Ethics - Good For Business, Good For Life

Years ago, I came back to my faith and when I did many things in my life shifted. One thing in particular was my stance on living an ethical life. I had never considered that I was living an immoral or unethical life, but under a new microscope it was clear that the little white lies and fudging things wasn’t going to cut it. Truth was, I wanted to change my life, I wanted to live above the line. 

I was an employee then. I had been fired from my previous position for insubordination (I would have fired me!)

In my new job I worked hard, did the right thing, and made tough decisions rather than easier less honest choices. You know what, I felt safer taking the higher road. I never worried that I would come up short because of something I did or said. 

Later, running my own business, ethics played out across everything I did - from how I treated my staff to how I managed my clients. In my line of work there is a fair amount of negotiating that needs to take place to get the job done. It’s easy to fall back on bad habits, and I am clearly a long way from perfect, but now my first reaction is to do the right thing.

Running an ethical company means you often must make decisions against yourself, avoid cutting corners that would make you more money and even make your organization more efficient. At least in the short term. And that’s the thing – running your business in an ethical manner is a matter of playing the long game. While it might feel like a haul at times, it will always work out for the best. Always. Business has gotten a bad rap over the years because of some bad players who twist the law to make up for their bad behavior. Run a clean ship, you’ll be able to sleep at night.