Cattāri Brahmavihārā

In so many ways I have an uncomfortable and somewhat tortured relationship with what I do for a living. I am in a business whose sole goal is to sell people things that they do not need and to do so as cheaply as possible in order to maximize profits in order to take home a laarger slice of the pie. Reflecting on it in this way and comparing where I am now to what I was doing 11 years ago in grad school I vacillate between regarding myself as supremely idealistic and impractical and imagining myself at that time as a young man with more noble aspirations.

But, when I come back to reality it is quite easy to see that as noble as my ideals were back then my life and behaviors were far more base. If anything the discipline required to run a business has helped me to stay on the path despite the real and imagined ethical pitfalls of running a business. So, rather than holdong back and entertaining some vaguely formed notion that I am not really a business owner I am beginning to think that a better, and certainly more honest, approach would be to embrace my role fully to do a better job at it overall.

As it stands I feel like I have been winging it for too long when it comes to managing my employees although I have always referred to and will continue to follow the Dhamma in making my decisions. Still,  I feel that I have been lacking in my efforts and that I would be a better boss if I took steps to learn more management and hiring techniques. But, and this the the quesstion, how does one define “better” in this circumstance? Is being a better boss a function of profit or is it more at retention of staff and, therefore, reduction of turnover costs as calculated by considering training, unemployment claims and the time it takes to vet candidates? In essence, I am of the belief that you can’t short-change employees and treat them badly if you hope to succeed in the long term so, for me at least, the secret seems to lie in managing employee expectations and providing clear goals and excellent training. Now, how this gets done is a different matter altogether.

I apologize for this long and rambling post but I am trying to think through these issues in light of the Dhamma. May all beings look after themselves with ease!