Ancient Business WisdomValues, Prosperity, and the Talmud "The first question a person is asked at judgment after death is, 'Did you deal in good faith in your business?'" Read what business leaders are saying about Values, Prosperity, and The Talmud. Jump ahead to the Talmud's 10 Business Lessons and the Ancient Rabbis' Ultimate Business Secret. What Can I Learn from a 1,500-Year-Old Book?As modern business life becomes increasingly complicated and difficult, management is turning to the classics for guidance. For example, Sun Tzu's Art of War has become a handbook on how to handle market competitors. Machiavelli's The Prince, now standard reading in business schools, has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity because of its clarity and vision, despite its ruthless attitude. Yet, there is one classic work, older than most of the world's books, that offers riches to anyone--no matter what their religious beliefs--brave enough to explore its depths: The Talmud. The Talmud is not a sacred work, a mystical work, or a religious document. Written in the 5th and 6th centuries, the Talmud is a manual for life, and its lessons have been time-tested for centuries. (By the way, did you know that the Talmud was the one of the earliest hypertext documents?) Commerce and BusinessWhile the Talmud covers a wide range of human activities from raising children to medicine to cooking, it focuses heavily on business dealings. Why this interest in business and, by extension, money and profit? The Talmud stresses the importance of dealing honestly in business because transacting business, more than any other human activity, tests our moral mettle and reveals our character. It is through money and commerce that we uncover our human frailties, our bigotry, our ability to deal justly with others during a time in which our natural instinct is to maximize our profits no matter what the consequences. In business transactions we sometimes believe it's acceptable to cheat, because we think "everyone's doing it," or we'll never do business with a particular person again. To the Talmud no transaction is tiny and no transgression is trivial. The Talmud's Most Important GiftAs you read about the Talmud's 10 lessons and the culmination of these lessons that leads to success in business, you'll begin to understand the Talmud's most important gift to modern business people. It's something that everyone who works strives to achieve but few ever accomplish. The Talmud offers a tried-and-true way to happily blend business, personal and spiritual lives--and be successful at each. It gives precise instructions on how to balance one's need for business success with the need for a satisfying life outside of work. The Talmud accomplishes this by challenging readers to think in new and different ways about their jobs, how they view money and the purpose of commerce. The Talmud confronts students with rock bottom questions such as, Why do we work?, Why do businesses exist?, and How much money should we make? The rabbis' answers may seem strange--they may even shock--but rest assured that they have worked successfully for thousands of years. No matter what a person's religious beliefs (or lack of religious beliefs), the Talmud's ideas will forever change the way its readers think about themselves, their business, and their family--for the better.
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Copyright © 2008 Larry Kahaner |
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