Lindsay Robertson

My Renaissance
My renaissance was indeed a great comeback and in a sense a great awakening also. My
understanding of business and the philosophies that drive the very idea of what it is to run a great
business were transfigured and in some cases created from this very course. Over the semester
there have been things that I had never thought I would start to believe in. I came back to school
just hoping to meet certain requirements and do certain things, never guessing that the courses
that I took or that my studies would create a seed that grew into a new understanding. My
renaissance came from the realization that I had been living in a world of ignorance. We read
from philosophers, businessmen and leaders of the world with varying points of view and there
seemed to underlying principles that I felt were repeated in so many unique perspectives. These
key principals were ones that I felt I had always had an understanding of but not how they
pertained to the aspect of running a business let alone managing anything for the matter. The
principles, I believe were found in most, if not all our readings and studies and were as follows:
Relationships matter, ethics and morals still play a role in business and finally hard work is the
true driving force to success. Now these sound vague but my goal is to discuss these ideas briefly
and hopefully explain how I feel these are truly the foundations to better business.
Relationships seemed to be the one thing that was discussed most often. Some argued that
the relationship between the labor and capital had to be one of openness and transparency,
which in most circumstances of disputes and collapse was based on the idea that the worker was
a silent pawn or that the employer saw the employee as nothing more than an expendable tool,
thrown away whenever they pleased. Relationships and ensuring that both the employee and the
employer are working cohesively as a unit rather than opposing forces. Most of the readings
reiterated the idea that when there was an open line of communication between the two that the
company or business would almost in all circumstances have a greater level of success than that
of their competitors who did not share that same mentality. The one thing that I had never
thought of was when the idea that the employer and employee can successfully have a
partnership. When the employee works knowing that they have a say or some sort of
circumstantial reward for their efforts based on the idea that their opinions and actions matter
they then have greater pride in what they do. By building an active relationship, whether its
based on a mutual ownership of something or simply based on the idea that the labor and the
capital are in open communication without fear of reprisal will almost always create a
atmosphere of positivity, pride and determination in providing the service or product which
means more profits, more loyalty and a better product, this is better business.
The second principle is based on ethics and morals. I first had the idea that in the world
of business, ethics and morals were second when it came to the goals of any company. The first,
in my mind was money. Sadly I feel that this is still the way that many companies operate. It
seems greed and corruption tends to be the underlying factor that drives so many to do the things
they do. I found this concept to be the most surprising thing that kept coming up, not because I
believed that success and corruption go hand in hand but because of how many of the individuals
we read from were successful or are least considered figures we looked up to as a society and
talked about still today. After reading about these individuals throughout this course, I realized
quickly that you can be successful and still have morals and values. They (morals) can be the
driving force behind what makes your company stand out. The reason they (individuals

discussed) emphasize morals and ethics and basically treating others the way you want to be
treated is because society will judge you for that and more importantly your workers will be
more willing to be loyal regardless of difficult times. We have an obligation to stick to our
morals and ethics, it is what makes us part of a societal structure. The moment we throw those
out for profit or gain we are then inviting society and the public to hasten judgment which
inevitably brings bad publicity, low morale and scrutiny which affects both labor and capital.
Staying strong to a sense of values and ethics, although difficult will benefit everyone in the long
run, once again another form of good business.
I think for the most part the things I have discussed so far are really things that most
people would be familiar with or agree that are key parts to success. Sadly they are things that I
did not realize, and although it does come off as pathetic I am willing to admit it. The last thing
that I feel is the key and that I learned during this course and although I was well aware of it
before was the idea of hard work. I understood what hard work was but knowing its true impact
was different. By far hard work and determination is what made most of these people as
successful as they were. Most of them especially those who made fortunes were considered rags
to riches stories and individuals who were able to adopt and exercise principles that propelled
them into the positions they were in. Idleness and laziness will get you nowhere fast and is the
epitome of what is wrong with so many people in my generation. This is the concept that I feel
we struggle with as a society because of how simple things have become in many senses. I have
been found guilty of this myself but I feel that this course not only helped me recognize this but
gave me the tools and foresight to know what hard work can achieve. I think the hardest thing
about my generation is that we leave college and expect a fancy new corner office and a big
salary to go with it. We expect things to be just handed to us, once again this is a product of what
our society has embedded in our minds. We have so many things that we can use to our
advantage but unfortunately we take advantage of them in a way that only benefits a short term
goal that stops when we reach that point. Sometimes having long term goals and be willing to
work towards those goals is what drives someone and for the purpose of this essay, companies to
become the success stories they are.
These principles that I discussed are not ones that are easy to achieve, it takes a lot of
work and more important the vision and real mentality to want to do these things. Most people in
this world will continue being who they are, bad habits are hard to break but that is the difference
between success and failure. This course or the reading therefore were not intended to make us
feel worst or mediocre but great in knowing we have the ability to be better and rise above the
level of mediocrity we can find ourselves in. This was not just a class about business but a class
about life lessons. We all have the opportunity to become great leaders of industry if that is our
desire but it is entirely up to us. Not one person controls your fate other than yourself; this I
believe was the idea that we were supposed to learn.