Charges of CEO and business owner greed ricochet around our media sources. Headlines decry “Greedy CEO’s eat away at our economy”, “Greedy Hostess Executives will fill their own stockings with bonuses” and “It pays to be a greedy CEO and screw over your workers”. However, you probably are not one of those $12M executives. Nevertheless owner greed or zest for making money for money’s sake can still doom your business.
Getting Greedy & Focusing on Money Hurts Your Business
Businesses your size depend on good relations to succeed. You build relationships with clients, vendors, suppliers, and your staff. Relationships suffer when money becomes your focus. Greed distorts your perceptions and thoughts. When greed and money becomes your focus you may tend to
- Pressure vendors and suppliers to cut costs, provide shoddy materials, & then delay paying them
- Provide products that lack quality, while charging higher margins than they deserve
- Pay penurious wages to your employees, outsource, and deplete morale and loyalty
- Cut moral and ethical corners to get more money
- Lose sight of why you started the business in the first place
- Neglect your family to spend more time working when you don’t need more money
You may fall prey to any or all of these problems if you allow greed or making money for money’s sake to enter your life.
How to Avoid Greed & Making Money Your Prime Motive
You may take several steps to avoid feelings of greed or money:
- Change your view of the world from one of scarcity to an abundance mentality
- Identify a good charity or cause and donate money to those worse off
- Stay close to your staff, family, clients, and vendors so that you see them as people
- Know when to reduce your drive for money, create a team to help stay on target
- Keep your money low key and avoid ostentatious symbols of wealth
- Read scripture and good books that will help you focus
Saturday we will highlight how a rotten company culture leads businesses to fail
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