Unseen Investments

After finishing Winners Never Cheat, one of the main concepts that stuck out to me was that being an honest business person and keeping your values high is an investment. Not only do you feel a high sense of self respect for doing so, but it always turns out better in the end. That doesn't mean however that you wont have bumps along the way, but it is always better to stay true to your values. I thought two specific examples from the book illustrate this exceptionally well. One, when Jon Huntsman was working with Mitsubishi in Thailand and they told him that he needed to give money to officials to ensure they could do business there. Essentially, Mitsubishi had been bribing them and now the Huntsman Corp. was expected to pull their share. Huntsman stood up and said that he would not do so,  but instead would sell their portion of the company. In that transaction he sacrificed $3 million. His integrity was not worth a shady business deal, even at the cost of $3 million. This really made me contemplate if there were any times in my life when I was willing to go along with something because I wasn't courageous enough to stand up and say that what we were doing was wrong. If Jon Huntsman can do it at the cost of $3 million, why can't I stand up for the value of my own integrity- especially in situations where it costs me nothing. The other great example to me was when he worked in the West Wing, and stood up to his boss when he knew if he followed through with his assignment it would go against his conscience. Even when it would be for someone as high up as the President, he wasn't willing to sacrifice his honesty and integrity. I think Huntsman is a fabulous example and after reading this book I have an extremely high level of respect and admiration for him and the way that he runs his business. I was also taught that in the end, even if you have nothing else you will have your self respect and the respect of those around you if you are being honest. Even if this may be unseen in the beginning, it truly is a great investment.