Greed and Integrity
Anyone who has been in business will learn that they will come across people who are either very greedy or completely lack integrity. The problem is that many of us have been taught that “all is fair in love, war and business”. This then creates an impression that “greed is good”. I would like to challenge this.
Wanting to make money is a noble desire. Wealth creation creates opportunities for society and improves the well being for an entire society. It is the only thing that can permanently lift people out of poverty and cycles of low expectations. But dumb people (and you know who you are!) confuse business acumen with something which is Greed.
Business acumen is about how you can generate value for your customers or shareholders, and capture some of that value for yourself and your backers. Greed is very much about what you alone can take out of a situation. A good acid test on whether you are acting with greed or with business is how you feel about describing your actions.
If you are embarrassed or want to blame someone else for what you did, it is greed. If you are able to stand up and tell people how you created value- it is more likely to be good business acumen on display.
I have always tried to behave with integrity in business, but that has not always been the case. When I was very young (pre-University) I did a couple of things which were acts of greed. As such, we should always make allowances for people who are young and in a hurry. But there must come a time in your life when you should know better.
I have had experiences with greedy people (more so recently than in the past bizarrely) but the great thing about greedy people is that they reveal their hand very early. Tell tale signs to look for are
1) If you are not clear about the motivations of your business partners – that is a big red flag. I tend to tell people within minutes what I want out of a situation.
2) They invoke religion as a character reference. One of my best friends and business colleagues is a very devout Christian, but he never uses that as a reason why I should trust him.(a real tell tale sign of a crook. They will say – as a devout (whatever religion I will not do this or that)
3) Strangely, they never want things to be crystal clear in terms of who does what for what. They may stick to broad things like 50-50!
4) They don’t like people they are doing business with.
5) They agree with everything being said (even when they are totally contradictory)
You have been warned!
