{"id":9243,"date":"2025-09-22T10:39:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T10:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/?p=9243"},"modified":"2025-10-14T08:03:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:03:17","slug":"ethical-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/founder-articles-en\/ethical-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethical business should not be \u201djust a slogan\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>When harmony is disrupted, is your instinct to defend or to reflect?<\/strong><br><br>Ethical business should not be \u201djust a slogan\u201d.<br><br>For me personally, it\u2019s something that sits deep in my core. It\u2019s about a deeply rooted sense that things should feel right. That translates into business relationships that are built on harmony. Sometimes, that even feels close to friendship.<br><br>Harmonious relationships are our norm at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/i-spark\/\">i-spark<\/a>. That\u2019s what we strive for. And most of the time, it happens naturally. But even in our work, there are moments when harmony wavers. That\u2019s almost always unexpected. So when it does happen, it affects me deeply.<br><br>For many people, the first instinct in that kind of situation is to go on the defensive. What I notice in myself is that my reflex goes the other way: I align with the sentiment of the client.<br><br>The cause is rarely one-sided.<br><br>Still, my attention immediately turns inward: \u201cWhere did we (I) miss something?\u201d<br>But even more pressing is the question: \u201cHow do we restore that harmony as quickly as possible?\u201d \u201cWhat could we have done differently, or communicated more clearly, to keep things on track?\u201d<br><br>The instinct might be to reach for the contract, to explain why the extra hours were justified. Naturally, most businesses would have a conversation in those moments. For us, the focus is on how we approach that conversation and the decisions we take afterwards.<br><br>We set aside our pride, put ourselves in the client\u2019s shoes, and work together to find the best possible outcome. In practice, that sometimes means we don\u2019t invoice the extra time. Because when harmony is disrupted, restoring it always comes first.<br><br>We\u2019re fortunate to have worked for years with clients who share that view: who believe, as we do, that true collaboration goes beyond invoices and agreements. We\u2019re proud of those relationships and genuinely grateful for them. Because they make it possible for us to keep working this way. \u2728<br><br>I choose to stand in the world this way: when you lead with your heart, you build the strongest relationships. To some of you, it may sound almost na\u00efve, but to me, it\u2019s the only way ethical business truly works.<br><br>Treat others the way you hope they would treat you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When harmony is disrupted, is your instinct to defend or to reflect? Ethical business should not be \u201djust a slogan\u201d. For me personally, it\u2019s something that sits deep in my core. It\u2019s about a deeply rooted sense that things should feel right. That translates into business relationships that are built on harmony. Sometimes, that even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":9244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[430],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-founder-articles-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9243"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9275,"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9243\/revisions\/9275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-spark.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}