Profit vs. Greed

According to the dictionaries:

·         Profit is a valuable return or gain.

·         Greed is a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (such as money) than is needed.

·         Market value is the amount for which something can be sold on a given market

Okay, so it sounds like a good thing to make a profit in your business by charging market value for your goods and services. How then does greed figure into the picture?

In my distillation of the research in Positive Psychology, having enough money to pay your bills with some left over for having fun is one of the four major sources of happiness. The other three are a caring relationship with yourself, caring relationships with others, and work you love doing.

So how much money is “needed,” or enough? Some years ago, the number $75,000 was posited with the view that not much incremental happiness happens after that. Other research disputes both the number and the plateau effect.

My view is that “enough” is an individual decision, and we often discuss this in my CEO & Owner Roundtable. Since enduring happiness requires keeping a balance among the four major sources of happiness, if we focus too much on money then we miss opportunities for more happiness from the other sources.

Greed looks to me like the misguided belief that more money than “enough” will somehow make up for unhappiness in the other three sources. In fact, this belief creates the imbalance and ensuing unhappiness.

This is especially true when it comes to creating caring relationships. Seriously, who wants to be around someone who is selfish and greedy? Remind you of anyone?

Don’t be a stranger. (770) 993-1129. tdockery@TheResolveFirm.com