“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 61
“The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot” (Prov. 10:7)
A very important part of doing business is the matter of reputation. And reputations vary-good reputations go from okay to stellar, and bad reputations go from clumsy to wicked. When customers take note of the kind of service they receive, and they use that information in making future decisions, or in talking to their friends about their decisions, this is not gossip. It is part of the cost of doing business.
Of course, in the short run, reputation issues can really be unfair. When someone tries to shake down a fast food emporium by falsely claiming to have found a finger in their chili, the rumor can certainly be destructive. When environmentalists alert the public to trace elements of a pesticide on some grapes somewhere, which pesticide when given (in voluminous amounts) to lab rats, causes bad things to happen, this can cause a panic in the grape industry. Short run results are frequently irrational-and a wise businessman prepares himself to weather such incidents if possible. Someone ought to start marketing enviro-scare insurance, but no doubt folks have already looked into it, and the premiums would be way too high. After all, bottled water manufacturers are vulnerable-when a lab rat drinks the equivalent of fifty gallons in a three hour time span, that lab rat rarely thrives afterwards.
Nevertheless, taking the good with the bad, the rough with the smooth, over time, hard work, honesty and diligence pay off. Over time, those who are most likely to dispute this are those who do not want the lack of pay off in their business to be any indicator at all of laziness, dishonesty, and dithering. But it frequently is.