Do Business with Value-Aligned Professionals
On the heels of who not to do business with – Never Do Business with Litigious Assholes – it was evident we needed to make a list of exactly (and I mean precisely) who we are willing to do business with. The first step was easy, we just said Hire and Do Business with Problem Solvers. But there’s more to who you want to do business with… right?
What about your values? This feeds back into the topic of Authentic Leadership: Finding your True North: honest reflection to identify the pivotal moment in your life that led you to the values you hold today; precise articulation of those values; and, assessing those values in a journal for 5-10 minutes every night to assess whether your decisions align with those values.
So if your values tell you something about yourself they should then reflect onto who you want to do business with. Understand this first: your motive for being in business is money but your reason for being in business is to fill a social need for customers. Otherwise you would be willing to work in an arms factory that killed babies on the other side of the world… right? Does that make sense? So your own values tell you that some people are worth working with and that others are plain immoral unethical bastards.
Here’s an example. If you had worked for Enron and done no wrong in your career – how do you think your career would be flying today? Because its obvious that we are associated more tightly than monetarily with our employers, customers, clients and partners.
So when you make your list of who you want to work with in your career this point is a critical thing to have nailed on the wall of prospects. You don’t want to work for anyone and everyone – who do you want to work for? Because you probably only want to work for value-aligned professionals.
My intention isn’t to tell you not to work for money alone. But my intention is to inspire you to think about why you’re really in business and have you make informed career decisions… good luck with it.
