Part three:
Integrity
good reputation is necessary
When you chose who you
will work with - trust is required if you wish
to complete the project and acquire other projects. Reputation
based systems are the basis for Netcohort interactions.
Western schools have a decided anti-business
bias. Many teachers imply or declare that business people
lack integrity and that is the reason for any success.
The mass media frequently carries the same bias - and
for the same reasons.
Almost none of the teachers in western
schools have run a business. They are bureaucrats that
distrust anyone not in their bureaucracy.
To the contrary, it is the exception
that a business person is untrustworthy, rather than the
rule. As many have discovered to their dismay - a contract
is worthless in the hands of a crook and his lawyer.
There are more untrustworthy business
people today than in the past. The last fifty years of
good times have allowed some bad practices to survive.
As we enter this next depression that will change.
Untrustworthy business people reflect
our society just as much as the politicians we chose.
Enron and Arthur Andersen were destroyed in part for using
the same bad accounting practices the US government is
still using.
If you are to have a long term growing
business you must have a good reputation.
Business people do business with folks
they trust. A good reputation is the foundation of a successful
and enduring business.
A good reputation will be even
more important in the future.
It is by your network that you will discover
those key individuals that will help you complete your
project. Those operating in a network society will not
want to soil their reputation by recommending Netcohort
free lancers they do not trust.
The time to start building a good reputation
is today.
If those you work with now do not trust
you - seek to change their minds. Also seek to discover
new teams that you can work with on a basis of mutual
trust.
Start small if you are just becoming
part of the Netcohort- it takes time to build trust.
Be careful - it takes almost no time
to destroy trust.
Your good reputation may be even more
important than the other three attributes we explore here
- being knowledgeable, adaptable, and being hard working.
Without a good reputation the other attributes
may mean nothing.
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