Honour and loyalty

…make living worthwhile

This morning I read about a couple of old mates who made a pact in 1992 that if ever one of them won Powerball, they would split the winnings. 28 years later one of them did and immediately called his mate with the news. They’ve both ended up with about $6m each.

It made me think about the power of friendship, loyalty and honour. The reality is that Tom need never have contacted Joe and he would have been none the wiser. But something made him pick up the phone and that something was worth more than $6m.

It also made me think that there is very little difference between relationships in business and in what we sometimes call our “real life”. At least there shouldn’t be. I think of the hard times I’ve been working through for the last while and realise that the thing that has kept me sane and functional is the people I’ve interacted with and the quality of those interactions.

I’ve been responsible for the last 11 months for managing the expectations of a lot of suppliers who have not been paid as they might have expected on behalf of a third party. The level of anger, fear and disappointment started out very high as there was no money forthcoming and no real answers to provide.

Throughout this time, I have made two commitments to them.

1.      I will communicate with you regularly, whether there is news or not

2.      I will communicate with you as soon as there is anything to update

3.      I will never lie to you

People who  should be righteously angry have become something else over time. Some have even become friends and supporters of Regeneration HQ. I can correlate this directly to the respect and good humour I have shared with them through gruelling times.

Treat people badly or dishonestly and they will appear to be hostile and suspicious. Treat them well and honestly and they will become allies. It ain’t rocket science, it’s just human relations.

I’m not Tom or Joe in this story, but the point is that the suppliers I’ve been interacting with know that if we had a $12m windfall down the track, I’d be the first one to call them and share the spoils.

I made a promise and one of life’s great satisfactions is honouring your promises even when you don’t need to.

I’ve attached the story and I urge you to focus on the value of relationships, bonds, honour and commitment in business. It really is just like life.