What Can We Learn From The Amish About Business?

“When one bases his life on principle, 99 percent of his decisions are already made.” Author Unknown

I’ve been doing some deep soul-searching.

Yesterday I read an article on CNNMoney.com called “Why Amish Businesses Don’t Fail.” According to a 2009 report by Elizabethtown College sociology professor Donald Kraybill, more than 95% of businesses run by the Amish survive the 5-year “success” mark, compared with around 50% of the rest of America — this despite the Amish practice of routinely ending “formal” education beyond 8th grade (I can see many homeschoolers nodding their heads knowingly).

The Amish people as a rule have character strengths and live by principles that most of us would agree are admirable: hard work, community, honesty, integrity, humility, servant-leadership, strong family ties, getting up early to start their day. If you asked an Amish business owner what the “secret” of their business success is, they’d also give credit to God; as a Christian, I understand why. At the very least, the Bible lays out the importance of living by the values the Amish espouse, only some of which are listed in the article.

What especially surprised me was the willingness of at least some Amish businessmen to use technology like cell phones and email. The use of these modern devices, however, brings the same challenges for them as for the rest of us: family life suffers. As we can all attest to, even with a strong focus on family togetherness, the Amish are not immune to finding that the increased business efficiency offered by technology brings with it the difficulty of maintaining balance.

Here’s a video from the article, to give you a peek into Amish business life:

So, the questions I’m wrestling with are these:

What principles do you live by that guide the decisions you make, or help you get back on track when you’ve made poor decisions?

Do you separate business from “real life” and operate each with different principles, or do they overlap?

What can we learn from the Amish, if anything?

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