There is one universal principle which is so old that you can find it in all religious and philosophical writings from the last several thousand years. There literally is no exception. You’d find forms of it in sources from all continents. It seems like wherever human beings have been living together on this planet someone stumbled upon the deep truth in it and put it in writing.
Confucius [15:24], (551–479 B.C.)
Zi Gong asked: “Is there a single concept that we can take as a guide for the actions of our whole life?”
Confucius said, “What about ‘reciprocity’? What you don’t like done to yourself, don’t do to others.”
Matthew 7:12, New Testament (50-100 AD)
“Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you
shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.”
The Mahabharata, a foundational script for hinduism (400 B.C.- 400 AD) contains as a central principle:
Mahabharata, 5:1517
“This is the sum of Dharma [duty]: Do not unto others which would cause you pain if done to you”.
Isokrates (436–338 B.C.)
“Do not do to others that which angers you when they do it to you.”
As simple as the principle of reciprocity sounds as hard it is to follow. A good chunk of human misery can be traced down to its mistreatment. All too often greed and short term thinking make us blind.
That’s probably why the smartest thinkers before us wrote it down for their folks. To make it prominent – always. To put it into consciousness. To remind us of the importance especially in moments where greed and short term benefits make us forget about it.
I recently listened to a conversation with a businessman suffering from significant revenue losses caused by the effects of the Covid pandemic in 2020. Although under financial stress he decided to pay his vendors promptly. He knew that his business partners live under the same conditions like him and he did his best to treat them as he wanted to be treated in their situation.
The effects of his rather not common behaviour turned out to be overly positive for him. He became the preferred client for many of his vendors. As a result he received the first order rights for precious and rare goods. This in turn helped him to make his own customer proposition even more valuable, even in a crisis. Everybody has won: His vendors, his clients, his employees (as they keep their jobs), he himself.
The best salespeople in the world always think from the other one’s perspective. Obviously they need to know the other one’s perspective very well. So they listen and pay attention to their fellow human beings. They stay curious and interested in other people’s lives and challenges (and not only pretend to be).
They know that positions can be switched the next time you meet. A strong leverage position in a negotiation can become an “eat or die” situation for them in the next one. So they stay fair and never ignore the sameness in all of us. It pays off in the long term.
Let’s try our best to live by the golden rule. We don’t know when and in which form but it will surely bring us unexpected positive results.