It"s a dog-eat-dog world out there. In the race to make it to the top, some values often get dropped along the way. Among these stands out one; namely, honesty.
Car salesmen. Stock investors. Overzealous entrepreneurs. We all know the cliches, and we"ve all heard the stories of scams and cover-ups.
But what is it that drives people to cross boundaries to the point of deceiving customers, employees, and the world at large? Additionally, knowing all the risks associated, why would anyone resort to fraud or cheating to succeed in business?
The answer is that people don"t think too much. We"d prefer to remain blind and be able to follow temptations. But do a bit of investigation, and you"ll quickly learn how to re-frame your mind to stay on the straight path of honesty. Below are a few points to get your gears turning.
1. We think honesty slows us down.
Come on, when was the last time anyone actually read all the terms and conditions? This world runs on a fast pace, and people simply don"t have patience to go through the motions of every task. When we can cut corners, we will.
But when you"re running a company, your decisions have a ripple effect on the market you"re serving. According to an October 2014 study by Cohn & Wolfe, a global communications and public relations firm, honesty is the number one thing consumers want from brands.
So if you don"t want your startup to become a statistic of the 90 percent that fail, on average, make sure to stick to the truth when it comes to your brand. It"ll set you up for success in the long run!
2. We think we won"t get caught.
It"s midnight on a desolate rural road -- who will see you run through a red light? Similarly, who would notice if you slipped an extra unlisted ingredient into a product, or told a customer half the truth, being that they wouldn"t be shrewd enough to pick up on it anyway?
These moral quandaries can be paralleled to the famous riddle: "If a tree falls in a forest where no one is around, does it make a sound?" Perhaps it makes a sound, perhaps it doesn"t, depending on who you ask.
But the tree fell, that"s for sure.
We"re beyond kindergarten. We shouldn"t be living our lives in fear of punishment from legal authorities; and conversely, in celebration of victories acquired through dishonest means. That"s a pretty juvenile mindset, and no corporation can stand on the feet of those tenets for long.
Maybe you won"t get caught at first. But repeat dishonest practices will ultimately stain your reputation, because people aren"t stupid and eventually things come to light. All it takes is one small suspicion and you"re doomed. At best, you lose a customer; at worst, you"ll wind up in jail, like Martha Stewart did in 2004.
3. It"s the norm.
It"s the sad truth, According to a University of Massachusetts study led by psychologist Robert S. Feldman, 60% of people lied at least once during a 10-minute conversation and told an average of two to three lies.
However, just because everyone else is doing it doesn"t mean it"s right. Everyone can hold themselves up to higher standards -- it just takes a conscious awareness, and a lot of effort to train oneself to be honest.
Honesty is (indeed) the best policy.
But refreshingly, it"s also quite common to find businesses that run according to the principle of honesty as the best policy.
Companies all over the world are starting to not just recognize the values of honesty, but live by them. "In our business, honesty and transparency is the oxygen of our existence," states Mati Cohen of Pesach in Vallarta, a holiday hotel program.
This echoes of the founding principles of Buffer, a social media company that embraces the coined term "radical transparency"; all its salaries are public and there are no secrets amongst employees, which eliminates much of the animosity that is ever-present in many workplaces.
Tirath Kamdar, co-founder and CEO of jewelry and watch company TrueFacet, says that his company runs by these standards. "The alarmingly opaque nature of the luxury watch and jewelry market motivated us to create TrueFacet. Our goal is to bring transparency back to consumers. We set the standard for jewelry and watches at market value, allowing customers to obtain these products for the most fair price. This is why our customers return time and again."
Developing Honesty.
Nurturing this character trait requires hard work and patience. Make it a point to recognize how often you utter even little white lies, and correct yourself when you slip.
Because, after all, honesty is the best policy.
***Liba Rimler contributed to this article
No comments:
Post a Comment