Successful entrepreneur offers five ways to maintain your ethics
His speech came during a presentation at Binghamton University, his alma mater.
It was the sort of headline that quickly grabbed our attention. “Can you be an entrepreneur and still keep your ethics?”
David Mirsky is a 1976 graduate of Binghamton University who went on the become Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder of Wolf Creek Consulting LLC, and CEO emeritus of Pacific Rim Capital. His speech, titled “Ethics and Survival for the Entrepreneur: Navigating Moral Dilemmas,” was delivered to Binghamton University School of Management students recently.
“Entrepreneurship is often romanticized as a journey of innovation, risk-taking and balance of opportunities, and it is if you have the right personality for it,” Mirsky said. “You are judged by your results. You’re your own worst critic. You’re tested in the most severe way. It’s important to win, but not at the expense of your ethics.”
In the presentation, he offered his five rules of the road as a means for students to maintain that philosophy and still be successful:
- The first purpose of a business is to make money.
- It’s important to win, but not at the expense of your ethics.
- Money is a tool, not an end.
- Make your business a meritocracy.
- Don’t mix ego and business decisions.
“Your own company will take on a character that is similar to yours; if you have an ethical approach to life, if you’re honest and respectful of the effort of your clients, employees, lenders and suppliers, your company will have that same feel,” Mirsky said. “If you are interested in winning at all costs, you will eventually do things that will harm you, your staff and the world.”
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