This is business; not personal. — “THIS IS BUSINESS, NOT PERSONAL”, is perhaps the most seminal teaching; and, the most valuable lesson taken from the movie The Godfather. The rule foreshadowed the coming age where
corporations would be considered as people and the lives of individuals would be over shadowed by the need for a corporation to continue unobstructed.
One aspect of this teaching is urging a warrior or a holy man (see Godfather 3) never to lose his or her
objectivity when faced with facts.
Another aspect of this teaching — which is somewhat ironic — is that a “business decision” is always “personal” to someone. And, if you ever woke up in a bed beside a severed horses head; or, been machine gunned while pinned in a New Jersey toll booth; then the personal aspect of “business decisions” would be
crystal clear.
This rule also come into sharp relief if you have ever been replaced by a machine or a non-union worker who will work for less money than you would.
It’s hard to believe that with a of the people who quote both Scarface and The Godfather, this sentence has not found its way into The
Urban Dictionary in the year before 2023 C.E. That said I offer it here — and my offering is strictly business and not personal.
