Virtue In The Marketplace: Can It Be A Competitive Advantage?
We cycle through a vast number of new books on business management every year. But are we any closer to finding the holy grail of superior performance that these books promise?
The Book of Virtues can hardly be considered a book on business management. However, might it hold a secret that can be mined and effectively employed in the marketplace?
William Bennett wrote The Book of Virtues "to aid in the time-honored task of the moral education of the young" concerning the training of the heart and mind toward the good.
Is there a role for virtue in the marketplace? Another way to ask this is "Is there a place for 'the good' in business?"
Consider the 10 virtues Bennett focuses on: self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty and faith.
Some virtues are obviously worshiped by business people, among them work and perseverance, no doubt because they are associated with success stories. Self-discipline and responsibility fall into the same category.
But what of compassion and loyalty? Are they only opportunistic virtues, to be discarded if there is no return on investment?
And honesty? Faith?
Perhaps there is a return on investment on virtue that has escaped business owners and leaders. Perhaps, with a different type of accounting system, virtue in business is a good thing.
Business success may come from unexpected sources. Would you like to explore them? Contact me and we'll explore them together.
Have you experienced virtue in business? Who are the role models who do good? What do you think?
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