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| GREED, INDEED
Monday, August 29, 2022
“Do unto others as they would do unto you, only do it first!” – Henry Flagler*
Flagler kept that statement on a plaque on his desk as a reminder to himself and others. Some might say it was his explanation of underhanded business tactics that he and his companies practiced.
It’s an amusing line until you consider living your life by it.
The ability to be good for yourself has to begin by being good to yourself, and the best way to practice that is to be good to others.
The trick, of course, is to support others as we would like to be supported ourselves, to encourage and celebrate others as we would like to be encouraged, inspired and celebrated by those who care about us and by those we work with – based on genuinely earning it, and not as a tactic or as corporate gamesmanship.
Flagler’s take led him to massive riches, but you have to wonder if his mantra could lead to happiness for him, his family or his business associates. I read his biography a few years ago and learned a lot more than appears on his Wikipedia page; a great example of money and power buying everything you can imagine except happiness.
*Henry Flagler, along with John Rockefeller, founded Standard Oil; left it behind, developed Florida real estate, railway (a swamped railway is the foundation of the highway through the Florida Keyes)
Reader feedback:
We’re back to Maslow, RH, Calgary, AB
I will take issue with you purely on a personal level, because I need to be poked and prodded from time to time, and sometimes a lot of times, to do what I know needs to be done. Procrastinators of the world unite… tomorrow , maybe , RH, Calgary, AB
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