The Self Interest Principle

"My boss selected me to work with her in my company's mentoring program."

• Kilee Johnson
  

The Self Interest Principle

I looked down at the caller ID flashing on my screen. It was about 3 p.m. If I hadn't looked at the caller ID I still would have had about a fifty percent chance of guessing who it was. My middle daughter gets off work about then and she was calling to check in.

"I had a great day today." She said.

"Why is that?" I replied.

"You know that I've been trying to get in to my company's mentoring program so I can move in to management? Well, my boss selected me and she's going to be my mentor." She commented breathlessly. She was clearly so excited that she could hardly get the words to come out of her mouth fast enough.

"Great job!" I said. "Most people would be sitting and wondering why they weren't getting selected. But you've done well by pursuing this hard. You deserve it."

"Thanks" She whispered.

I followed with, "Do you know why you're being successful?"

"I think so." She responded.

"It's because the Principle of Self Interest." I coached. "People are successful when they are working to improve their personal position in life. Some would say that this statement is just another way to say that people are selfish. But that's not the case!"

The truth is that we improve our own position by serving other people. This is a time proven principle taught by the world's greatest philosopher over two thousand years ago and it's still hardly understood by most people these many years later. I think I'm just barely beginning to understand it.

It's also been proven scientifically. My friend and collogue Ron Mitchell, one of the world's foremost authorities of entrepreneurship demonstrated it through his research and it's one of the founding principles used in his New Venture Template.

The New Venture Template is a tool used by thousands of entrepreneurs at www.venturecapital.org, the site created by non-profit Wayne Brown Institute, to help aspiring business owners determine if their business idea can be successful.

Wayne Brown Institute Volunteer Mentors use this very principle, give first and then receive, as the basis of their work in helping entrepreneurs for free. It is the founding principle that has allowed the greatest economy the world has ever seen to be created and sustained for more than two-hundred years. We've all been its beneficiaries.

The great thing about using this time honored principle is that it can be used on a large or a small scale. Kilee has been using it on a small scale and will hopefully be using it on a large scale to the benefit of all of us in the near future.

The pursuit of self interest always improves the whole if done in an ethical and honest way. It is the most effective way to improve the lives of the most people while creating unlimited opportunities for each individual. I hope you will use this principle to create unlimited opportunity for yourself and others.

It's a simple thing really; go out and do something you really want to do today and keep asking yourself, "What do I really want to do with my life!"