A Little Used Business Secret
By John Harricharan
Sometimes, the simplest things are the most profound. A good percent-
age of the time the most common sense principles are the ones most
disregarded. Perhaps, it's because we are so intent on making a living
that we forget about making a life.
One of the most forgotten principles for personal success is a word ig-
nored by almost everyone--Goodwill. It is a principle so underused, yet so powerful, that it could take us to the heights of success. It remains under-used because people overlook the disarming power disguised in subtle terms such as compassion, kindness, empathy, unselfishness and caring.
In marketing classes in MBA school, we learned many useful things about advertising strategy, marketing to consumers, studying statistics of a sales campaign and getting the order. To this day, I use the tools of the
trade to help me in my business. But one thing that hardly anyone touched upon was the concept of "Goodwill."
Goodwill is not just a number on the accountant's balance sheet, but is an invisible, little-used tool that all of us have at our disposal. Most of us
could help solve someone else's problems, either with a telephone
call, an introduction or referral. But, we refuse to do it. Why? Because we feel there's nothing in it for us! Or we are afraid to get involved.
Let me tell you a true story. A young woman walked into my assistant's
office. She was looking for a job, but we had none to offer. At the request of my assistant, I spoke with the young woman. She only wanted to work for the summer and then would complete her last semester of graduate school and return home to her country. No one wanted to hire her and train her to work for such a short period of time.
Although there was no sound business reason to do so, I told my assis-
tant to create an office job for her. After all, she needed help and it felt
good to help someone.
I hardly saw her until the last day when she came into my office to say
goodbye. She thanked me again and handed me a business card.
"This is my father's card," she said, "If you ever visit my country, call my dad, he'd be very happy to meet you. I've told him all about how kind you were to me. In my country, my dad is a government minister."
And that's how I ended up having lunch with the mayor of Nairobi, din-
ner with the Vice President of Kenya and making business alliances that
brought my company profits hundreds of times greater than the salary
we had paid for summer help. I also enjoyed going on photo safari to the
Serengeti Plains of East Africa.
This is not an isolated case. It's just one of the more obvious ones. You
never can tell who will lead you to that next contact, that profitable contract or the added financing you were looking for. It is important that we treat everyone with dignity and respect. REMEMBER: Business does not do business with other businesses. People do business with people.
The Internet is not about computers, technology or even marketing. That would be like saying cars are about the internal combustion engine and
the laws of thermodynamics. The In-ternet is about people and communications. If we communicate with honesty and feelings, we'd find that most others respond in kind.
So whenever the opportunity arises, do something for someone else who
is powerless to do it alone. Don't worry about what you are going to get
out of it. The Universe has a way of repaying in ways far too strange to
understand. Earn "goodwill" and you'll prosper beyond belief.
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John Harricharan is the award-winning author of the bestseller, "When
You Can Walk on Water, Take the Boat". Get a free PDF copy and sign up for John's free newsletter at http://www.waterbook.com. Photos of John and some of his friends are at http://insight2000.com/pictures.
