July 28, 2019 – Joseph Feibel

 Start with these three criteria of success:

Do what you say you will do.
Do it at the price agreed to,or lower.
Do it on time or earlier

These seem simple to achieve, but I have found that it is very difficult to locate anyone who will do these three things. People are emotionally incapable of following these three rules. They may follow the rules for a while, but then they quit. They may seem to understand, but then they get into a tough spot, they break the rules. Even worse, they feel no ethical remorse in having broken the rules. They do not even apologize. And, you can be sure, the next time there is a crisis they will do it again.

I have known highly capable people who talk a good talk. But when push comes to shove, they break one or more of the three rules. They assume that their employer is responsible for cleaning up their messes. So, it works both ways. The company hires the employee. But, economically speaking, the employee hires the company. The company pays money; the employee pays time. Both are valuable resources. The more valuable resource is time. The older you get, the more you appreciate this. You can always get another job. You cannot buy any extra time.