March 29, 2024

Small Business Advice

Core values that inspire will make your business great

Jerry Osteryoung | 9/2/2016

"To be or not to be." ~ William Shakespeare

“To be or not to be.” It is one of best known of all of Shakespeare’s many famous quotes. When I did a Google search, I found more than 2 million sites that discuss it. Everyone has -- or should have -- debated the meaning of this classic quote because we all can take something different away from it.

To me, it means that “being” is so different from “doing.” The act of “being” means I am in touch with the deeper part of my soul. That is my interpretation, but as I said, there are many others.

Rabbi and social activist Abraham Joshua Heschel has taken this classic line and changed it to, “To be is to stand for!” which is an interpretation that had never occurred to me. I had also never thought it had relevance in business until I took some time to consider what the Rabbi was saying. I think you could rephrase the Rabbi’s version as follows: To be is to have core values by which you live.

Just doing or being is fine, but you really need to stand for something that matters. Making money is great, but there are so many other things of value that you can make a stand for in your business. This is what makes a business great.

A good friend of mine values every staff member who works for him. He espouses this philosophy in the things he says as well as in the way he runs his business. He pays all his staff’s medical and dental care plus so much more. He does not do this to make his employees like him (for the record, they love him). It is just a core value he stands on.

Another example is an entrepreneur who gives 50 percent of her profits to her staff to distribute throughout the community and help support causes that address critical issues like housing and food. The core value she has embraced is that she wants her company to play a role in making the community a better place to live. To her, this is what it means to “be.”

Finally, there is Jim Moran. Mr. Moran founded the Jim Moran Institute (JMI) and so much more. The reason he started JMI over 20 years ago is that he knew entrepreneurs needed help becoming more successful. He and his lovely wife have given over $100 million to FSU and JMI to help ensure entrepreneurs can be successful.

Mr. Moran really understood that help was needed, and he wanted to stand on the notion that he could provide it.

Now go out and ask yourself what you stand for. Then do what you can to live up to that ideal!

You can do this!

Dr. Osteryoung has directly has assisted over 3,000 firms. He is the Jim Moran Professor of Entrepreneurship (Emeritus) and Professor of Finance (Emeritus) at Florida State University. He was the founding Executive Director of The Jim Moran Institute and served in that position from 1995 through 2008. His newest book co-authored with Tim O'Brien, "If You Have Employees, You Really Need This Book," is a bestseller on Amazon.com. He can be reached by e-mail at jerry.osteryoung@gmail.com.

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