Why am I writing this Blog?

Simply stated, I believe there is a need for it.  Maybe it’s just me, but I think it is glaringly obvious that morals, sound business principles, appropriate social behaviors and ethically principled living have been on a downward spiral for years, and seem to be escalating at an ever more rapid pace with each passing year.

As the name of the blog implies, it is about ethics, and in particular business ethics, but as John Maxwell so aptly stated in his wonderful book, There is no such thing as Business Ethics, ethical principles should guide us in all aspects of our life, not just in business.  The person that you are 8 to 5 should be the person you are the rest of the time, and vice-versa.  Even though I will be focusing primarily on sound ethical principles in the workplace, and since you can’t really separate business ethics from personal ethics, I’m sure there will be spill over into your personal, private life as well. 

The source for these business principles on ethics comes from the greatest book ever written on the subject, the Biblical book of Proverbs. This blog will not be a verse by verse study, nor will it be written to promote any particular religious, denominational or sectarian viewpoint. It is simply my attempt to glean some of the timeless principles from this book as they relate to our everyday business life and share them with you in a conversational, non-threatening way.

My intent is not to come across as a “holier than thou know it all”, “holy roller” or “goody two shoes” for surely, I don’t know it all, and I’m certainly not “holier than thou”, nor do I intend to come across as “preachy” or “lecturing”.  If I see that I am coming across that way, I will shut down the blog myself.  My goals are:  (1) to introduce the reader to the richness of the Book of Proverbs and its teachings on Ethical Principles, (2) to discover principles together that will help us navigate the daily challenges we all face in our culture, and (3) to encourage everyone that even though you may have failed many times to live ethically, whether personally, professionally or both, that you will discover that the Author of the Book for this blog is someone who offers everyone a “second chance.”

For those who know me, you may be asking, “Why are you doing this Tony, why now?  The reason is simple.  There were times that I have failed miserably in my life and have not lived that squeaky clean ethically pure life, but through it all, I have rediscovered a loving and forgiving God that not only gives us second chances, but sometimes third, fourth, fifth or even more chances.  So my purpose is to simply pay it forward.  I hope to share ethics lessons from Proverbs that will benefit others professionally and personally and that will challenge the reader to not focus on the failures of the past, but to live more ethically principled lives now, because real, lasting change is possible for anyone.  I hope you enjoy what will be written in the weeks ahead but also be challenged with these musings.

The Plan for Business Principles & the Book of Proverbs

1.      My goal is to post a new blog every 5 to 7 days.  They will be shorter than this introduction was.  This was longer because of the nature of it. 

2.      Since many of the topics contained in Proverbs are repeated more than once, you may read posts that address the same topic that was covered in an earlier post.  The goal is to keep each post fresh and different.

3.      You are invited to comment, but please keep your comments within the parameters of the topic of a particular post.  Since this blog deals with principles from the Bible and knowing how many different opinions people have, if your comments are argumentative, use inappropriate language, are slanderous or preachy, or if you use the comments area as a forum to promote any particular religion, those comments will not be posted.  I would simply encourage you to write your own blog.

4.      If you start following the blog and subscribe via email, you will also have opportunity to unsubscribe at any time.

5.      All biblical references are taken from the New King James Version, Copyright © 1992 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

6.      All photos are royalty free and were purchased for approved use through iStock.com.

7.      If you like what you will read, please share it with others.