The intention in business

Before doing any work in life, do we think about what is our intention behind doing that work?

This is an incident that keynote speaker Belinda Goodrich shared in one of her speeches:

It was May 2006, I was traveling to Bangalore, India, from my home in Phoenix, which is 8600 miles from Arizona. I grew up in 'Maine'. That trip to India was something I had never thought of.

I was going to India to meet a team of employees. It was important for me to know their skills, their expectations from the job, their behavior as a citizen, their culture, etc. So with that in mind, I decided to visit the local market in the interiors of that city.

A visit to the inner bazaars of Bangalore is an utterly mesmerizing experience. This is not a tourist destination. All my companions looked at me in disbelief when I said, "I want to visit the market." They could not say no...but it was a place like I had never seen before.

Bright colored fruits and fragrant spices! Lots of stray animals around! Extremely humid climate! Crowds of people! The streets were full of odors and scents! All kinds of noises! I had never experienced all this in my life.

It was getting a bit heavy and scary, to be honest, and I felt like something was stuck in my throat. So I spotted a corner in the market. There was a beautiful sight under that shady nook, where women were sitting and making garlands for the temple. The hues of those flowers were stunning and there was a wonderful smell of jasmine in the air.

That scene gripped me from within. I was watching them while walking by when I caught sight of a woman. She was probably older than my grandmother! I was very surprised to see that she was sitting on a hard floor and weaving garlands with her small and bowed hands for only a few rupees at this age. She didn't even have teeth. Maybe she didn't possess anything at all. I opened my purse and took out some money. She didn't speak English and I didn't know Hindi.

When I said, "I want to buy your things," she looked me up and down with a gaze of wonder. I said to my guide, a bit embarrassed, "Danny, she probably didn't understand what I said. Could you please explain it to her properly?"

He had a brief conversation with the old lady, and then she chose the most beautiful jasmine garland that I liked and then pinned them to my hair with her arthritic hands. I opened the purse again and offered her money, but she refused. I looked at Danny and said, "I don't understand anything." Danny replied, "Belinda, you chose her, and you honored her by liking and wanting her flowers. The price of these flowers is completely paid for."

That moment changed my life as I realized that I have done everything wrong till now. I was from the 1980s. moving up the corporate ladder in hopes of the next title, for my next promotion. All my math was wrong. I was defining my worth by what I earned, not by whom I was serving.

I had a journal at that time I had bought in India. I opened that journal and saw that the flowers of the garland that I had preserved in the journal at that time, were now brown and withered. But they constantly remind me of a woman who had nothing, but to me, she was the richest person.

After that incident, I made a lot of changes in my life. I left India as a new, changed woman. My heart and mind were heavy, and in fact, my eyes welled up too; because not only did I go home and quit my job, but I took home with me a dog that I had adopted from the streets of Bangalore. He used to remind me what we can do in this world!

I am bidding farewell to you with a message 'Service over the business', 'Respect over greed', and most importantly 'People over profit'.

When we put money before moral values, we only succeed to a certain extent. But when we serve with a sincere heart, the people we serve respect us with their time, their trust, and their money. Then we become prosperous in a wholesome manner.

There are many ways to offer yourself, simply offering yourself up for service puts you in a better position. With the belief that what needs to be done has been done, you move forward in peace.