Why What We Learn from Childhood Can Be Very Useful As We Grow Up
Lee la versión en español aquí.
My dad always taught me to be honest in my actions. I grew up by his side, watching him work on his business. He always did everything in the best possible manner because he thought -and he still thinks- that you get out of your work what you deserve.
He stressed this throughout my childhood, both through his own attitude and by improving mine. Whenever he noticed I was taking the wrong path, he would put me back on track. I can assure you these are the kind of things you don’t forget…
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I remember a very particular situation when I was a child. I don’t know if you remember but, at one time, Lays chips came with pogs. If you were lucky enough to get the winning pog, you could exchange it at any store for glow-in-the-dark Slime.
The bag of chips had a strip on the outside, showing all the pogs you could collect, including the picture of the winning pog. Because I really wanted the Slime, I cleverly cut out the image of the winning pog from the strip and pasted it on to another pog. When I took it to the store clerk, he let me claim the prize without any problems.
I got home feeling very pleased with myself and the first thing I did was to tell my dad about my prank. He, of course, was angry and took me back to the store to return the prize and apologize for what I had done.
I now laugh when I think back about that but, at that time, I was very ashamed. A much-needed shame. It was very important for me to have this stressed by my dad because it taught me not to take advantage of others.
Today many aspects of my life reflect that lesson.
As an entrepreneur, it was always very clear to me that entrepreneurship should be exercised in the best possible way, this means with respect towards other members of the ecosystem and, why not, towards our society.
Therefore, ever since Wolox was founded by us, seven friends, we all agreed that we would work as honestly and as transparently as possible.
Posted by Guido Marucci Blas (guidomb@wolox.com.ar), (@guidomb).
