The underlying theme here is that of maintaining the integrity of your relationships and the way you do that is by maintaining your own integrity.
In any business (law included), you can, if you want, burn someone for a short-term advantage; you can, if you want, duck responsibility when you may have made a mistake rather than own up to it; you can, if you want, push people around by being a jerk in order to get ahead; you can, if you want, dissemble and deceive to put one over in a negotiation; you can, if you want, violate trust just because it is not in a binding contract and you are not technically bound to do something; you can, if you want, do these things and much more of like kind, but when you do so, your name, your word, and your integrity will ultimately become mud - and so in winning in this way, you ultimately lose is ways that count most.
Valuing friends is another way of saying that you value integrity. When you treat people right, you build trust and loyalty and, in business (as in life), those intangibles can be worth far more than any reserves you might have in your bank account. This piece, with the author's usual fine insights, is an excellent illustration of that principle.
In any business (law included), you can, if you want, burn someone for a short-term advantage; you can, if you want, duck responsibility when you may have made a mistake rather than own up to it; you can, if you want, push people around by being a jerk in order to get ahead; you can, if you want, dissemble and deceive to put one over in a negotiation; you can, if you want, violate trust just because it is not in a binding contract and you are not technically bound to do something; you can, if you want, do these things and much more of like kind, but when you do so, your name, your word, and your integrity will ultimately become mud - and so in winning in this way, you ultimately lose is ways that count most.
Valuing friends is another way of saying that you value integrity. When you treat people right, you build trust and loyalty and, in business (as in life), those intangibles can be worth far more than any reserves you might have in your bank account. This piece, with the author's usual fine insights, is an excellent illustration of that principle.