Here, taken from Seki's "re-interpretation" of the book of the School of Hard Knocks, comes a book titled, "Seki's Book on Business THROUGH Knocking Hard on the Wall." This article serves as a experiential testimony which supposedly would benefit a business graduate who has undertaken perhaps four to six years of extensive university courses studying the very topic of business administration and management.
Our topic for today is on responsibility and trust. Here, we take two examples of situations in terms of military and it's supposed link to business. Very much like in the military, the word "responsibility" is taken to the utmost priority. When given a task, a unit or a group must do all they can to ensure the duty is carried out with diligence and speed. A unit is said to be responsible when the task or mission is achieved which would then contribute to the bigger overall picture of victory. Each unit will be tasked with different objectives and while sometimes, the motives are questionable, the units will only find out the true intentions of certain battle movements required, therefore leading towards success. Very much how business runs. In a company, there are different departments and while by itself, serves very little purpose in the collective function of the company, each department holds significance to the well-being of the business.
The other topic to be discussed upon is the word "trust". In war, the person next to you will be the person you can trust to cover your back and vice-versa. The person next to you is your closest brother in arms. They serve as your motivation and ultimate dependence when in the midst of exchanging bullets with your enemies. They are the ones you talk to when you are feeling depressed, lonely or home-sick. They are the ones who share your secrets and the same ones you can count on to hold your secrets fast in their mouths. In short, the brother in war is your closest family. In business, the same applies. Your co-workers are the ones whom you can believe in when defending the reputation of the department. They are the ones who stand by the same system you each work towards and are the ones whom you compare notes in trust that no one will leak out information in the course of troubleshooting a particular problem or crisis. They are your "work" family ...
... or at least, they should be....
What I have come to learn in my experience in the corporate world is that, while in theory, all the above mentioned are true in an ideal corporate business sense, the actual situation is very much far from it. And when I say far, I am not talking about Kuala Lumpur and Singapore far. I am talking about Kuala Lumpur and Tijuana in the States far. To be clearer for those of you who have not done so well in geography, I am talking about two direct opposite time zones of the world, far. Our watches may show the same time but the world of difference comes in the form of a.m. and p.m.
The word "responsibility" in the real world of business means "covering your own ass". To put it in shrewd context, it is often used as follows:
"I don't know who did this. It's not me," or,
"I'm not responsible for the mistakes," or,
"Why don't you ask the head? I'm just following direct orders."
The difference is that it is no more responsibility as a whole, but a responsibility of personal security. There is no discipline in defending honours. Only the ever lasting game of "pushing the ball away".
As for the word "trust", let me simply give you a phrase to explain my concept in a nutshell. "In war, the person next to you is the person you must trust. In business, the person next to you should never be trusted". Many people will turn on you when pressured. Some will go to the extent of sharing information vowed not to be released to the others. There is no honour in their dictionary and the same goes when referred to dignity. Backstabbing happens as a form of personal gain and all "trust" is therefore lost.
To say the least, I'd like to question, "what then, is the most important principle in business?" My personal answer would be, "be responsible for your own actions, and trust no one but yourself." Unprofessional as it may sound, but I would like to ask, in what sense is the TRUE nature of business a professional one? Ideally, business is professional when human nature does not interfere with the discipline. Sadly, we are all human....
-SD- With friends there is no true business, in business, there are no true friends
ps- Kenny, if you are reading this, I see you as a friend; not a business partner.
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