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by Waterluvian 2345 days ago
Exactly. Success as a business person has nothing to do with success as a moral or ethical person. In fact it's probably easier to be one when not being the others.

Being good at business does not make you a "good person".
2 comments
glogla 2344 days ago
Some could argue, that under sufficiently corrupt or inherently unfair regime, business success is mutually exclusive with being moral/ethical person.
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theli0nheart 2344 days ago
I completely disagree.

Power and influence allow one to be a shitty person without having to deal with the consequences that other folks might, so the situations where that happens are outrageous and rightfully get a lot of exposure. However, this is a consequence of the fact that you already need to be powerful. Unless you get lucky, or otherwise hit the jackpot, you generally have to be a nice person to work your way up to that point.

Not going to lie; taking advantage of others can be a great short-term business strategy. Long-term, not so much. People tend to remember shitty behavior.

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barry-cotter 2344 days ago
> Not going to lie; taking advantage of others can be a great short-term business strategy. Long-term, not so much. People tend to remember shitty behavior.

Vinod Khosla. Robert Bolton. Samantha Power. Practically every dictator bar Lee Kuan Yew.

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jessaustin 2344 days ago
Even Lee's dictatorship seems less benign now that we've learned that it's hereditary...
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theli0nheart 2344 days ago
Did you skip reading the second paragraph I wrote?

If you’re already powerful, the same rules don’t quite apply.

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glogla 2344 days ago
> Long-term, not so much. People tend to remember shitty behavior.

People remember Amazon workers have to piss in bottles to not get fired, but they don't stop shopping there. People know of Chinese factories with anti-suicide nets but they keep buying iPhones.

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theli0nheart 2344 days ago
> People remember Amazon workers have to piss in bottles to not get fired, but they don't stop shopping there.

Sorry, but this has nothing to do with the point I was making.

If someone screws you over in business, you're going to try to avoid working with that person in the future. That's just common-sense.

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LordFast 2344 days ago
Agreed. And it's up to the citizens to make choices that reflect what they wish to reward or not reward as citizenry.
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