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Every great company is founded on a few guiding principles or ideals. If you’re lucky those will lead you to some level of success in your industry. One day large amounts of money will be offered to you that will require you to go back on those ideals. It will seem like an innocent thing. “Who will notice?” you’ll mumble to yourself. Here’s one piece of advice: don’t do it. At that moment you’re not in your right mind. What you’re not taking stock of is that those ideals contain the soul of your company. They’re what set you apart and compel people to do business with you.

A great example of this is the surf company Finesterre.They’re committed to creating the best technical apparel with minimal environmental impact. For awhile one of their biggest manufacturers was based in China. However, it soon became apparent that going green and human rights wasn’t the top priority for this manufacturer. Finesterre decided to cut ties even though this meant a huge price increase in their cost to produce the apparel. That’s a company with soul and integrity.

Someday your moment will come. Do what you know is right. It’s not just a matter of integrity. It’s good business sense.

Photo Credit: Detlef C