Honor....As Nouns and Verbs...
How many of us really live a life based on honor?
My father was a very honorable man. When he shook your hand he meant it. When he entered into an agreement with you he expected himself to honor his side of the agreement and he expected the person who he entered into the agreement with to honor their side of the agreement. Not a lot when you think of it.
The definition of honor as a noun is "high respect or great esteem"; "adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct".
As a verb honor is defined as, "regard with great respect"; "fulfill (an obligation) or keep (an agreement)".
The definitions speak for themselves.
When we look back at our lives, what do you see?
How much of your daily conduct is structured with honor backing your moves?
Only you can answer that question and only you can look in the mirror and see who you are staring back at you. In other words you know yourself.
When I see myself in the mirror honor is very important to me. Unfortunately I have been in many situations where someone else's dishonor or shady actions have kept me from being honorable. While I am blaming no one for these actions it leaves a void in my life that I feel obligated to fill in an honorable way.
I despise the person who makes a horrendous mistake with other people's trust and then turns back to those people and somehow makes them feel as if it were there own fault for not doing better due diligence. For example a Bernie Madoff.
We are generally quick to forgive in life. I think that is important but at the same time it does not make up for the abuse that someone else gave to us.
Over the past twenty to thirty years I have watched as most of the ways in which people choose to do business has degraded as people rush to get whatever they can from others around them. In most cases it is nothing more than stealing which I have little use for.
Like most religions, Honor is only practiced when it is convenient for the people to practice it. We make excuses like, "well I try to do more good than bad"; "if I didn't do it someone else would"; "well they were doing it to me" and the list goes on.
What we need to remember is that our actions affect others lives. What we do has at times far reaching consequences. Often what we define as doing good work means doing work which benefits us and does nothing for anyone else. For example a business that is run by undercutting competition is such a business. Yes you might gain more market share but you impoverish the society where you are located that much more. Can you think of a few examples of this? I can.
Pride is defined as, "a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
It has a few more definitions but you get the idea.
Do you ever wish that you could help someone that you feel you wronged. I have felt this many times. You want to help the person even though it was not you that caused the pain.
I think that when we get back to trusting our so called leaders and people we do business with then things will improve in society. When we harbor deep distrust (especially for those that lead us) we cannot feel good about what we are doing.
I like to talk about honor because it still applies now more than ever. I hope that you will think of all the ways that you can use honor to help grown your business and make more positive relations. All the best!
My father was a very honorable man. When he shook your hand he meant it. When he entered into an agreement with you he expected himself to honor his side of the agreement and he expected the person who he entered into the agreement with to honor their side of the agreement. Not a lot when you think of it.
The definition of honor as a noun is "high respect or great esteem"; "adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct".
As a verb honor is defined as, "regard with great respect"; "fulfill (an obligation) or keep (an agreement)".
The definitions speak for themselves.
When we look back at our lives, what do you see?
How much of your daily conduct is structured with honor backing your moves?
Only you can answer that question and only you can look in the mirror and see who you are staring back at you. In other words you know yourself.
When I see myself in the mirror honor is very important to me. Unfortunately I have been in many situations where someone else's dishonor or shady actions have kept me from being honorable. While I am blaming no one for these actions it leaves a void in my life that I feel obligated to fill in an honorable way.
I despise the person who makes a horrendous mistake with other people's trust and then turns back to those people and somehow makes them feel as if it were there own fault for not doing better due diligence. For example a Bernie Madoff.
We are generally quick to forgive in life. I think that is important but at the same time it does not make up for the abuse that someone else gave to us.
Over the past twenty to thirty years I have watched as most of the ways in which people choose to do business has degraded as people rush to get whatever they can from others around them. In most cases it is nothing more than stealing which I have little use for.
Like most religions, Honor is only practiced when it is convenient for the people to practice it. We make excuses like, "well I try to do more good than bad"; "if I didn't do it someone else would"; "well they were doing it to me" and the list goes on.
What we need to remember is that our actions affect others lives. What we do has at times far reaching consequences. Often what we define as doing good work means doing work which benefits us and does nothing for anyone else. For example a business that is run by undercutting competition is such a business. Yes you might gain more market share but you impoverish the society where you are located that much more. Can you think of a few examples of this? I can.
Pride is defined as, "a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
It has a few more definitions but you get the idea.
Do you ever wish that you could help someone that you feel you wronged. I have felt this many times. You want to help the person even though it was not you that caused the pain.
I think that when we get back to trusting our so called leaders and people we do business with then things will improve in society. When we harbor deep distrust (especially for those that lead us) we cannot feel good about what we are doing.
I like to talk about honor because it still applies now more than ever. I hope that you will think of all the ways that you can use honor to help grown your business and make more positive relations. All the best!
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