Fallacy 1: The purpose of business is to make money.

Wrong. The purpose of business is to help people accomplish things. Being of service—bringing value—that’s the business of business. Making money is the outcome, not the purpose. It allows the business to live; it’s not why it lives.

“Organizations exist to serve. Period.” -Tom Peters

“Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a by-product of providing a useful service.” -Henry Ford

“The be-all and end-all of life should not be to get rich, but to enrich the world.” -B.C. Forbes

“[People] are rich only as they give. [A person] who gives great service gets great rewards.” – Elbert Hubbard

Fallacy 2: Service is a department.

Wrong, w-a-a-y wrong. Service is much more than a department and bigger than customer service. It is fundamental to human survival and a key to successful work. It’s not a function only for some; it’s everyone’s job. If you don’t provide service…to someone, then I don’t know why you are being employed.

“If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of [humankind], whom should we serve?” -Abigail Adams

“What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?” -George Eliot

“One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.” – Lewis Carroll

Fallacy 3: People get in the way.

Maybe at times, but face it, without people, there is no business. Every customer, employee, investor, and supplier is a person. Business is for and about people. People helping people is business.

“If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.” -Simon Sinek

“There is no business, there are only people. Business exists only among people and for people.”– James Autry

“Business is nothing more—or less—than humans serving humans.” -Eryc Eyl

What’s really surprising is the number of businesses and business people who—in thought or deed—believe in one, two, or even all three of these fallacies and then wonder why their work is such a struggle.

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