August 6, 2026

Business by the Book

Proverbs 4:7  Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

I just don’t understand! These are powerful words that are used too little. Many of the mistakes of life are caused by a lack of understanding. Yet, seldom do we seek the understanding needed to side step those mistakes.

If asked most would not include getting understanding as one of their top priorities of life. Getting money, yes, getting prestige, yes, getting the world’s goods, yes, getting popularity, yes, getting to retire early, yes, but getting understanding, very few.

In business misunderstandings cost untold numbers of dollars through lost sales, missed opportunities, and poor decisions. In a book about raising teenagers the writer said something about taking walks with their teen. The writer indicated that the more they walked, the more they talked, and the more they understood one another.

To get understanding means to listen, ask questions, and search for information that you may not even know you need. It takes time, mutual respect, patience, and honesty. Perhaps this is why so few understand each other.

Somehow we have been conditioned to accept things we don’t understand. Does anyone really understand the legal papers that are signed when buying a house or a car? How about those terms of agreement we all check yes to without reading them thoroughly? Or the cell phone contract, or insurance policies? These complexities of life deaden the resolve to understand the things we really need to understand. Then, sometimes all too late, we realize there was something that we should have invested the time and effort into understanding. The remedy, …with all thy getting get understanding. 

Dr. William Howe