How to Make Good Business Decisions
When you make good business decisions, you get rich. Alan Greenspan says in his latest book that Ayn Rand has been the most important influence on his philosophy, and his philosophy drives his decisions. There are only two kinds of decisions: Those based on emotion, and those based on fact or rational objectivity.
Here is one of the most important quotes you will ever read:
“An emotion is an automatic response, an automatic effect of man’s value premises. An effect, not a cause. There is no necessary clash, no dichotomy between man’s reason and his emotions—provided he observes their proper relationship. A rational man knows—or makes it a point to discover—the source of his emotions, the basic premises from which they come; if his premises are wrong, he corrects them. He never acts on emotions for which he cannot account, the meaning of which he does not understand. In appraising a situation, he knows why he reacts as he does and whether he is right. He has no inner conflicts, his mind and his emotions are integrated, his consciousness is in perfect harmony. His emotions are not his enemies, they are his means of enjoying life. But they are not his guide; the guide is his mind. This relationship cannot be reversed, however. If a man takes his emotions as the cause and his mind as their passive effect, if he is guided by his emotions and uses his mind only to rationalize or justify them somehow—then he is acting immorally, he is condemning himself to misery, failure, defeat, and he will achieve nothing but destruction—his own and that of others.” ~ Ayn Rand.
When your business decisions are driven by need, fear, arrogance, pride, greed, envy, or revenge, they are emotional and irrational. We have all compromised our values and overlooked important red flags to make a buck. The result of compromise is guilt, and guilt causes self-sabotage. In other words, you will lose a lot more than you gain. Ayn Rand: “A chronic lack of pleasure, of any enjoyable, rewarding or stimulating experiences, produces a slow, gradual, day-by-day erosion of man’s emotional vitality, which he may ignore or repress, but which is recorded by the relentless computer of his subconscious mechanism that registers an ebbing flow, then a trickle, then a few last drops of fuel–until the day when his inner motor stops and he wonders desperately why he has no desire to go on, unable to find any definable cause of his hopeless, chronic sense of exhaustion.”
When you do business according to your philosophy and remain true to your values and philosophy, you’ll be happy and you’ll get rich, as long as you have the right philosophy. When your philosophy is one of collectivism or mysticism, your business decisions will be flawed, and they will undermine your business. “The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life.” ~ Ayn Rand.
When business owners sell their souls for money, they start to become conflicted about money. So they start projecting their dishonesty and condemning the very purpose of their business: “Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.” (Ayn Rand).
Good business decisions are the result of careful, level-headed thought. Ayn Rand again:
“Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.” Choose your philosophy very carefully, if you want to succeed in business. You have to learn to say “No”, even when it costs you money. The more defined and sophisticated your philosophy, the more selective you will become, and the more success you will enjoy. A good analogy is a cheap watch versus an expensive watch. When you buy an expensive watch, you make sure that the person working on or servicing it is well qualified and licensed or authorized to do so. You don’t take your Rolex Presidential to someone who is not an authorized Rolex dealer, any more than you would take your Rolls Royce to a backyard mechanic. Your business is a reflection of YOU. Who you are, your values, your philosophy – everything that you are is reflected in the way you do business.
Every decision has ripple effects and long-term consequences, so it is important to think about the base and foundation of your business decisions and to determine to disciple yourself to live strictly according to your objective philosophy. Compromise and concession are the cancer that kills businesses.
Those who use their minds to make good business decisions find it easier to operate when supported and surrounded by like-minded, ethical Joint Venture partners, hence the importance in DollarMakers to attract and retain only those whose integrity is beyond question and whose philosophy is one of capitalism. Your mastermind, your inner circle, your team, and your family, affects every business decision you make. Be aware of that.
Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com
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