Читать книгу Getting Things Done - Rus Slater - Страница 12

The previous two Secrets in this book discuss doing what is ‘relevant’, but you also have to do what is ‘right’. There are various levels of ‘rightness’ to judge things by: moral, ethical, legal and practical.

• Moral, ethical and legal. Your personal morality and ethics will reflect the religious teachings and codes of law in your country. If you work for a global organization you may have to bear in mind differences between the moral and ethical norms in your native country and others you might come into contact with. Likewise, make sure that what you do is legally right under the laws of your organization, your country and any international laws affecting it. For example, few people would

case study An importer was making a margin of 4% on high-volume, low-cost, perishable stock. This did not feel ‘right’ in practical terms because it was a very low margin. Not only that, some of the importer’s customers were asking for more environmentally friendly and ethically produced stock that would fulfil the ‘right’ values for them. The importer decided to introduce another line of products that were less perishable and lighter to transport, and which sold for a 15% margin. By doing the ‘right’ thing, the importer was able to continue to provide the original stock to the loyal customers while also increasing the product range and customer base, and protecting and expanding the business.

“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not” Oprah Winfrey, American TV personality

consider that it would be doing the ‘right’ thing to sell alcohol-related products in a country that bans alcohol. That may be an extreme example, but the point is that to keep up your motivation, it’s essential that you do the things that feel ‘right’ according to your moral code, and to do them ‘right’ – or 100% correctly to the best of your abilities.

• Practical. There is a phrase in English: ‘busy fools’. This is used to describe people who are always busy and active but are doing the ‘wrong’ things. The ‘wrong’ things could be:

• Things which aren’t relevant (see Secrets 1.3 and 1.4).

• Things which your customer doesn’t want, need or value (see Secret 4.4).

• Things which are of lesser value.

Make sure that the things you do are ‘right’ in every sense of the word.