​​​​Christopher Sopko

As a business owner or manager how you operate and interact with people on a day to day basis is one of the single biggest keys in creating a strong, vibrant and successful business.  It sets the stage for your involvement with everyone that has a stake in your organization; from employees, to customers, to investors. 

If you truly believe in the concepts of The Pyramid of Business Success, then you must make them part of your daily habits and in how you deal with things and people on a continual basis.  They must become part of the “vision” that you create for your employees and customers.  You may choose to create flyers or posters that affirm your belief in acting with integrity, hard work, enthusiasm, the importance of resilience and personal accountability.  You may also want to discuss these attributes and characteristics with potential new employees and undergo steps to ensure that people you bring into your organization will be a good match.  It is also imperative that everyone on your management team shares these characteristics and that they lead their teams through the utilization of these principles. 

Obviously, this type of vision needs to be much more than words on a piece of paper.  Unfortunately, this is not always the case.  I have seen many organizations that claim that they truly value their employees yet they continually treat them poorly and without much respect.  I have seen others that claim that they are interested in customer service, but make little, if any, effort to ensure that their customers are happy after the sale has taken place. 

In all honesty, this type of “vision” without action is actually more harmful to an organization than no vision at all.  The hypocrisy that your employees and customers witness will no doubt become a sore point and a source of ridicule that will erode your employees desire to work hard, be enthusiastic and to act with integrity.  It will also ultimately cause your customers to take their business elsewhere.