Thou Shall Prosper summary

It’s not uncommon for corporations and businesses to be demonized by politicians and the media. And this can turn people’s attention away from the job creation and the charitable work that comes from the private sector.

On a more personal level, a healthy business venture can also make people feel better about themselves.

Now that you know some of the noble reasons for getting into business, let’s take a look at how tradition can lead to successful business relationships.

In a traditional Jewish workplace, coworkers are not unlike friends and family. But for these kinds of relationships to develop, they have to be genuine. People can sense false intentions, so it won’t work if a friendly environment is forced.

Are you a perfectionist? Do you end up working longer and harder than others because you’re never satisfied until things are absolutely flawless?

Well, trying to be perfect is a fool’s errand because, in fact, nothing is perfect – especially when it comes to business.

What comes to mind when you think of a great leader? There have been many great leaders over the years, and Jewish tradition shows us that there are certain characteristics that they all share.

One of these characteristics is the ability to follow.

Many people fear change. Yet, as we grow older, we’re always learning and changing, even if we’re not aware of it.

Judaism teaches us to embrace the fact that all humans are unique and that they continue to change throughout their lives. Once we learn to accept this change, we can then learn to profit from it.

People also fear the uncertainty of the future. However, you can minimize uncertainty by making accurate predictions – something that’s not really that hard to do.

The Talmud is explicit about how the wise are different from the prophetic: While a prophet can look into the future, the wise can look at today’s events and see what consequences they’ll have tomorrow.

The old adage that "time is money" is certainly true. However, there’s more to the equation than that.

In the Talmud’s story of Joseph, we also learn that we are money and that money is part of us; it’s impossible to separate the two.

Here’s another apt adage: “Life is a journey, not a destination.” One should learn to regard business the same way.

This means that we shouldn’t be counting the days to retirement.