Right Thing Costs, They Too, Add Up
Doing the right thing costs. It also has value. There is a tricky intersection between doing the right thing and doing something that satisfies the circumstances right now.
If you decide to eat an ice cream cone, you may be making a trade-off between the pleasure and good taste of the sugary snack and the calories ingested beyond what you’ll use. Those excess calories go somewhere and there is a cost associated with it.
It is true for most things. More isn’t always better and sometimes neither is having immediate gratification. What delights at the moment may have a price to be paid later.
In part, this is why discipline matters. Having the discipline and integrity to sacrifice some simple pleasures that ultimately become a painful cost later.
It is true in life, in business, and it is true for your career.
Right Thing Costs
When an employee is empowered enough to make a decision that affects the customer, the decision has a price.
It may be easy to give an angry customer a replacement order of french fries when the original order was unsatisfactory. It is not so easy to change the color of a house roof when the customer’s idea of brown was several shades different from the nearly black shingles that were installed.
The french fries are low cost and the complications of dissatisfaction are only typically felt for the short-term. The house roof, of course, has a much longer shelf life and a much higher cost. The complications are much greater.
What is the right thing to do?
Everything has a cost. Some costs are short-term and satisfy the immediate, other costs feel harder to absorb but in the long run, make up for the feeling of loss.
Future Vision
The difference is often established in the vision.
Is the business owner trying to make a quick dollar and sell off, or is the business owner in it to earn a decent living and build a long-term business that will last for generations?
Employees aren’t really much different. Does the employee visualize working there for many years, or is it a stepping stone to get in, grab what you can, and get out?
What is your vision of the right thing? What is the timeline for that right thing?
Both matter and both will determine exactly what happens next.
Doing the right thing isn’t always about the price paid right now. Often, it has a close relationship with the price you’ll pay later.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
