How do you spell success? E-T-H-I-C-S!

I am tired of people blaming the economy for their lack of business, stagnation or loss of motivation. The reality is that companies have cash reserves, 90% of the workforce is still employed and the market is recovering. So what and where is your success? It lies within you.
Let me share with you a few ideas that might help.

How do you spell success? E-T-H-I-C-S! Don’t think so, read on.

E = Experience. Experience is not what happens to you, but what you make of what happens to
you. Learn from the lessons of life and use that wisdom. Values are caught not
taught. Think back, who modeled those life values to you, that wisdom that
stands the test of time? Identify those values and integrate them in every
decision you make in life. The result, is a person of true character that people
admire respect and with whom, they want to do business.

T = Training. Train yourself to keep asking the question: “Am I doing the right thing,
at the right time for the right reason?” This question will help keep you more
ethically focused. If companies don’t train their people to focus on this
question consistently, they leave themselves open to a greater chance of an
ethical lapse or legal trouble. The more we train people to consider things from
an ethical viewpoint, the better equipped we are for getting and keeping our
business relationships.

H=Hindsight. Hindsight gives us that opportunity to, hopefully, look more objectively into the
past in order to analyze, discern, and when necessary, make appropriate
changes. Hindsight makes the wisdom of past experiences available to us to
discern whether we have lived our values, acted ethically, and were “other-
centered” in our business dealings. Our obligation is to learn, assess, and adapt
to be more value based and principle driven in our business dealings.

I= Intuition. What does your ”gut” tell you is the right thing to do? Be attentive to it as it
affects all areas of your life. View intuition as your personal moral code,
because deep down, you know what’s right and wrong! Tap this “gift” of
self reflection for it will lead to better decisions, which lead to better results!

C= Customer. Ask yourself, are you making a sale or making a customer? Whatever your
answer is, is where your values lie! Here’s where people go “astray.” Your best
advertising is word of mouth. Your worst advertising is word of mouth. What’s
the difference? How you treat customers consistently and what is treatment
based on is based on your values, your ethics and the focus of building
relationships. This is what builds or destroys your reputation. Each time you
interact with a customer, ask the question, am I making a sale or making a
customer? Whichever is your answer, shows everybody what your values are!
The bottom line in business today is NOT money, but how well you build quality
customer relationships! If you focus on relationships, the money will take care
itself.

S= Self Esteem. Good self esteem, as opposed to ego, simply is this. Self esteem is my
perception of myself in relation to the world, not the world’s perception of me.
The more positive one’s self esteem is the more ethical one becomes. The best
decisions are self esteem “makers”, not self esteem “breakers.” Self esteem is
basis of everything we are, believe and become. Remember that no one can
make feel anything without your permission. Don’t give it to them! Own it and
keep that power.

We are daily challenged to respond to the world around us. How and what we decide and the effect of those decisions, will dictate in many ways the return we can expect from those decisions. Go slow, choose well and above all, enjoy the journey, for this too shall pass!