Question:
I am about to embark on a new business venture with a good friend. We are nervous to risk our friendship by becoming partners. We have seen best friends turn into enemies over money, and we'd be naive and say that it won't happen to us. What can we do to ensure that our friendship will survive, even if our partnership doesn't?
Answer:
Business is generally selfish. Friendship is not. In business, I look out for myself; in friendship, I am attentive to the needs of others. That's why business and friendship often conflict.
You can soften the tension between the two by taking some of the selfishness out of business. Give your business a soul. Imbue it with an air of goodness. Create a moral working environment. Deal honestly, treat employees with dignity, care for the customer as a human being, donate a portion of the earnings towards good causes. By making your work into a moral venture, you reduce the contradiction between business and friendship.
A concrete reminder of this soulful approach to business is the Mezuzah. By placing kosher Mezuzahs on your office doors, you are making a statement. It says: our business operates by rules higher than the rules of the jungle. You are labelling the business as a moral enterprise.
A business with soul doesn't break friendships; it may even enhance them. And with G-d's blessing, it might make some money, too.
I am about to embark on a new business venture with a good friend. We are nervous to risk our friendship by becoming partners. We have seen best friends turn into enemies over money, and we'd be naive and say that it won't happen to us. What can we do to ensure that our friendship will survive, even if our partnership doesn't?
Answer:
Business is generally selfish. Friendship is not. In business, I look out for myself; in friendship, I am attentive to the needs of others. That's why business and friendship often conflict.
You can soften the tension between the two by taking some of the selfishness out of business. Give your business a soul. Imbue it with an air of goodness. Create a moral working environment. Deal honestly, treat employees with dignity, care for the customer as a human being, donate a portion of the earnings towards good causes. By making your work into a moral venture, you reduce the contradiction between business and friendship.
A concrete reminder of this soulful approach to business is the Mezuzah. By placing kosher Mezuzahs on your office doors, you are making a statement. It says: our business operates by rules higher than the rules of the jungle. You are labelling the business as a moral enterprise.
A business with soul doesn't break friendships; it may even enhance them. And with G-d's blessing, it might make some money, too.