3 ms·

Your experiences sound fairly similar to my own. When I incorporated, I was a freshman in high school, and the lawyer I used to file the papers hired me to buil

Your experiences sound fairly similar to my own. When I incorporated, I was a freshman in high school, and the lawyer I used to file the papers hired me to build a web site for him. He never paid the bill in full. (I paid his, of course.) I've also had my share of negative experiences with business partners who respectively stole money from customers, stole common shares in my company from me, and wanted to steal information from customers. Each time, I thought I'd learned my lesson, to no avail. In general, from my perspective, if you find yourself disagreeing with (meaning "being more conservative than") most people in business about what constitutes an ethical solution to a problem, you're probably right. Most businesspeople have no morals. It took a while to get used to that. I have a biased view on Facebook and privacy, but a legitimate one nonetheless, I believe. You can find it here: http://www.news.com/Will-security-become-Facebooks-Achilles-heel/2010-1029_3-6231585.html?tag=nefd.top http://www.news.com/Will-security-become-Facebooks-Achilles-...

edw519 19y ago
"Most businesspeople have no morals." Not my experience. You need to meet new businesspeople. I would say, "Some business people have no morals. They ruin it for the majority that do."
- mrtron 19y ago
  I believe I am gifted with a good judge of character. I have only been screwed over by people a few times, and was always expecting it from that person. I have met 3 successful people in business that are what I would consider honest and straight shooting. I have kept in contact with all 3. I have met hundreds of unsuccessful people who fall into the 'have morals' category. The majority of people who I have met who have been very successful are snakes. I have met a few new billionaires, and the tactics that they used even against their employees and friends were very shady. One of them bought out a partner for a very low amount because he knew they were about to sell at a very high valuation shortly. What I have discovered is most people play the game to win, and rarely play with integrity. I mean this all in a very non-judgmental way (even the snakes part!), people should live their lives by their own moral compass.
  - edw519 19y ago
    "What I have discovered" What I have OBSERVED Like I said, my experience is different. I have conducted business over the years with many very honorable (and usually rich) people who often were able to conduct business with an understanding or a handshake. Maybe things have changed, but there are still a lot of people who spend a lifetime building an spotless reputation and protect it dearly. I sure hope you get a chance to do business with more of them in your future.
    - mrtron 19y ago
      No, not what I have observed. What I have discovered. I have met a large enough sample set to make these statements. I am judging their morals and how honorable they are against a scale that I perceive to be true. Honor and morality is highly subjective. Even within the most honest folks I have met, very few reward the people they stood on the backs of to make it to the top. Woz gave some of the original Apple developers over a million dollars of his personal stock in the company as they were about to go public because he felt they were under-compensated - how many people would do this?

edw519 19y ago

"Most businesspeople have no morals." Not my experience. You need to meet new businesspeople. I would say, "Some business people have no morals. They ruin it for the majority that do."

mrtron 19y ago
I believe I am gifted with a good judge of character. I have only been screwed over by people a few times, and was always expecting it from that person. I have met 3 successful people in business that are what I would consider honest and straight shooting. I have kept in contact with all 3. I have met hundreds of unsuccessful people who fall into the 'have morals' category. The majority of people who I have met who have been very successful are snakes. I have met a few new billionaires, and the tactics that they used even against their employees and friends were very shady. One of them bought out a partner for a very low amount because he knew they were about to sell at a very high valuation shortly. What I have discovered is most people play the game to win, and rarely play with integrity. I mean this all in a very non-judgmental way (even the snakes part!), people should live their lives by their own moral compass.
- edw519 19y ago
  "What I have discovered" What I have OBSERVED Like I said, my experience is different. I have conducted business over the years with many very honorable (and usually rich) people who often were able to conduct business with an understanding or a handshake. Maybe things have changed, but there are still a lot of people who spend a lifetime building an spotless reputation and protect it dearly. I sure hope you get a chance to do business with more of them in your future.
  - mrtron 19y ago
    No, not what I have observed. What I have discovered. I have met a large enough sample set to make these statements. I am judging their morals and how honorable they are against a scale that I perceive to be true. Honor and morality is highly subjective. Even within the most honest folks I have met, very few reward the people they stood on the backs of to make it to the top. Woz gave some of the original Apple developers over a million dollars of his personal stock in the company as they were about to go public because he felt they were under-compensated - how many people would do this?