At College I was taught to
appreciate knowledge. I gave my best to my courses; I was made to believe that
marketing plans and models can deliver great results in business. When I
graduated and started my own business I learnt that it was half truth - after I
have received in the jaw an entrepreneurial judo.
A former African president
performed poorly because of his weak character. The General opinion was that he
was too ‘nice’ to be president. The people surrounding him were sharks and he
couldn’t control them. A former soldier entered into business and started UT
bank and did well within a short time. He had thick skin. Knowledge alone would
not suffice where there is weak human temperament.
Read this graphical excerpt from Laurie
J. Mullin’s Management and organizational behavior;
An elaboration of some of Gardener’s ideas was made by Goleman who
agreed that the classic view of intelligence was too narrow. He felt that the
emotional qualities of individuals should be considered. These, he felt, played
a vital role in the application of intelligence in everyday life. He identified
the key characteristics as; abilities
such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations;
to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s moods and keep
distress from swamping the ability to think; to emphasis and to hope.
Goleman suggests that emotional intelligence or EI predicts top performance and accounts for 85 percent of outstanding
performance in top leaders.
It has been said that the
greatest resources of a business are its employees. Why? Because plans don’t
work by themselves, it is people who have to work them. Employees with strong
character can turn a business around dramatically.
The character code for and against business
These are attitudes would lift
your business and make you standout
Self confidence, faith,
commitment, dedication, perseverance, appetite for learning, respect, goodwill,
ambitious, adventurer, efficient, adaptability,
These negative attitudes may sink
your business and make you doubt your abilities; failure mentality, pessimism, shyness
for fear, fear of risk, laziness, lack of self control, unmotivated, unbelief
In my mind’s eye I see a
successful business man or woman as one who is constantly hit with battering
rums of taxes, critics, threats, failure, and lack of support and still stand
firm to win. If somebody tells me he wants to start his own business, I would
ask one innocent question ‘do you have the tenacity for it?’ If you have all
the knowledge but weak character you’d amount to nothing; but, with a little
knowledge and plenty of inward power you’d achieve something for yourself. This
is why I think college dropouts have sometimes achieved more than professors.
Metaphorically, I think
successful businessmen and women are in a way like one of the characters in A Taste for Death by P. D. James;
‘When I was a young man at
college’ Delicata said reminiscently. ‘I was dubbed King Kong. I didn’t like
that all. It upset me very much. You’ll hardly believe this, Collier, but I
became almost suicidal over my freakishness.
And then do you know what I
discovered? I discovered that I was rather clever, quite remarkably strong, and
to a large degree invulnerable. My threshold of pain is perhaps uniquely high.
Nothing hurts.
And then it dawned on me. My
freakishness lay not only in my shape. It went deeper. Apart from scarcely
feeling pain, I could sustain blows which would have maimed or killed another
man.
I also realized that I had a
certain mental invulnerability as well. Neither drink nor drugs nor women had
an addictive effect on me.
So I changed quite radically’.
Business Areas That Our Attitude Has Impact
Planning; laziness would not let some people do better plans. Even
after planning most people don’t follow through with them. Self discipline is
what makes you kick yourself out of bed when every cell in your body cries for
more sleep.
Finance; one of the toughest challenge is having high bills to pay
and running a small business. Rent and your family’s upkeep can eat up every
income you make so that you have money to put back in the business. A strong
character is needed if one is to save and live within ones budget.
Customers; I believe genuine customer service comes from a good
heart. People with bad character may talk to somebody on the phone claiming to
offer customers care but at the time talking harshly to the customer. While
there are good leaders there are terrible ones too. Would 80% of your employees
say you are a good leader or vice versa?
Business; few people have the character to start over after they
have failed in business. It takes a person with perseverance to wait till
success comes when nothing is happening.
Work; People achieve much when they are dedicated to their work
completely. Dedication is giving your best to what you do.
Selling; some people find it hard to track people who are not their
friends and do business with them. The salesman job is so annoying to them they
wished it never existed. They are shy and fear. A manager with this problem
would see an opportunity to talk to some people about his product, but because
of fear may show indifference.
In summary, every business needs
a human element to make it work. Where a person lacks the right attitude the
business may suffer despite all the investments.
What character are we bringing to
the business field? Some managers with great abilities have been run down
because of corruption; some employees with great skills are sacked because they
are not dedicated. Others too have all the money and resources to start their
own businesses but because of weakness of character are nowhere near those
objectives. Except your character supports your knowledge and skills they would
amount to nothing.
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