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aARth-shaasTR = SCIENCE OF BUSINESS:...RULE NO. 101: ....TRUE FRIENDS ARE LIFE LIFESAVER....BUT KEEP THEM SAFE FROM YOUR OWN BUSINESS.... Posted by Vishva News Reporter on April 21, 2003 |
At Prajapati Vishva Aashram Foundation (PVAF)
the primary mandate is to bring prosperity among humankind by sharing
LIFE SCIENCES = KNOWLEDGE ABOUT LIFE = veD....
....
and part of veD is
aARth-shaasTR which inlcudes science of
creating wealth with understanding of
polity....
....polity is defined as:
"....the management of public or private affairs; especially with
prudent, shrewd, or crafty administration for a civil order....also polity is
defined by Aristotle as: a form of political organization in which
the whole body of the people govern for the good of all and that constitutes a
fusion of oligarchy and democracy..."
....The economics of wealth creation is an instinct for most humans as one's
survival depends on wealth...but polity is most un-naturally corrupted in the
current veDik time era called
kli-yug.......especially when it
comes to mixing creation of wealth and personal relationship.....(the starting
write up by SRii chmpklaal daajibhaai misTRii
of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) ......
....As per Joanna Krotz from
MSN BUSINESS ...."Most
experts agree: However seductive the fantasy is of hiring friends to help give
birth to your baby enterprise, you should resist it. Just walk away. Go ahead
and be lonely at the top. Again, if you want your new business to thrive, do not
hire friends.
Please keep reading and I'll give you five reasons why."......just click on
this red hilite
MSN BUSINESS website or just
click on the next line to read it on this PVAF website.....
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Starting a business? Don't hire friends
Marketing Intelligence / Joanna L. Krotz From
MSN BUSINESS
Cautionary
tales about the risk of hiring friends as employees are nothing new. Yet
startup entrepreneurs invariably think such rules are made for everyone
else. That's probably why they became entrepreneurs in the first place.
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You hear the
same blithe confidence over and over: "Oh, we've known each other since
grade school. It'll be fine." Or, "We've always been able to talk about
everything. It'll be great." Or my favorite: "We're different people. She
doesn't really have the same kind of drive that I do. It'll work perfectly."
The dream of starting a business often embraces this warm and fuzzy
fantasy of getting all your best buddies to work alongside you — like a
personal dream team. It must have something to do with re-living high
school.
On the face of it, the arguments are understandable. Pals are trusted for
support and honesty. Friends have values that mirror your own, so they're
comfortable to be around.
When friends hold down the fort, you figure you don't have to watch your
back. Friends are also miraculously affordable. They'll work cheaper and
longer than anyone else, which gives you more resources for the lunatic
demands of a startup. All in all, everyone will be pulling for your success.
It's a no-brainer, right?
Sure, for entrepreneurs without brains.
Most experts agree: However seductive the fantasy is of hiring friends to
help give birth to your baby enterprise, you should resist it. Just walk
away. Go ahead and be lonely at the top. Again, if you want your new
business to thrive, do not hire friends. Keep reading and I'll give you five
reasons why.
Little help from friends
First, know that at the founding phase, the temptation to hire friends is
really the most appealing time, but also the most dangerous time. Startups
are free-for-alls. Everyone works full out at every task, from sweeping
floors to making client presentations. Virtually every staffer has equal
footing with no one truly in charge.
Accustomed to each other's moods and signals, friends will probably get
teamwork and momentum going earlier and easier. Besides working cheaply, a
friend will invest the same huge gobs of time, sweat and worry as you do.
Pretty soon, that friend feels just like the owner, too.
Then, sure as sunset, a day will arrive when the friend/employee decides
to forge a path you'd rather not travel. Maybe he or she wants more money
and prestige. Maybe it's a suggestion that you're doing everything wrong,
and he or she should be the boss.
"Conflicts destroy friendship," says John Baldoni, a leadership
consultant and coach in Ann Arbor, Mich., and author of "Great
Communication Secrets of Great Leaders." "What will you do when
differences arise? And you're kidding yourself that they won't." (For what
happens when you work with a significant other, see
this
article.)
Such differences can fester for any number of reasons. But here are the
five basic problems with hiring friends.
- Friends are just like you. "If you hire someone because it's
easy or comfortable for you, it may not be good for the business," says
Judy Irving, a professional coach in Las Vegas.
Your business will
profit from having a diverse staff, whether that translates into different
skills, values, ages, gender, upbringing or culture. By stretching your
comfort level and hiring a multi-disciplined and multicultural staff,
you'll widen the company's horizon and opportunities. Imagine if all your
employees think just like you (as friends tend to). Who will challenge
your strategies? Who will offer fresh perspective?
- Friends are often not qualified. The smart reason to hire
someone is because you think he'll do a terrific job. "Too frequently,
people jump to a quick hiring solution, such as a friend or family member,
without truly weighing the job responsibilities and the skills, abilities,
talents and knowledge that the individual brings to the new business,"
says Arlene Vernon, a human resources consultant in Minneapolis.
It is
far more costly to fire the first hire, then recruit and train a
replacement, than it is to find the right person from the beginning. And
that's just business costs. You may be forced to tell a cherished friend
that he simply isn't working out, which will certainly kill the
friendship.
If you're in a bind and must tap friends for short-term projects, give
yourself an escape hatch. "Don't commit to any time or budget," suggests
Brett Singer, a New York theatrical publicist. See how it works out first.
- You can't easily be boss and friend. Most people relax
around friends and turn formal in business situations. When you blur the
roles, you lose on either side. "I won't hire my friends and I also do not
want them to secure our services," says Joyce Scardina Becker, who runs
Events of Distinction, a wedding and event management company in San
Francisco. When planning a wedding, she says, "performance must be pretty
flawless. There's no room for mistakes."
On the job, Becker admits to
being relentlessly attentive to clients and details. She demands the same
from associates. "But how I am in business is totally different than how I
am with friends," she explains. "With friends, I'm a whimsical little
girl, very fun-loving. It's a whole different persona."
- Friends will take liberties. Unlike other staffers who worry
about employer approval, friends can become lax, showing up late or taking
care of personal needs on your nickel. Over time, little liberties grow
into big problems.
A few years ago, Miguel Jeronimo, then a diplomat at
the United Nations, decided to open the Portuguese restaurant he'd always
dreamed about. He asked a friend of nine years' standing to supervise the
design and construction while Jeronimo kept working. Alfama opened its
doors in New York's Greenwich Village in 1999 and the friend stayed on.
But, Jeronimo says, "He began taking authority for decisions where he
shouldn't. I caught him taking home food. He thought he was the boss."
By the summer of 2000, the friend had to be let go. The lesson,
Jeronimo says, is that you don't really know what friends are like at
work. He was shocked by his friend's behavior. "I'm much colder now.
Friends are friends and business is business."
- Business trumps friendship every time. Harry Gruber is chief
executive of Kintera, a San Diego company that provides marketing and Web
services to nonprofits. He has founded and sold four other companies,
which, he says, taken together add up to a staggering $4 billion in
capitalization. Gruber has plenty of experience in hiring friends,
including, at one time, a married couple. But, he says, the enterprise
comes first. "The friendship is gone the minute you hire someone. When you
convert a friend into an employee, the business relationship always
overwhelms the friendship. Business dominates. In the end, you must do
what's best for the company."
Exception to the rule: The prime exception to this hiring rule is
if the friendship originated when the two of you worked together, say the
experts. In that case, you're familiar with each other's work habits. There
won't be any rude surprises. And you've seen how each behaves in reporting
relationships, even if it was never directly with one another.
Otherwise, if your goal is to reach the top, get used to feeling lonely.
For more marketing and management advice, visit the
Web site for
Joanna's company, Muse2Muse Productions.
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