On Wednesday’s, at lunch, some of us here at Sierra get
together and discuss a book we’ve been reading together. We just finished “The Power of Full
Engagement” by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.
This book has all kinds of great insights on how to become more physically energized, emotionally connected,
mentally focused and spiritually aligned-both on and off the job. This last snippet I copied from the back
of the book while it is the main focus of the book what struck me was a
statement that said “The sobering truth
is that we only have the capacity for very few conscious acts of self-control a
day.”
As I got thinking about it I came to realize that it was true. If I had to think about whether I should work out, chances are very good that I would just stay on the couch. The parts of my life that appear disciplined are in fact just good habits that I have developed. This has all kinds of applications for self improvement but does it extend into business?
The answer is of course, it does. What about returning phone calls, or keeping our promises? What about being truthful?
Being a new company we are trying to come up with business plans, a mission statement, and company values. We are setting up our decision making process so that we don’t have “think” about being honest. I asked the staff if it was OK to lie in business. Most of them gave me that deer in the headlights look. I asked again a little differently. If our highest value is profitability is it OK to lie? The answer is YES. Now they are really confused. Think about it. If what we care about, above all, is money then lying to get it is OK so is stealing, killing etc.
So let’s make our goal of profitability subservient to our value of honesty. We need to be profitable but not if it costs us our integrity. Now is it OK to lie? Of course not. I could go on much longer and explain why operating with integrity in the business world will actually help companies be more not less profitable, but that is for another day and another newsletter.