
– Character counts.
– Ethical people tend to make good choices no matter what the circumstances are.
– Ask someone to hold you accountable for your actions.
– When you get squeezed, whatever is in you will come out.
– If we are going to make good decisions even under pressure, we have to have reminders. Remind yourself that you are accountable to God, to yourself, to your family and to those around you.
– The disciplined person is the person who does what needs to be done when it needs to be done.
– Pride, wanting to be better than, will blur your vision of the golden rule.
– Power and position can blur your vision from the golden rule.
– Pleasure, pressure and priorities are other areas that can blur your vision from the golden rule.
– Take responsibility for your actions.
– Develop personal discipline. What we do in future situations will greatly depend on who we are and who we are will greatly depend on the small disciplines in life that we have.
– Admit wrongdoing quickly and ask forgiveness.
– If you want to know who men are, watch how they use money. Money does not change man, it merely unmasks who they are.
– Treat people better than they treat you. It is easy to love people that love you, but learn to love those that do not love you.
– Take the highroad in your treatment to others even when others take the low road in their treatment to you.
– Keep a promise whether it is convenient or not.
– Do right even when it is natural to do wrong.
– You can go for the gold or you can go for the golden rule. Sadly, people that go for the gold do not care about anything in their path and many end up losing almost everything at the end. Don’t go for the gold without going for the golden rule.