The Defining Moment of the Discipline of Building Character Article

The Defining Moment of the Discipline of Building Character - Article Example A typical defining moment occurred in our business firm sometime back that forced the management into making a decision that would ordinarily seem crazy. The firm deals with interior designing focusing mostly on beautification accessories such as aquaria and sculptures and paintings. The management and the staff of the company were therefore quite excited when we received a local purchase order from a local bank ordering 35 aquaria from us for its various branches. We are a small company and the order was the largest we had ever received. We felt up to the task. Everybody rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Two days into the work, we received another substantial order for carpets and chairs for the local cathedral. The church had for a long time been our customers and had made numerous minor purchases from us. This purchase was the biggest they had made from us and they paid 25% of the total cost in line with our company terms of service. The bank had made a similar payment at t he time of ordering. The problem was that they needed the chairs and carpets within the fortnight, an uphill task considering that we had the aquaria order at hand. Disaster struck when the company’s request for credit was declined. We were left with a shortage of funds to complete both projects in time. Our efforts to acquire materials on credit also hit the rock. We, therefore, had to decide between one of our clients and deliver to one in time while failing the other. It is imperative to note that after delivering to one, we would have to wait for them to pay up so that we could complete the other’s project. We did not know which would be the lesser evil, to fail one of our most loyal customers or the client who had offered us our biggest deal yet. A solution seemed to present itself with the entry of a third client who wanted his beach house interior renovated. The customer was in no hurry to have the house refurbished. However, to have enough capital to complete b oth projects, we had to ask the third customer to pay fifty percent of the total cost and risk doing his project late as payment from the other two projects could be made anytime within 90 days.