Moral Authority

I talked to my uncle last weekend. He owns a small trucking company and I realized that he really runs his business with integrity (I mean, I always suspected it, but it was really good to hear it confirmed). He was talking about how he believes in keeping his word in business - as Andy Stanley calls it Moral Authority - when there's alignment between Creed and Deed. When you do what you say and say what you'll do.

He told me about a guy in another city who always calls him first - because if my uncle says a driver will be there tomorrow morning, a driver will be there. And if he CAN'T get a driver there, he says so. But the guy pushes him - I'll offer you more money. Nope, still can't. Double the money. Nope, I don't have a driver available.

He said, "I can't pull a driver from another customer - say, sorry, I got more money somewhere else." And I thought to myself, "Not sure that's a good business model." No, really, I thought, "I'm really impressed with my uncle."

It seems like everybody's driven by the dollar - I'll jump jobs, marriages, states, whatever, if I can make more money. I'll shaft other people if I get more for me.

But not my uncle. Oh, yeah, bottom line is it's still a business, and he needs to make a profit. But he won't do it at the expense of his reputation.

And in the end, in business, that's all you have.

Jesus said that what we say issues forth from our hearts. That who we really are eventually comes out in our interactions with others. I'm proud to a part of this family.