A couple of weeks ago I was reading an article by Michael Masterson. Every time I mention this guy somebody asks me who he is. Click the link. That’s his blog. Do a google search on him and you’ll see he’s a pretty impressive guy.
Anyway, the article I was reading was about doing business favors and how that’s good practice and some poeple are good at it while others aren’t. He talked about how it’s important to not be taken advantage of and not to take advantage of others – to basically be smart about how you do business favors and manage good relationships. But what really struck me at the moment I was reading the article was one paragraph where he described greedy people who aren’t good at having favorable relationships. Here’s what he said:
Greedy, self-centered people believe they can live a better
life by taking advantage of others. What they fail to realize is that the people
they dupe have memories. And influence. Eventually, the world of greedy people
gets smaller. They have very few friends. Fewer business colleagues they can
count on. Little credit. And the high-pressure climate of the bad feelings
they’ve stirred up. They may have a considerable store of material things, but
they haven’t the faintest idea how to enjoy them.
life by taking advantage of others. What they fail to realize is that the people
they dupe have memories. And influence. Eventually, the world of greedy people
gets smaller. They have very few friends. Fewer business colleagues they can
count on. Little credit. And the high-pressure climate of the bad feelings
they’ve stirred up. They may have a considerable store of material things, but
they haven’t the faintest idea how to enjoy them.
Do you know anybody that matches that description? I know I’ve had some exposure to people like that. They weigh down everyone around them. What’s even more sad is they can sense something isn’t right in their life or their circumstances but they don’t know what it is and they’re too self-centered to think it has anything to do with them. You have to hope they come around and change. Usually after they lose something. Hopefully before they lose everything. Or maybe they’ll just wake up one day and realize how much more they have to gain by being kind, caring, thoughtful, honest, generous, etc. as opposed to being greedy and self centered.
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