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Adopting the “gold standard” for your business
Since becoming entrepreneurs, some of our friends have shared a few humorous interpretations of that familiar rule for conduct in business, or life in general, that for many represents a type of gold standard. With tongue squarely in cheek one friend urged us to “Do unto others before they do unto you” and then added, “there are a lot of sharks out there.” While yet another friend, with perhaps less humor intended, cautioned “He who has the gold, rules.“
Very likely you’ve heard these too, and no doubt there’s truth to the latter, especially when applied to financial negotiations. But in a broader and more meaningful sense neither should be considered desirable nor appropriate, if you believe as many do, that concomitant with any fair transaction, you can stand on all sides of a deal and feel each party has won.
Taking this a bit further, one has to wonder how different the world might be, if motives for communication, negotiations, business transactions, and personal or political decisions were governed by this simple rule for conduct. Local, regional and national conflicts would be obsolete, nothing over which to disagree. If this type of gold standard was universally adopted and put into practice, common interests and mutual benefit would prevail.
What a shame that those who speak or write about such a vision, are accounted naïve or dismissed as dreamers! Granted, given conflicting interests in the world with few answers on the horizon, holding out for such ideals does seem futile at times.
Still, we can start to make a difference in our own business affairs by example, by adopting that gold standard where everyone wins.
Tags: business, Philosophy