Here is an interesting scenario that I heard today. Imagine you had a business relationship with another company that was helping you make money and vice versa. While it was a win-win situation, it turned out one side wanted to jump ships as they felt the grass was greener on the other side. So the other business took this as a bit of an insult. While they were certain they would fail if they moved, the other option was to essentially do what it takes to keep that relationship as businesses wise you could keep using them to help you grow, so to speak.
It didn’t end up that way as this was too much of an insult for the business and so they parted ways. As the years went by this created more competition for the business as a result of the other company now helping the competitor. In the end they were right as they did fail financially, but this also meant all this time competing with them resulted in less profit as well. Kind of an interesting question there. Would you be inclined to do what’s best for business, so to speak, or would your ethics and principles take the front seat in the decision making?
Kind of tricky as I think this is one of those scenarios where people’s answers will probably vary depending on if the situation is actually placed in front of them. A more common/simple example would be like an employee who you felt went out of line. Example, if your best salesman whom you helped when he had nothing starts acting like he is the only one that matters while constantly saying he is thinking of going to a competitor for more money would you do what it takes to keep him or would you simply let him go just to be right?
One of those things where many people say you should take the emotion out of making business decisions. I bet it is easier said than done though huh?