I do not believe Business is all about money!

By Patrick Mayoh

I was privileged last week to be a guest speaker at a local school of my area. The school administration had organized a careers’ week to familiarize pupils with the professional job. And having just completed my MBA I was asked to talk about my understanding of business and why this is important in the society we find ourselves in.
I think the talk went very well. The questions especially from 8 to 10 year olds were really relevant and pertinent; to be honest I sometimes during the QA time felt I was answering to reporters as some of the issues raised were quite difficult to explain and clarify for those children. All in all I must confess I had the time of my life talking to those kids about the relevance of business in our world. I could have spoken and discussed about the same subject matter the whole day, because I was so preoccupied with making sure those children choose to become better business people in the future.
However I must say I was a bit taken aback by the fact that many of the questions after my talk—I held those talks in 3 classrooms—revolved around the issue of money and salaries. Many of the kids were so eager to know if I was earning a big salary and having a very good time being a business man.
On my way home I felt many of those kids dreamt of being business people just to earn big wages and bonuses. This was a bit distressing for me, because I did not choose to become a businessman or study an MBA for the money. I do expect to work in a rewarding job, in an environment where I can fully express my full potential and of course in an organization offering me financial conditions enough to meet my needs and those of my closed ones.
Ultimately I would like to be a businessman because I believe business people can create a better world, a better society. I would like to be part of an organization whose primary concern is to create products or services that will usher a happy and fulfilled society. I am afraid the media and the recent financial scandals (huge bonuses) have conveyed the feeling that being a businessman is all about earning a lot of money.
I think businesses exist in conjunction with governments to make people happy. Money is just secondary to customers’ satisfaction, happiness and fulfilment as a result of using a particular product or service. I think we need to tell our children that being a professional business person is not about money but just about making a major difference in the society. I want to believe David Zuckenberg, Steve Job, Bill Gates and Graham Bell never thought about money when they invented those gadgets we all enjoy today. Although the financial reward in all those cases might be colossal, to me they have created a better world through their products.
In conclusion, I believe we need to tell our children to dream about business people to create better products and better services and not to earn a lot of money or enjoy extravagant financial incentives; they come second to all those items mentioned above. To conclude my talk about business in that school I referred to one of my all time favourites business coaches; Stephen Covey and his legendary principle on seven habits of Highly effective people. I do believe highly effective businessmen or individuals in general think “win-win” because happiness goes both ways, high profit margins should go hand in hand with highly satisfied customers.