MINEFIELDS IN THE MARKETPLACE

The journey of life demands that we pass through a lot of ‘minefields’ on our way to greatness. Every day we find ourselves in the crucible called the marketplace, where we are usually tested to compromise.

A minefield is an area (of water or land) set with explosive mines. It is a place with many dangers, requiring extreme caution. Actually, minefields are so dangerous that every step can potentially be your last. When passing through a minefield there should be no room for carelessness; you have to be vigilant and sober.

We all have the desire to be wonderful, devoted, fathers or mothers, husbands or wives, and to be productive at our workplaces or in our businesses. We also want to leave a legacy built on integrity, ethics and character. In order to achieve this, we must be aware of the dangers that can short-circuit our pursuit of greatness.

These are four of the many ‘minefields’ that I want to bring to our awareness today.

1. Ethical Compromise
2. Materialism
3. Power. 
4. Unattended relationships. 

The word ‘ethics’ means the discipline of dealing with what is good or bad and with moral duty and obligation. It also means a set of moral principles and values. We must develop a set of individual moral principles and values which will help govern our behavior as we navigate through the marketplace. The marketplace is usually a muddy ethical environment, where most people compromise their ethics in order to survive.
So before you make certain decisions, ask yourself these questions: ‘Is this going to honour God? Does this hurt someone? Does this build the nation or is it destroying the economy of the nation?’

In order for us to achieve the King’s vision of First World status, it is going to be key for all of us to become ethically accurate. We must always embrace truth in professional dealings, political dealings, business dealings and relational dealings.

Desire

We must desire to be right, decent, honest, honourable, just, truthful and virtuous. We must put away the culture of being dishonourable and dishonest. We should also remember this; ethical compromise is never justified by circumstances or by our individual definitions of what is right. If what we are doing is hindering the progress of the community and the whole nation, then it is not right for us to keep on doing it.
Another danger we should be aware of, as we build Swaziland to reach First World status, is the greed of materialism. In order to survive the ‘minefield’ of materialism we must take heed to the warning of Jesus Christ, when he said: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36.

Greed is defined as an excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially material wealth) than one needs or deserves. Greed, the insatiable desire for more wealth, is one of the deadly sins that is killing the progress of nations. Material things are there to be constructively used and not for the display of human pride. We should not allow things to control our lives; instead we must use our material wealth to make the world a better place for everybody.

Let us now consider the ‘minefield’ of power. It is often said that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” If we find ourselves in a place of power, authority and influence, we must use that opportunity constructively to bring the best out of people and not to oppress or hinder other people’s progress. A boss must be benevolent, encouraging and supportive to those under him or her. A boss should not be demeaning, spiteful and callous. Power and authority should be exercised properly in order to create an environment of development and creativity. When power is abused, people and resources are abused. Most abuses of power have to do with the suffering of individuals in some way at the hands of their superiors. When we overuse people and underpay them, that is abuse of power.

When people do not feel dignified as human beings working in our company, it lowers their productivity levels and that to a certain degree will affect the progress of the whole nation.

As bosses, we must remember to preserve the dignity of our fellow human beings by exercising our authority in appropriate ways; because someone is watching us and our credibility as leaders has everything to do with how we relate with people under our authority. As a manager, businessman, pastor, CEO, politician etc. remember not to neglect your relational life.

Husbands, wives, children and friends are important. Whatever we do, we must stay connected to the people who matter in our lives. It is so easy to wander away from our families because we now spend more time with business associates, workmates or congregants. We must always remember that strong families and good community relationships make for strong nations that are on their way to achieving First World status.

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