New Guru?
Not that long ago, trendy and hip business practices were based on Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Victory should be the objective and harsh discipline the norm. The latest BusinessWeek magazine outlines some basic principles from Sun Tzu: Greed is good. Be tough. Attack only when victory is likely. Beat the enemy. Winning is essential and requires clever tactics and, sometimes, deception.
Ah, but that may be changing. According to the BusinessWeek article, the latest business fad is based on the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu text based on the wisdom of Lord Krishna. Here it is important to focus on your thoughts and actions rather than the outcome. Greed is bad. Be fair. Act rather than react. Seek higher consciousness and be sensitive to shareholders, partners, employees, and neighbors. Feel the Karma, y’all?
Frankly, I find the latter approach more to my liking, perhaps because I got a belly full of the former while in the Army. In any case, I find it amusing to see these business fads come and go while some simple truths remain constant - not the least of which comes from Johnny Carson’s old sidekick Ed McMahon: “Honesty is the single most important factor having a direct bearing on the final success of an individual, corporation, or product.”
All this philosophical stuff makes me thirsty and my Karma says I should go get a cold beer.
I often read your columns of reviews of copiers from Xerox, Canon etc. They seem to be just reprints of the manufacturers releases. This is fine as long as you state that at the beginning of the article. What would be more valuable to readers would be some real experiences with these machines from real print shop owners, or some simple tests done by a member of your staff.
Interesting how the 80’s were so well known for “greed is good,” as most famously portrayed by Michael Douglas’s ranting speech in the 80’s film “Wall Street.” Now everyone looks back on that era in embarassment and realizes how selfish and stupid that was. Greed is selfish and customers/partners can (usually) smell greed from a mile away. More customers are won with honesty than greed.
Oh, and speaking of karma… I think your karma ran over my dogma.
I read your post and it look fantastic. Three things are very important to upift your business. 1. honesty. 2, be fair and 3. Be good with your employees.