Years ago, as a business student at Wilfrid Laurier University, I had to sit through hours upon hours of lectures on best business practices. Some were incredibly boring. So as my mind wandered, I began to think about some patterns that I was seeing. Growing up in a Christian home and going to Sunday School I learned all kinds of best life living principles. Things like “honor your father and mother”, “don’t hit your brothers”, “don’t swear”, “don’t lie”, “don’t cheat” etc. Well as I was listening to all these best business practices I began to see some things that were very familiar. I was beginning to think that someone sat down and read the Bible and then took the many life principles they found in it, and began to apply them to their business.
One business practice that has stood out over the years well above the rest is the idea that the customer is always right. I can’t help but think of something Jesus said when ever I hear that idea. Jesus was known for teaching what some of us now call “the Golden Rule”. In essence the Golden Rule is “you shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Put another way, in everything we do, the Golden Rule says that in relating to others we should always treat them in such a way that we ourselves would want to be treated.
Well when we apply that to our businesses, be it the customer, our buyers or whomever, when we say the customer is always right, we are saying – lets treat the customer well, lets treat them with respect, with the highest regard, lets assume that in what they say and do that they are always right. That isn’t really far off from the Golden Rule.
Actually, the Golden Rule gets a bit of adjustment from Paul, who was a follower of Jesus. Paul writes in his book to the church in Philippi that we should put the interests, needs and concerns of others before that of our own. Here specifically is what he says:
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)
Now I can’t help but think that if we applied this principle in our lives it would have a major positive impact. It would seriously change the way we function, and how others respond to us. If we took this principle and applied it to our customers, our buyers, etc, we would experience a dramatic improvement in our businesses. All you need to do is embrace an age old Christian principle – love your neighbor as yourself, or as Paul put it, “regard others as more important than yourself.
In relationships, this same concept can have a major impact. Think of your marriage. We could all dramatically improve our marriages if everyday after work, we make a point of asking how your spouse is doing, and asking how they want to spend the evening. So many marriages could be fixed if everyday we went out of our way to make sure that the needs of our spouse were met before we go to focusing on our own needs. When I teach pre-marital counseling sessions, I use that verse from Paul every time. I make the point that the only fight a couple should ever have is one in which they are fighting over who gets priority, with each one desiring to prioritize the other over themselves. So, what do you want to do? I don’t know, I really want to know what you would like to do!!! and on goes the most healthy fight you could ever have.
I can’t help but think about our spiritual lives. Jesus taught the Golden Rule, but He also lived it. He saw the trouble that we were in as human beings, always sinning, always hurting people. He also knew of the consequence. Without some miraculous intervention, the cost of all that sin was death. So Jesus, putting the Golden Rule to work, put the needs of us lowly human beings before His own and died on the cross for us. A perfect picture of sacrifice for the sake of others. The result of His sacrifice is eternal life for all those who receive Him. The Golden Rule can change our lives, if we only dare to practice it.