Successful businesses serve well the needs of their customers in an environment where employees thrive and are rewarded in words and deeds: all accomplished in such a way that the investor’s financial needs are met and the community that surrounds the business profits from the enterprise.
The book of Proverbs, and other Scriptures, are filled with words of wisdom that support each of these activities of a business. Meet the needs of other first. Treat employees with honor and fairly. Pay your debts. Your actions impact the world.
Who you look to for wisdom when leading your small business (or large organization) determines – well, everything. Business ethics adheres to the underlying principle that there is bedrock truth upon which you must build your thought life and behavior. Solomon of old never assumed that truth was relative and that morality was a function of personal choice: his worldview drove his musings and proverbs.
Proverbs 5:1-2 (NIV) My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.
This verse reminds us of fundamentals: first, that your view of others will not be self-serving (maintain discretion); two, what you say actually builds the continuity of useful knowledge – attributes of the servant-leader paradigm.
Leadership that honors others and builds a legacy begins at the source. Do you pay more attention to what God teaches (duties we owe others that support our “inalienable rights”) or the situational, shifting ethics of man?
To whom do you pay attention: Wisdom or the world?
Copyright © 2009 P. Griffith Lindell
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
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