THE CURRENCY CALLED 'RESPECT'

Pic.: Rajiv Sharma

““Business may be all about money,

but the currency that's traded inside every organization is respect.”

- Geoffrey James

In life, we all have these options:

Earn money but no respect;

Earn respect but no money;

Earn both…

And, this last one… earn none!

“It is a fast-life, sir,” last evening an ex-student of mine, who now is into construction business, told me, “make money as fast as you can, and forget about those old-fashioned ideals of ‘respect’.” He had more to say, “Did you see the reaction of people while I was getting off my car?”

Yes, I did see. “Wow! What a sexy car!”

I did not have to tell it to this young-man, who wanted to be ‘there’ fast. He hadn’t come to me to 'take' one more lesson from his one-time teacher; he had come to ‘give’ his old-fashioned teacher what he thought to be a very valuable lesson…“Look sir, first earn money and power… then, think about respect.”

Well, his teacher did not need this lesson, either.

What my ex-student – young, fast, furious and restless – believed in is not any new ideology. It had, always, been there as a choice before every young-man on his path to success… “Should I endeavor to earn money first and then respect or vice versa?” “Should I earn both or none?”

Yes, nothing new or surprising about a few by-standers’ reaction: “Wow, what a sexy car!” For, they never ever have said this about the man who got off the car… He needed that car to feel he was sexy!

Businesses last for centuries on the robust foundation called ‘goodwill’ – the good name. They earn it over a long, long period of time. A lot goes into earning this respect from your customers… a lot, a lot and a lot. Be absolutely good first… Give them the best goods and services… Don’t take them for granted… Go the extra-mile, work more than what you are paid for… Treat your own employees as you treat yourself… It is only then will your employees treat your customers so… May money be the by-product of your services… Help your customers succeed in their business and life, be their genuine well-wisher, a partner in their success…

Yes, when your customers and employees see this, feel this – that, you have put values above money - that, they will remain loyal to you, come back to you for years and years on…

That’s respect… That’s power… Along them, comes money. In loads and loads!

An old gospel?

Test it for yourself.

GERALD D’CUNHA