Episode Details

Many business schools are hurriedly designing and incorporating courses on ethics. Seminars and management training are focusing on integrity. There seems to be a sudden awareness of our need for integrity in the marketplace.  

 Employee theft is a problem of great magnitude, as well as lack of employee loyalty. But, after all, how can you motivate loyalty if you engage in shady business dealings or treat employees unfairly? And now corporate America says, “How can we put values and integrity back in our good ‘ole American system?” 

Well, it will only happen as individuals put integrity back into their personal lives and make it a high priority. And it will only happen when we are motivated from within, not from without. All the training courses in the world cannot instill integrity into a person’s heart. That must come from a belief system which is committed to doing what’s right, regardless of the cost. 

If we do what’s right only as a manipulative tool to get where we want to go, only because that’s the “in” thing to do, we’ll find ourselves waffling all over the place. Doing the right thing takes an internal belief and commitment and a standard by which we operate. It takes absolutes. And it takes an internal power which many seem to lack. 

If I asked you what is the best book on business principles, customer service skills, how to succeed, how to get along with people, how to handle a difficult boss, and how to deal with decisions of integrity on your job, what book would you recommend? Not too many people would ever think of the Bible as relevant to those issues, but let me tell you, it’s the textbook and the authority which we need. 

If you don’t have an authority and a standard by which actions and attitudes are judged, you will never have integrity—personal or corporate. Relative truth doesn’t work; it’s another name for compromise. A moving standard which changes based on how you feel versus how I feel or is contingent on circumstances is no standard at all.  

The Bible is dogmatic. It gives us very strong guidelines in many areas, with no room for argument. That causes many people a lot of difficulty, because by nature we just don’t like to be told where the limits are. But the interesting thing is, Bible principles work, and they work in the marketplace equally as well as anywhere else. 

The best customer service philosophy in the world is based on what we call the golden rule which Jesus set forth 2000 years ago: Treat other people the way you want to be treated. Now, when we base our business philosophy upon this principle, we find we design a dynamite system and way to deal with people, whether customers, employees, or vendors.  

God’s principles, when practiced, will benefit anyone. That’s because he’s the Creator, he knows how things should work, he knows how people are motivated, he knows what makes us tick. His principles are based on long-term profit. God doesn’t go for the instant answers most of us look for. He has marvelous strategic insight, and when he sets forth a principle, it is always to our benefit to follow them. So, regardless of whether a person or an organization recognizes God or his principles, when those principles are followed, they bring success. 

Proverbs 21:21 tells us, <