In business I've learned something that those who aren't in business may find counter-intuitive: Nice guys finish first. If you go into a room full of successful entrepreneurs, one of the things you'll probably be struck by is how honest, honorable, and fair minded they are.
With that in mind, here is a guide I wrote long ago as a state of principles for our company called "The Stardock Way".
The Stardock Way
Before I list the 10 principles, it may be tempting to consider these points as naive. People who know me in person, that is, people who really know me I suspect would describe me as being quite friendly. But make no mistake, I can be as ruthless and competitive as anyone. But in the long run, such techniques usually create resistance to your goals.
I've had employees (former ones anyway) and business partners make the mistake that because I don't necessarily confront them on their duplicity that I am unaware of it. It's all about picking your battles while trying to lead an honorable life (both professionally and personally).
And now The Ten Principles:
#1 Nice guys finish first.
#2 Customers are part of our team.
#3 The customer isn’t always right.
#4 Win hearts through kindness, not ruthlessness
#5 Success has many fathers, brothers, sisters, and friends
#6 Business partners should be friends too
#7 Be loyal and you shall receive loyalty.
#8 Never exploit friends.
#9 Integrity trumps short term gain
#10 Learn from your competitors.
## Nice Guys Finish First ##
Some say that nice guys finish last. That’s not true, at least not in business. The fact is that people who constructively contribute to society are usually nice good people. And nice good people want to be around other nice/good people. The end of “it’s a wonderful life” is actually more realistic in the business world than most people may believe.
## Customers are part of our team ##
This isn’t a catch phrase. Customers shouldn’t just be the people who give us money for our products. They should be intimately part of our team. We should strive to blur the distinction so that US means our company and customers. The best way to serve your customers is to give them what they want and the most efficient way of doing that is giving them as much power as possible to deliver for themselves what they want.
## The Customer isn’t always right ##
Not all customers want to be part of our team. Some people are just bad. It’s a small percentage but never feel that a person who pays $20 for a piece of software has the license to deliver personal abuse. Life is short and we don’t want bad people as customers. Note that none of our principles involves fake terms like “professionalism”. Just as good people stick together, so do bad people. There is nothing wrong with condemning bad behavior – even in public as long as you are certain you are right and that there are no other options (and no other principles are violated).
## Win hearts through kindness, not ruthlessness ##
Try to crush someone with force and you will create a long term enemy who is striving to bring you down. When encountering opposition, the best first choice is to try to persuade them to your side through kindness, good deeds, and reason. Only if that fails should other methods be considered. Today’s competitor or opponent can be tomorrow’s ally and friend. If they are good people, odds are that they will eventually be won over if you hold true to your good values.
## Success has many fathers, brothers, sisters, friends ##
To succeed one man has to work really hard. To succeed in a big way it is better to create an environment in which many people have a vested interest in your success. Always strive to ensure that as many people as possible benefit from your success and they will do the same for you in their path to success.
## Business Partners should be friends ##
Being friends first can be tricky but not being friends with your business partners can be problematic in the long term. If you don’t like or trust the people you work with, you are creating unnecessary pain and stress on yourself. Friendship brings trust and trust allows for far greater flexibility and efficiency in creating things. It eliminates the need for legal agreements for every little detail. Friendship is a two way street. That means you must be honest. In bookkeeping this means that if you’re not sure of something, try to err in favor of your friends at your own expense. In the long term, it’ll work out.
## Be loyal and you shall receive it in return ##
Sometimes you can get a slightly better deal from a new source than from those you have worked with. But loyalty has an intangible value as well. People will work harder and do more for less in a crunch out of loyalty. Don’t assume when you’re high on the hog that it’ll always be that way and when the chips are down, loyalty from partners may be the only currency you have left. But loyalty has to be earned and you earn that by being loyal yourself to partners and friends. This means establish long term relations with companies, partners, and individuals and stand by them through thick and thin as long as you feel they would do the same for you if roles were reversed. It also holds true of employees. If you are loyal to them, then they will be loyal back and it will lower turn over and those who do decide to leave will have fond feelings for the company and may still work with us in other ways later on.
## Never Exploit Friends ##
Because of our principles, we have a lot of people who are our friends. Companies don’t normally have individuals who see the company as their friend but we do. They should be treated as friends and never exploited. It can be tempting to do so but here’s the rule of thumb I use:
There is a difference between saying to all your friends as a group: “My wife and I are moving and if anyone wants to help us move, feel free to drop by, we’ll have pizzas and coke. Thanks!”
And: “Hi John, my wife and I are moving to a new house and we were wondering if you would help us move our furniture?”
The latter is exploiting friendship, the former is the route we should try to take. Let your friends decide what is too much for them to do on their own without any pressure.
## Integrity trumps short term gain ##
Telling the truth can sometimes be difficult. And doing the right thing can sometimes be costly in the near term. But in the long run, integrity is priceless. People sense when people lack integrity and actively resist their endeavors. Your success will be much smoother when others are rooting for you and one sure fire way to eliminate a lot of support for you is to demonstrate a lack of integrity.
## Learn from your competitors ##
Never assume your competitors or opponents are dumb. Take the view that you have something to learn from them. At worst, you will be able to have a superset of what they know how to do. I’ve learned a lot from looking at what other people do and doing it one better. There is a lot to learn from other people in general.
That’s just some of the biggest principles we try to hold onto. These are the principles that are the foundation of Stardock. Those who strongly disagree with them are probably not cut out for the company.
We are the good guys. We're not here to crush or "defeat" anyone. We're here to succeed. We're a for profit-corporation but one that recognizes that not all paths to success are created equally. We won’t be able to win everyone over. We live in a cynical world. But good people who watch our deeds will recognize that we’re genuine. And that is important for two reasons – 1) Life is short and it’s much more pleasant to associate with good, kind, caring, productive people and 2) It’s the good, kind, caring, productive people who matter when it comes to creating a successful business.
We deal honestly with the people we work with and expect the same in return. Those who confuse integrity, honor, and kindness with weakness, naiveté, and foolishness rarely get very far and they certainly won't get far at Stardock.
