The integrity-based relationships Dad described were personal, meaningful, and built on trust. These bonds were long-lasting, never transactional. Prevailing wisdom at that time – when business was conducted largely on a handshake basis, over lunch, and on the golf course, when your word was your bond – was (and still is) that integrity-based relationships were (and still are) a necessary part of doing business.
But strangely, despite their societal significance, no one ever asked about the ROI of these relationships. No one ever asked how you could measure them. No one tried to quantify it.
