I'm a Christian and a businessman. NO...don't hit the back button! I promise that I'm not going to try and convert you, well, maybe only a little bit! I'm only including this page to explain my philosophy for business life and make sure I don't mislead you should we be able to do business together in the future. 

I've had a few interesting decisions to make in the past (well, haven't we all I hear you say) when balancing the requirements of my job with the requirements of God. As the years have gone by, I've found that the closer you can get to truth and honesty, the easier life becomes and the larger is the return on an enterprise. (I define return both in terms of money, which is the major part, and relationships or repeat business.) I have been accused of being blunt but I hate poor communication as a result of people trying to be kind or cover up errors. This reaction to a problem costs money as a result of lack of understanding and additional problems in the long term. I aim to correct errors within defined budgets but, failing that, bad news must be reported as early as possible consistent with accuracy. The report needs to be accompanied by as large a number of remedial options as I and the team can devise. The Client must be under no allusions as to what is possible, the costs and the risks. I recognise that I deal with other peoples money and all of the responsibilities that attracts. 

If this sounds like good operating practice regardless of a Christian base, you're right. It is. Whilst my faith was growing in the earlier years of my career, I set out to use the above as the basis of all my dealings. So what else does being a Christian add? I hesitate to use the word "love". As a word it is so easily misused and people tend to look at its seamier meanings rather than its true interpretation. I use the word "love" to describe my motivation to try and make sure that any deal satisfies the requirement for a return PLUS to check round the "edges" of the deal to make sure nobody is hurt and preferably everybody is helped. You will appreciate that success in this respect would make me an altogether "good guy". Needless to say, whilst you can aim high, realism means acceptance of a lower standard for now but coupled with a desire to improve and the grace to apologise. 

I hope I haven't bored you with my philosophy for business life. (I don't suppose that you will have ventured this far down the page if I have.) You will probably point out that the philosophy applies to other religions apart from Christianity and you'd be right. But I leave you with this thought. If everybody only aimed at the above, our society would be a far better place in which to live and I reckon that God will forgive anybody who is slightly misguided in their concept of God, or of God's requirements, but whose "heart is in the right place" and who recognises their mistake and says sorry before the time of Judgement. 

Richard Jolly 
31st January 1998. Reviewed 2023 03 03