Audio for this transcript available
Transcription Services Provided by Verbal Ink
Esther: Welcome back to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at the thebusinessmakers.com. And now we're gonna get to a little segment called, "The Book Report" with Katie where she's gonna tell us all about Ethics for the Real World, a great book that she just finished.
Katie: You may have graduated with honors years ago but it's never too late for the Overtime Show Book Report. The news headlines are flush with prime examples of ethical codes gone wild. Bank executives doling out bailout money to cronies, investors demolishing their client portfolios and politicians spending taxpayer dollars like it's going out of style. But how do you tackle the big ethical questions and dilemmas in your life? You've got a business to run, darn it, and you don't have time for some esoteric philosophy class. So let's turn to this week's Overtime Show Book Report selection, a great book called Ethics for the Real World by two great authors named Ronald Howard and Clinton Dorver.
Ethics for the Real World is a practical guide to paving your way as an ethically minded person in your business and personal life. It's not preachy or full of obnoxiously pontificating grandiose statements on exactly what you must do to be a decent human being. Rather, it provides outlines to help you formulate your own decisions on where you draw your ethnical lines in the proverbial sand. Special emphasis is made on drafting your own personal ethical code, including handy instructions on evaluating many aspects of your personal, spiritual and business beliefs and background.
Ethics for the Real World also offers practical advice in getting directly to the ethical issue at hand. Many times the dilemmas that we face are obstructed by things like emotional baggage, personal loyalties or even feelings of envy or desire for extreme retribution. Authors Ronald and Clinton help readers dive into the power of distinctions to increase clarity in our decision make process. Being conscious of these distinctions like our choice of words and the difference between prudential gain and ethical action can really far in opening our eyes to the kinds of decisions you want yourself, your employees and your company to be making.
Do you ever find yourself rationalizing your way into morally awkward situations and maybe regretting it a little bit later? Or maybe do you ever feel a twinge of guilt for something you may have done that was maybe perfectly legal but just didn't sit well with you afterwards? Ethics in the Real World can help provide some clarity in admittedly blurry and gray line business world. A quote from the book, "The words of Martin Luther King, Jr. are apt, Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.' But we don't have to be ignorant on ethical distinctions. We can clear a jungle of misunderstanding and replace it with a garden of insight."
Pick up a copy of Ethics for the Real World for a non-judgmental and actionable guide to making your world a bit more of an ethical place. And besides, I really want to make sure that I'm reading your name in the headlines for, well, only the good stuff. You've been listening to this week's Overtime Show Book Report. Have a book you want to share with us? Want to drop a comment on this week's book? Be sure to visit us online at thebusinessmakers.com. So to close today's show, we're gonna give you a little advice about how to get ahead in the business world.
Esther: All right. So Scott Ginsberg, aka The Nametag Guy, have you heard of this guy?
Katie: No.
Esther: Okay, so he wears a nametag, all the time, 24 hours a day.
Katie: Like the little sticky nametag, "My name is "?
Esther: Yeah, "My name is Scott."
Katie: "My name is Scott. My name is Katie." Nice to meet you.
Esther: That's right. So he wrote about ways to get yourself noticed. He's written a book and several of them are things that you actually absolutely need to know. So as you begin to build your business it's really important that as the face, or at least one of the faces of the company that you try to build your personal brand. You know, we hear all about personal brands lately.
Katie: Absolutely.
Esther: Not only is a successful personal brand a great complement to a successful business, but there are often direct correlations between how recognizable your business is and how recognizable you are.
Katie: I absolutely completely agree.
Esther: So while you're working towards becoming number one in your market and eventually taking over the world
Katie: Ah-ha, global domination.
Esther: Exactly. Here are some widely overlooked steps that you can follow to start creating a name for yourself when no one but your mom knows your name. So the first thing is you've got to be trustworthy. You're only as good as your word, and to people who don't really know you yet, it's really important. If you want your business or your product to be believed, you have to be believable yourself.
Katie: Okay.
Esther: So as easy as it is to get, you know, involved in shady advertising and marketing practices right away because, you know, it's just free and easy and it's easy to lie, it's a really slipper slope. So that's the first thing, be honest.
Katie: Okay.
Esther: Also, be unexpected. You figure out what everyone else always does and then do the exact opposite of that.
Katie: Within reason.
Esther: Exactly, exactly, within reason. So the truth is being different is actually kind of a social currency these days.
Katie: I agree, yeah.
Esther: And while sticking with the status quo will blend you in more than white on rice, you don't really even have to be that good; you just need to be different.
Katie: Yeah.
Esther: If you want to stand out, be different.
Katie: Be unique.
Esther: Avoid "yes" men like the plague.
Katie: Oh, yes. Oh, wait, wait.
Esther: Just kidding. No. Believe it or not, people who face adversity in business and get the doors slammed in their faces on several occasions end up learning how to work around the system and rise above it. Don't you think?
Katie: I absolutely agree, yeah.
Esther: So if you only surround yourself with people who tell you you're awesome, A) you're probably not that awesome and, B) you'll never learn why you're not.
Katie: Exactly. And, I mean, just looking at the whole idea of, you know, collective knowledge and, you know, the wisdom of crowds and to be truly successful you need to have diverse opinions and there needs to be creative tension. That's yeah, that's excellent advice.
Esther: It's true, you know? You just can't surround yourself with people who are gonna tell you you're great all the time.
Katie: Exactly, they need to high five you when you're right and then, you know, maybe kick you down and pull you back up with some new ideas when you're wrong.
Esther: Exactly, that's exactly right. So hang out with people who have successful businesses instead of people who want to learn how you got successful.
Katie: Oh, okay.
Esther: Now, this is kind of, you know, you don't want to, like, lose your friends or anything, but
Katie: Right.
Esther: get rid of the losers.
Katie: Okay.
Esther: If you have losers in your life, eliminate them.
Katie: Un-cling the clingers.
Esther: Exactly. You know, get rid of your followers, get rid of your posse, people who are going nowhere, surround yourself with people who are smart and people who are doing things that are important.
Katie: Exactly.
Esther: That's really all it means. Be someone that you want to follow. When you lead the way and you conquer new frontiers you instantly become someone people listen to. If you're repeating the same ideas and doing the same things everyone else is doing, people are just gonna ignore you.
Katie: Yeah.
Esther: Turn your screw-ups into lessons. People who repeat the same mistakes over and over again never, ever truly become successful. And actually, a mistake is a gift
Katie: Exactly.
Esther: as long as you learn from it.
Katie: Yeah.
Esther: I think you'll appreciate this next one. Pick up a book. Not just a book about your chosen field, but literary classics, historical fictions, cookbooks, science fiction novels. You have absolutely no idea how few people are well read these days.
Katie: Oh, man.
Esther: And you should be one of the few.
Katie: And that's funny, I was actually listening to the radio this week and they said that in the past year they did a study that one out of four Americans has not read a single book in the last 365 days.
Esther: That's sad.
Katie: That is awful. So, I mean, the competitive advantage that you can get by not only just plain reading and growing your brain, but by looking outside your industry, outside your business for ways to make you unique, what's working in other companies. That's brilliant.
Esther: Exactly. You want to read books in your field, marketing books are great, public relations or business, whatever you do, those books are so important to your
Katie: Sure, like foundational stuff.
Esther: Foundational stuff.
Katie: Yeah.
Esther: But it's so important to have a literary background of some kind.
Katie: Exactly. Get that
Esther: You don't want to be
Katie: edge.
Esther: That's right. You don't want to be the moron who hasn't read a book.
Katie: Yeah, and at the very least, if you're having a rough business meeting, you can be quoting depressing, you know, quotes from Dostoevsky about, you know, how terrible the conference call is going. It would be so much more interesting.
Esther: No one will know what you're talking about and everyone will follow you.
Katie: Exactly.
Esther: You'll be the only one who knows what that means. So embrace the ickiness. You know that feeling you get when you're in an uncomfortable situation?
Katie: Yes.
Esther: Know that if you truly embrace the ickiness, that feeling, and dive headfirst into that situation, you'll be stronger and more interesting because you'll have faced a situation you didn't want to be in that most people would have backed out of.
Katie: Okay, so something's making you feel uncomfortable, just plow through it, get to the other side, learn from it and you'll be that much farther ahead than your competitors.
Esther: And you'll realize it wasn't that bad.
Katie: Yeah, icky, enh, whatever.
Esther: You'll realize it was no big deal.
Katie: Yeah, you can handle worse.
Esther: Now you want to stay positive, because a bad attitude will, A) ruin your day, B) it'll ruin your productivity and also it'll ruin your chances that anyone wants to be around you.
Katie: Oh, exactly.
Esther: I mean, talking about creating a personal brand and becoming someone that people listen to, who wants to listen to you if you're in a bad mood?
Katie: Exactly, or whining about something.
Esther: Suck it up.
Katie: Yeah, exactly. Move on.
Esther: Move on, suck it up, and don't bring other people down with your bad mood. And the last thing is, ignore the experts.
Katie: Ah, the experts, they're back.
Esther: Right. As we said with Shel Israel who actually is an expert and has
Katie: A real one.
Esther: and has many, many years in his chosen field and has written books about it, obviously you don't want to ignore all the books out there. You know, read the books, follow people's Tweets, friend people on Facebook, but don't take what people say as absolute truth. You want to have independent thought. Independent thought is just one of the keys to establishing yourself. Come up with a few independent thoughts and toss them out into the blogosphere and the Twitterverse and then you'll actually be shocked at how many people think you are a genius.
Katie: Absolutely. And, I mean, sometimes you'll often see in history whenever these groundbreaking brand new ideas, thoughts, technologies have come out that almost every single time they're hit with amazing adversity until it kind of gets over that, you know, that rough spot, and then it's accepted.
Esther: Exactly.
Katie: So, I mean, the more pushback you get, the more brilliant that idea is.
Esther: That's right. People are resistant to change, remember that.
Katie: Exactly, don't let the man get you down.
Esther: That's right. And with that we must leave you.
Katie: So thank you so much for spending your precious moments here in the BusinessMakers Overtime Show. And we cannot wait to hear about how you are getting ahead.
Esther: That's right. Tell us all about your personal brand. Visit thebusienssmakers.com and leave us some comments. Tell us about your blog, about your Twitter, about your Facebook and tell us what you're doing to make yourself more visible. We can't wait to hear.