Increasingly, there seems to be a sentiment that rewards accomplishment, without regard for, or ignoring the means at which the gains were attained.
The story of “winning at all cost” has been around for some time, usually in the sports world. Sometimes applied in stories of the mega-corporate world. Now it appears that the sentiment of the end justifying the means seems to be spreading. In all levels of sports, business, even politics. Scheming that was once taboo is being excused, misleading statements or omissions have evolved into making blatant lies, and the idea of “fair” meaning getting as much advantage as you can without getting caught.
Inc. Magazine recently wrote an article highlighting a study that says the defiant kids who break the rules are most likely to have the higher incomes when they grow up. Basically the highest income earners grew up from the “naughty kids group”, the kids who broke the rules and defied parental authority became the highest income earners.
The authors speculated on reasons, like rule breakers weren’t afraid to negotiate higher salaries or raises. Or possibly rule breakers earn more money because they value competition. They didn’t dismiss the fact that some of the high-income earners could have been earning a living unethically. Based on current trends, it appears common sentiment is that yes, the ends DO justify the means, for some people. How do you protect yourself from being taken advantage of by these type of people? Good question, there is no easy answer. Perhaps the old adage, if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t? I personally just follow what my intuition tells me.
At PlastiCert, we always mean what we say, we always say up front what possible pitfalls there will be, and give an honest assessment of what your mold and parts will cost. Because once that trust is violated, the ball game is over and the ball game, our integrity, is too important to our coworkers and our families. If a customer wants to believe the unbelievably low price a competitor shoots at them, there is not much we can do about that. Other than say, “caveat emptor”. Or Sophocles’ adaptation of, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” which he coined as, ”Foes’ gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none”.