In Business just to make MONEY? How Sad!

Is making money the only reason why you work?  If so, does it satisfy?  More money!  Actually, we all have a longing for significance.  We want our lives to mean something.  Think about it, does money itself really give you the satisfaction and the peace of heart you desire?  My guess is that it does not.

Money is a means to an end, not an end in itself.  This is no great insight or earth shaking statement.  It is but a simple truth.  Yes, we need money to survive, to live.  It is the medium of exchange to get what we need and want.  But it guarantees nothing in terms of happiness, meaning, significance, or peace of heart and satisfaction of the soul.

How rich are you?  How rich do you want to be?  What is your net worth?  And exactly how much of that will you be taking with you, when you die?  It’s not money.  It is purpose that counts.  Living life with a purpose other than making-money is far more significant and fulfilling then living life for the almighty dollar.

There are non-wealthy people who are living quite contented and comfortable lives who will testify to this truth.  They make just enough to meet their needs and simple wants.  They’re far from poverty.  But more importantly, they are not driven by money.  There are also enough well-to-do people who have plenty of money in the bank and have all the latest toys, gadgetry and luxury items that money can buy, who are joyless and miserable people.  Thereby proving the point: money can’t buy happiness.

Sadly we have become a society in which, in matters of business, all that matters and the only thing that matters is the bottom line?  Forgetting that people matter too!  Workers, employees, and servers, even employers, shopkeepers, and shop owners, or entrepreneurs and investors, we are all people.  We have longings and desires, the want of significance.  We are more than mere cogs in the mechanisms of an economy.  We have hearts, we have souls.  We want lives beyond mechanized productivity.

Thus, a truly thriving and healthy economy is one that factors in people as people, one that allows people to thrive as human beings.  A great economy provides people with the opportunity to seek, find, and experience real significance as persons.  And so a thriving business will recognize and maintain the dignity and honor of the human soul and its need for respect and appreciation. A thriving company does not profit by using-up and/or oppressing its workers but will see to it that its workforce prospers along with the business.  Its happy workforce will see itself as part of a bigger and greater cause than merely making another dollar for the boss/owner/stockholders.

Here are some principles that positive, growing, and successful businesses should keep in mind:

1.    Care for the human dignity of your workforce.  Do no dehumanize your employees.  Respect your employees as much as you do your customers.  An unhappy employee can greatly sabotage your customer relations, even if unintentionally.  Provide a fair shake and a fair deal to all, employees as well as customers.  Your integrity, honesty, and sense of fair play will soon spread.  You will always then have trusting and loyal clients.

2.    The means are as important as the end result.  How one makes money is as important as how much one makes.  Make money with integrity.  Do not cut corners.  Do not lie, cheat, or steal along the way.  This is basic good business practice.

3.    Spread the wealth as much as you can.  What you give away will always come back to you, many times over.  Share as much as you can and you will never be in want yourself.

4.    Finally, produce something that gives back to society, and not merely takes from society.  Try to be in business for something greater than the almighty dollar.  You can’t take it with you.  And the size of your bank account will certainly matter very little, come Judgment Day.  And yes, there will be a reckoning for the life you lived here on earth—otherwise there is no real justice, economic or otherwise, is there.