Honesty in business

A recent experience reminded me of a fundamental business attitude that always applies, climate policy or not. One of the simplest rules you can think of.

Honesty in business.

Whatever thing you promise to deliver, make sure you deliver that thing just as promised. It’s a surprisingly simple rule, but equally surprising how overlooked it is.

Have you over-promised what you can deliver, leaving yourself open to under-delivering? I’ve definitely been guilty of this in the past – loading up my to-do list with things to justify my existence (or my invoice), only to be left making excuses later. It sucks.

Think about it from the receiving end – if you were promised something in a week, but had to chase and received it a month later, would you be happy about it?

I highly recommend over-delivering on less things, rather than adding more things to deliver. People don’t want more stuff – they want results.

Climate policies will make our businesses stronger and more resilient to the changes coming… They’re utterly pointless though if the foundation we’re building on already has cracks in it.