Lessons You Teach Your Children Apply to Business

The lessons you teach your children often have a funny way of appearing in your business life. I was reading an online article about parenting and decided to highlight a few of these lessons and give my take on how they apply to various business situations.

  • Life is not always fair. Very often we work extremely hard for a prospective client, only to find out that the prospect has chosen another firm. Our hard work may include several hours of analysis, meetings, as well as illustration preparation. Oh well!
  • Share.It is important to share ideas, personal stories, and failures with your colleagues, co-workers, and clients. It is also important to share referrals – noting that referrals are a two-way street. You have to be willing to give, in order to get.
  • Know when to walk away.There are some people that cannot be reached, so there is no sense wasting your time trying to reach them. Walk away, and move on to the next person, issue or opportunity.
  • Apologize. It is fine to admit a business mistake – no one is perfect. It is not fine to hide, deny or blame someone else when you know you have erred. Say you’re sorry and deal with the issue.
  • Have fun. Too often, we are so serious in our business that we forget to have fun. After all, isn’t that what life’s all about? Business can be exhausting, challenging, tiring and more; but it can also be fun especially when you are working with good people and enjoy what you do.
  • Be honest. In the business world, it takes years to establish trust and only seconds to destroy it. Honesty is always the best policy.
  • Listen. So often, our minds are racing in so many directions that we forget to listen to the person who we are speaking with. There are also times when we need to stop talking, take a break and simply listen and learn.
  • Follow directions. When a client asks us for a document, information or an answer to a problem, it is important that we follow his/her directions.
  • Treat others with the same kindness and understanding with which you would like to be treated. Isn’t this the golden rule? If we have respect for our colleagues, co-workers, and clients in the business world, hopefully that respect will be reciprocated.

I just thought these lessons were interesting and I hope you found this information thought-provoking.

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