On The Subject of Right and Wrong
Thursday, November 11th, 2010
Loading ...Are you always right and never wrong? Or are you sometimes right and sometimes wrong? Or are you always wrong?
Those questions remind me of conversations between two people when one person asks another, “Oh, you heard the story of blah-blah-blah from yesterday. . .” and the other person says, “Oh sure, that story,” and doesn’t have an inkling what the other person is talking about. We don’t want to say “Never heard the story.”
Fact is we want to be right. But can we all be right all the time? There was a survey on CNBC today that asked viewers which is the best investment right now? Stocks, bonds, gold or cash.
I’m not sure what the percentages were, but each person who voted believed they picked the right choice. And when in fact one year later they did not pick the right choice, they will still say they picked the right choice (which was different from their original choice).
Texas Hold’em is about right and wrong. You instantly know if you made the right or wrong decision. Right you win the money, wrong you lose the money. Those that make the right decision smile, laugh, high-five while those that make the wrong decision sulk, slam doors and run for the exit.
Salon owners and their employees deal with this subject all the time. The salon owner loves certain brands and wants the employees to embrace the same brands. But in many instances, the stylists like other brands and demand that the salon owner carry them or they will leave. Hence, you find many brands represented in the dispensary and retail area and there is no clear consensus which brands are best.
Abe Lincoln is perhaps one of the most quoted President’s of all time. Why do we remember that he was the 16th President when we can’t remember what number President Obama is (do you know?).
One of his quotes that struck me for this topic is the following: “Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.” (20 June 1848)
In business, we know by our “gut” feeling what is right and what is wrong. We know from facts, data and meetings with employees what is right and what is wrong. We know from our schooling and upbringing what is right and what is wrong. We know from expectations what is right and what is wrong.
More importantly, we know when we do something right that we feel good about ourselves and when we do something wrong, we feel bad about ourselves. Words like “thank you” and “I’m sorry” are used less and less in each generation and it’s indicative of how we feel about ourselves.
The bottom line to all this is that we all have a job to do in business and Lincoln clearly stated that when the business acts as a team, they will do the right thing and get the job done no matter what it takes. When everyone is doing the right thing, it is amazing what a team can accomplish; how excited the team becomes; and how great it is to celebrate the completion of getting the job done.
We all need to be more focused on doing what is right but not in the individual sense but in the team sense. Then and only then can amazing things happen. And truthfully, there is no better time that the present to start thinking how Lincoln did more than 160 years ago.
Happy Thursday!
P.S. Obama is the 44th President
