Newton’s Third Law

“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

This is not a physics lesson, at least not really, so please don’t stop reading just yet. This law, when applied to life, to people, to human behavior proves out just as much as it does in the physical world, or perhaps it doesn’t. Perhaps the reaction is significantly greater in life than it is in a physics lab. Perhaps the effect on people, human beings, on lives is significantly greater than the original action, or at the very least, if it is equal it is quite possible that the person or persons responsible for the original action do not realize the impact, have not considered it, or simply do not care.

When you look at companies that are in the business of taking over other companies, whether through acquisition, merger, or worst case hostile takeover, do those responsible for the initial decision know, see, care what the end result will be for the lesser of the two companies? The unfortunate answer here is that in most cases yes they do in fact know exactly what the end result will be.

When you look at people acting in whatever manner best suits them, again, do they know, care, consider the impact on others, the true impact; how many people will be impacted, in what way, for how long? The unfortunate fact is, not unlike common courtesy, but to a much uglier extent, people do what is best for them and very seldom do they, or those around them, consider the impact on others.

How many times over the course of your life has someone said to you “look out for number one?” Who came up with this? Why should this be the case? In business, managers, executives, bosses that understand that they benefit most by putting their people first are by default most successful. There is a book titled “The Customer Comes Second,” and this is the basic premise behind the book, I will not say don’t read the book because it is a good read, but the punch line is that if you put your people first, make sure they enjoy what they are doing, have the tools and the training necessary to be successful then the end result will be happy customers and a successful business.

Why can’t individuals treat each other, treat everyone, with that same premise in mind? Help others be successful, put others first, think of the impact on others before making a decision based on one’s own wants and needs. I realize that this is now contrary to how most of the youth of today have been raised, and unfortunately I am finding out, the same is true for the youth of yesterday as well, today’s parents, but at some point we have to turn the tide back around and look out for, take of, put others first.

Please just spend a few minutes, eyes closed, thinking about what the world would be like if everyone truly thought of others before themselves. How happy a planet would this be? Can you even imagine it at this point? I realize it is a lot to ask when so many people are struggling, but maybe that is the best time to try and change things.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.