Every business has to have corporate values and a vision which would serve as its backbone. A business cannot run on a foundation that is built on sand, so to speak. It has to have policies that are rooted in ethical principles and manifest in policies that are favorable to both your workers and to the management and the business owners.
So what does it take to make a business run smoothly?
I like quoting the Bible, so today, I will quote the Bible (in three versions) extensively for this post.
1) Pay your workers on time.
I had stumbled upon this in the Old Testament before, and I thought it was in Proverbs, but I found out that it’s in Deuteronomy, actually:
Deuteronomy 24:14-15 (New International Version)
Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
2) Be fair in all your business dealings.
Proverbs 11:1 (NIV)
The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight.
3) Keep generosity at the top agenda of the company. Even those who are not Christian adhere to this. A pranic healing guru who was also a highly successful businessman actually taught these principles too:
Proverbs 11:24-25 (NIV)
One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Its Good News Bible/Today’s English Version translation:
Proverbs 11:24-25 (GNB/TEV)
Some people spend their money freely and still grow richer. Others are cautious, and yet grow poorer. Be generous, and you will be prosperous. Help others, and you will be helped.
What that pranic healing guru/businessman would do, when his company suffered severe financial losses, or if profits were dwindling, he would start giving away their products. He also advocated giving and generosity in order to pull in more wealth.
Matthew 13:12 (NIV)
Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
Jesus also advocated great business principles:
4) Use your profits or your company’s assets to gain a network and have influence on others.
In Luke 16, Jesus tells of a story wherein a manager was about to be booted out by his master. So what he did was that he slashed the loans of everyone who owed his master in order to make these people grateful to him and thus compel them to actually provide food and shelter for him, in the impending event of his becoming jobless and consequently bankrupt. His master commended him, because he was shrewd.
Thus, in everything, use your influence, assets, and probably even your business’ profits or your own money (i.e. spending for coffee in Starbucks to let media men hang around you) in order to leverage a network for yourself or your business.
5) Invest your assets.
Jesus had talked about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-29. The master had rewarded those servants who doubled their talents with even double portions of what they originally had. Then the servant who just hid his talents in a hole he dug in the ground actually got his talents taken from him and these were given to the servant who were given the most talents AND doubled those talents.
In short, investing brings exponential returns.
6) Pay your taxes.
In Matthew 22:15-22, Jesus was asked by the Pharisees whether it is right to pay taxes to Caesar or not. Jesus’ answer in Matthew 22:21, now a quotable quote, was:
“Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Which brings us to the 7th point:
7) Give God your tithes.
Malachi 3:10-11 (New Living Translation)
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD Almighty, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!
Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not shrivel before they are ripe,” says the LORD Almighty
Haggai 1:4-11 (New Living Translation)
“Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?
This is what the LORD Almighty says: Consider how things are going for you!
You have planted much but harvested little. You have food to eat, but not enough to fill you up. You have wine to drink, but not enough to satisfy your thirst. You have clothing to wear, but not enough to keep you warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!
“This is what the LORD Almighty says: Consider how things are going for you!
Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD.
You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the LORD Almighty, while you are all busy building your own fine houses.
That is why the heavens have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its crops.
I have called for a drought on your fields and hills – a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olives and all your other crops, a drought to starve both you and your cattle and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.”
Even as I write this, I feel chastised, because:
1) I haven’t filed my taxes yet.
2) I am so remiss in my tithes.
3) I still owe my cousin, whom I contracted for a job, around $50.
It’s a good thing I am not yet a business owner and I have no other people under me, or else I may come under fire if I do not pay them on time.
So if you want to run a business smoothly, avoid losses, and keep the illnesses across the corporate structure to the point that getting sick is an exception, heed the Bible and heed Jesus. 😉