I can draw such conclusion not because it’s theoretical. I do have heart-warming experiences with my friends and fellow business owners.
I am a Christian and I do have colleagues from different faiths – Christians, Moslems, and Buddhists. We are all agree that our businesses “make sense” if our clients and visitors see that ours are run with integrity and change people’s life for the better.
When people do business with us, they need to know that our companies are run based on the right principles our faiths teach us. That being said, our businesses should be run with integrity – some principles my colleagues and I trust to guide our entrepreneurial journey.
How to run a business with integrity
1. Treat our employees the way we want to be treated
Unless your business is a sole-proprietorship, you have employees run your business for you. Your employees are your business stakeholders. Your business’ success is highly related to how your employees do their job and how you consider your employees.
And no, you are not expected to give whatever your employees want; you are expected to treat them fairly – give them what they deserve and eligible to receive (insurance, etc.), and reward/”punish” them according to their work performance.
Don’t get the wrong impression that you need to compromise with your employees. Compromising will lower your integrity and eventually can cause your employees not to trust you.
2. Truthful marketing
Marketing messages are often deceptive. They are meant to convert prospects into clients with all the power wordings and call to actions.
While great wordings and call to actions are required to produce sales, there is one major difference that separates the ethical business owners from the rest: Business owners with integrity promote with facts – be truthful and accurate in your ads and sales copy.
3. Honest and fair in business dealings
Be honest – many business owners are using white lies to win deals and contracts; the truth is, lies are lies. With lies, you can close big deals. But what we do today might come back at us later on – do good, you can expect good things coming your way; on the other hand, do bad, you can expect bad things coming your way; you reap what you sow.
If your clients are not really sure what they are doing, that doesn’t mean that you can trick your clients to spend more money than they should.
4. Serve one another
The world says, “Destroy your competitors using any possible ways” The God’s way says, “serve one another.”
Instead of competing unethically, why don’t joint forces and cross-promote your products and services? What about referring business to each other?
5. Respect
Regardless of whom you are dealing with, you need to treat the other party with respect. You will never know that your most insignificant client can be your best partner in the future. Build your business relationship with respect as one of the top priorities. Again, you reap what you sow.
Final words
Many would call the above principles “foolish” or “stupid” – but God’s principles are so simple, in such a way that the world laughed and sneered at them. No matter what’s your faith to God, following the “best practice” will always yield the best results. I know I do.
Ivan Widjaya
Pursuing business integrity