People are far more valuable than money or other any material objects. According to the Holy Bible, people are made in God’s own image. Accordingly, they should be treated as they deserve to be treated. With that in view, your business should Invest in People. Add value to People. Make these some of your key polices. Thus you lay a solid foundation for your business to build on. People can make or break your business. Hence, always handle people with absolute care and tact. The success and future of your business is, to a large extent, in their hands. That applies to your workers and your customers or clients. You ignore them at your own risk. If they do not patronize your business or do not want to work for you, you, sooner or later, you will be out. If no worker wants to work for you, you will for ever be a one-person-operation. Your business will be stunted. It can never grow. When you die, it will die with you. It will be worthless.
The most valuable investment
Investing in People, your Human Resources, is the most important investment your business could ever make. To that end, good and successful business offer training and induction to their newly hired employees and regular, ongoing training once they are working. This is in intended to update them on current trends and sharpen their delivery skills. That includes Customer Service. Very important. Good businesses want to retain all their good, productive and loyal staff members whom they have trained.
Some companies and the public sector offer a whole week of induction for newly recruited staff. This introduction to the employer is intended to familiarize them not only with their operational duties, but the culture, values and systems of the organization. That, the new staff member must be familiar with and abide by, or be disciplined or at worst even fired.
In one of my early executive jobs with a multinational retail organisation, when I was offered the job, I was given two weeks of training about the operations of the departments I was to be responsible for. I was also handed a thick company’s operations manual for all departments. Later on I also became a trainer, imparting to new staff what I had learnt and practised.
Business is mainly about serving People. That is its social responsibility as well as making money for its owners. It does so by creating jobs and sources of income for its employees and supplying goods and services that its customers or clients want and need, at a prices that they can afford to pay. If the buyers are happy with the services or goods that the businesses supplies them, they will keep coming. However, where there is competition, if they are discontented, they will take their business to a competitor.
As well as getting something out of the community, the business must also be willing to give something back in return. Always aim for a win/win outcome.
The value of money
Money is good. and necessary for all of us, including business owners. In a capitalist economic system, the main reason why people take risks, use their savings, borrow money, and start a business is first and foremost to make money for its owners and investors. Money is a measure and store of value. It is also a measure of the success of the business. The more profitable a business is, the more valuable it becomes.
However, that said, People’s interest must always come first before money. Hence, the end should not always justify the means by which the money is earned. Cheating, dishonest scales, fraud, small print, overcharging etc must be avoided like a deadly plague. A good name is to be esteemed more than riches, says the Wiseman King Solomon of ancient Israel. Customers or clients deserve value for their money, as workers also deserve a fair pay and good working conditions and respect in return for a fair day’s work. Ideally, the products and services that the business supplies should do no harm to the consumers and workers who handle and process them. Health and safety. They should be safe for human consumption. For that, the supplier is morally, if not legally, responsible.
Money has its limitations
Money is good and essential. However it has its limitations. Entirely on its own, money does not necessarily guarantee happiness, though it can help alleviate suffering, poor health and poverty. Money can raise one’s material (not necessarily moral) living standard. However the abundance of money on its own, does not necessarily make one’s marital life happier or guard against unfaithfulness or even domestic violence, at worse divorce. The love of money is the root of all evil. Hence it should not be reverenced like an idol. Money should be treated a servant and not a master. According to Jesus, Man can not live on bread alone. Money in the wrong hands can be a hazard to health and morality. It can lead to all kinds of temptations, alcohol and substance abuse, addiction and immorality. Make its possessors arrogant.
Ideally, money should be earned honestly, ethically, lawfully and morally. And in the process of earning it, people must always come first. If they are happy, they will reward you by supporting your business as workers and as buyers.