A Little - Used Secret - Spirituality Information

Sometimes, the simplest things are the most profound.Many times, the most obvious things are often ignored.A good percentage of the time the most common senseprinciples are the ones most disregarded. Perhaps, it'sbecause we are so intent on making a living that weforget about making a life.

One of the most forgotten principles for personalsuccess is a word ignored by almost everyone--Goodwill.It is a principle so underused, yet so powerful, thatit could take us to the heights of success. It remainsunderused because people overlook the disarming powerdisguised in subtle terms such as compassion, kindness,empathy, unselfishness and caring.

In marketing classes in MBA school, we learned manyuseful things about advertising strategy, marketing toconsumers, studying statistics of a sales campaign andgetting the order. To this day, I use the tools of thetrade to help me in my business. But one thing thathardly anyone touched upon was the concept of"Goodwill."

Goodwill is not just a number on the accountant'sbalance sheet, but is an invisible, little-used toolthat all of us have at our disposal. Let me explain.Most of us could help solve someone else's problems,either with a telephone call, an introduction orreferral, a signature or other obvious means. But werefuse to do it. Why? I'll tell you why. Because wefeel there's nothing in it for us! Or we are afraid toget involved.

Let me tell you a true story. It was many years ago. Ayoung woman walked into my assistant's office. She waslooking for a job, but we had none to offer. Just theweek before, all job vacancies had been filled.

At the request of my assistant, I spoke with the youngwoman. She only wanted to work for the summer and thenwould complete her last semester of graduate school andreturn home to her country. She had been looking for asummer job for almost four weeks. No one wanted to hireher and train her to work for such a short period oftime.

I remembered my days as a graduate student and felt heranxiety. Although there was no sound business reason todo so, I told my assistant to create a job for her.Afterall, she needed help and it felt good to helpsomeone without figuring what was in it for me.

I hardly saw her until the last day when she came intomy office to say goodbye. She thanked me again for thejob and handed me a business card.

"This is my father's card," she said, "If you evervisit my country, call my dad, he'd be very happy tomeet you. I've told him all about how kind you and youremployees were to me. In my country, my dad is a memberof Parlianment and an important man."

And that's how I ended up having lunch with the mayorof Nairobi, dinner with the Vice President of Kenya andmaking business alliances that brought my companyprofits hundreds of times greater than the salary wehad paid for summer help.

On top of that, I enjoyed going on photo safari to theSerengeti Plains of East Africa, walking along thebeaches of Mombassa and sipping Pimms#3 at the MountKenya Safari Club, while enjoying the fantastic view ofthe snow-covered summit of Mount Kenya. Even the Kikuyudancers reminded me of exciting adventures in foreignclimes.

This is not an isolated case. It's just one of the moreobvious ones. You never can tell who will lead you tothat next contact, that profitable contract or theadded financing you were looking for. It is importantthat we treat everyone with dignity and respect.REMEMBER: Business does not do business with otherbusinesses. People do business with people.

The Internet is not about computers, technology or evenmarketing. That would be like saying cars are about theinternal combustion engine and the laws ofthermodynamics. The Internet is about people andcommunications. If we communicate with honesty andfeelings, we'd find that most others respond in kind.

So whenever the opportunity arises, do something forsomeone else who is powerless to do it alone. Don'tworry about what you are going to get out of it. TheUniverse has a way of repaying in ways far too strangeto understand. Earn "goodwill" and you'll prosperbeyond belief.