The Secret: Sol Price Part XI: Principles of Success: Behave Ethically
Sounds obvious? Perhaps, but "Behave ethically" doesn't mean simply "Don't cheat people." Mostly it means, "Act according to your deepest beliefs--and your ideas will follow."
Nick Meyer had the most-watched movie in TV history when he decided to make an antinuclear war film, even though three previous directors had walked off the project and the experts told him the film would never be shown. A. P. Giannini founded the Bank of Italy as a bank for "the common man" after seeing his father murdered by a ranch hand over a one-dollar dispute--and deciding no one should even be put in fear of his life over a dollar. Using that principle, the Bank of Italy--renamed the Bank of America--became the largest bank in the world.
Strong beliefs will help you focus what could otherwise be too general creativity. When Sol Price, explaining why he didn't like credit cards, told the New York Times, "It's against my religion that people should go into debt to buy things," he was only partly playing with the English language. If you have a strong belief, let it guide your creativity. Otherwise your heart and your head will always be at odds.*
*Let's not be naive about this. Behaving ethically is quite distinct from being a pushover. Business, especially, is about competition: You're there to win, or you shouldn't be there. But being tough, and being ethical, are by no means mutually exclusive.
Excerpted from
The Great American Idea Book: How to Make Money from Your Ideas for Movies, Music, Books, Inventions, Businesses and Almost Anything Else!
Authors: Bob Coleman & Deborah Neville
Publisher: WW Norton
Copyright: 1993; 1995
All Rights Reserved
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