Honesty and Business Ethics

Competition! This can be a great motivator to helping one achieve and advance in the business world. It can, however, also be a negative force if used to hurt others. If we only want to be better than the next guy, competition is not helping us move in the right direction. We need to cheer other on in life and in the business world. As we strive to lift and help others achieve, we too will be lifted. 

I love the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life," starring Jimmy Stewart. In this movie, Stewart plays the role of George Bailey. The family bank, Bailey's Savings and Loan is concerned about the customers and wants to help families get out of the low-quality housing in Potter's Field and into their own homes. Potter is a man with no integrity, which is show when he steals money from Uncle Billy, George's uncle. At one point in the movie, Potter offers George a job at much higher income than he currently makes. He soon comes to his senses and refuses the job with Potter. Through the remainder of the movie we see the life of George and how it has affected the other characters in the film. Because of his integrity and help he has given others, his friends come to his rescue when he most needs them. George's brother calls him the "richest man in town." This shows how a person's honesty and integrity can bless his life. (Republic Pictures and It's a Wonderful Life are registered

Trademarks. All Rights Reserved. Licensed through Paramount Pictures.)

We need to be driven by our love of the Lord and other people, not by the love of money. If we live to help and lift others we will find our own life happy and successful. George Bailey, in the end, found this in his life. 

At a BYU devotional, Lynn G. Robbins stated, "As the world becomes increasingly more wicked it will become more and more difficult to find people of integrity." Elder Lynn G. Robbins, "Making a Living and a Life," October 20, 2010. He also gave three principles that can help us know we are maintaining our integrity. Ask these questions often:

1. Can I ask for the Lord's blessings with a clear conscience?

2. When questionable products or services are involved, is my involvement direct or indirect?

3. Do my products or services hurt society? 

As a person of integrity, remember that God has given us talents and wants us to be happy. He wants us to use our talents to bless and help others. This will lead us to a joyful and successful life.