Love Your Enemy

By Germán M. Jorge

From "Economy of Communion - a new culture" N. 30 - December 2009

I received a telephone call from the head of the cement-production business which is our largest competitor in the area, and he asked me if we could sell him a certain amount of cement because their other suppliers weren´t giving them any more credit.

It was obvious that they were going through a tough time, from a financial point of view, due to the break-up of a family business and the consequences this was creating.

I knew that the situation was serious, and I felt inside that the long-awaited moment had arrived: I had the chance to change history. This competitor played heavily against me in the market, and he´d even told other collegues that his mistake had been to let me raise my head.

The conversation went more or less like this:

“Don´t worry, the cement will arrive on Monday.”

“But I don´t know if the checks will be ready Monday. It´s been two months since I haven´t paid myself.”

“It´s not a problem. Call me when they´ll be ready.”

“How much will I have to pay you?”

“You pay now what I paid. That´s it.”

“But then you won´t earn anything.”

“It doesn´t make sense that I earn anything from this. You´ll never be my client, and right now you need a hand.”

N30_Impiegati_Dimaco He thanked me and the conversation finished there. I can assure you that the fullness and happiness I felt in that moment are worth much more than the cement. I felt completely fulfilled, humanly speaking. This act surprised my employees, who didn´t understand at first, and I had to explain to them that the most important thing wasn´t the exchange itself but what it could build within and outside of our business.

That month, we reached record sales, and right now in the middle of the crisis, we´re able to sell nearly 30% more compared to the same time-period last year.

This way of relating to others, putting ourselves at the service of others, led to a chain of reccomendations that reinforces our reputation and offers us new business opportunities every day, almost without having to look for them. If businesses discovered the usefulness, even economically speaking, that the EoC generates when lived radically, they wouldn´t hesitate to put it into practice.

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