Humility is very essential in the life of every person. Some people see their qualifications and positions as a reason to lord it over others at the work place. Some people also do not treat their clients well because they are not humble. Jim Rohn believes that “One customer well taken care of could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.”
Sometimes the patronage of a person’s services will not depend on the advertisement the person makes but how respectfully he or she transacts business with the clients or customers.
P.T. Barnum writes, “Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly.
“The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him.”
Ellen G. White records: “Men may think that they possess superior qualifications. Their splendid talents, great learning, eloquence, activity, and zeal, may dazzle the eye, delight the fancy, and awaken the admiration of those who cannot read beneath the surface; but unless humility and modesty is linked with these other gifts, self-glorification and self-exaltation will be seen.
“Unless each qualification is consecrated to the Lord, unless those to whom the Lord has entrusted gifts seek that grace which alone can make their qualifications acceptable to God, they are looked upon by the Lord . . . as unprofitable servants”.
It is always good to treat people well, especially those you do business with. Stephen Covey emphasize that “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.”
As you treat your employees well, they work wholeheartedly to increase your productivity. James Sinegal also believes that “when employees are happy, they are your very best ambassadors.”
Anne M. Mulcahy writes, “employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.”
When you respect your associates, you get the opportunity to grow. Every person you work with has something peculiar you may not have. Learn from them and appreciate their efforts. Encouragement is able to make an ant lift a dead cockroach to its residence.
Sam Walton said “appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing
else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.”
Having a cordial relationship with employees and clients or working associates is for your own good and benefit. If you do not want your business to collapse respect and care for the people you transact business with.
“Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight. When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom. The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them” (Proverbs 11:1-3 NKJV).
There are so many acts of dishonesty at the work places. People are bribing and allowing themselves to be bribed. In fact, the system is corrupt. Many people of responsible positions are very irresponsible.
Sometimes because of how some people behave in the execution of their duties, some professions are seen to be corrupt professions.
For example: if judges at a law court take bribe to pervert justice, they make people lose trust in the judiciary, and if a lawyer uses fictitious evidence to win a case, that is as well dishonesty.
Some officers who are in charge of buying products and equipment for their companies sometimes double the prices. They are sometimes into over- invoicing to take the difference to cheat their companies.
The author went to buy something on behalf of a group; the seller asked him how much he should write on the receipt even though he had paid for the said amount.
The seller said; that is what most people do. They buy it at a low cost and request that the receipt should be written at exorbitant prices. God is calling on everyone to put an end to such behaviors since it does not glorify Him.
According to Amy Rees Anderson,
“ Integrity means doing the right thing at all times and in all circumstances, whether or not someone is watching. It takes courage to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences will be. Building a reputation of integrity takes years, but it takes only a second to lose, so never allow yourself to ever do anything that would damage your integrity”.
Research shows “Public or organizational integrity is the set of characteristics that justify trustworthiness and generate trust among stakeholders. Integrity creates the conditions for organizations to intelligently resist corruption and to be more trusted and efficient.”
Talking about integrity, Ellen G. White writes:
“The greatest want of the world is the want of men–men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.
“But such a character is not the result of accident; it is not due to special favors or endowments of Providence. A noble character is the result of self-discipline, of the subjection of the lower to the higher nature — the surrender of self for the service of love to God and man.”
If you see something wrong taking place at your work place, please address it to make sure that God’s name will be glorified, but seek wisdom from God so that you can address it in order to glorify God. Those who have been stealing at their workplaces are warned to consider their ways. God is calling for a reformation now.
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