The Business of Life with Dr King
Dr Ariel Rosita King brings on a variety of International guests from various countries, cultures, organisations, and businesses to talk about turning
problem into possibilities! Let's turn our challenges in opportunities together!
The Business of Life with Dr King
The Golden Rule: Transforming Business and Life with Simon Macharia
What if the oldest ethical principle in human history held the key to transforming your business, leadership, and relationships? The Golden Rule – "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" – sounds deceptively simple, yet remains profoundly underutilised in our increasingly complex world.
Kenyan leadership coach and community leader Sir Simon Macharia joins us for a thought-provoking conversation that reframes this ancient wisdom for modern challenges. He expertly unravels why treating others well must begin with healthy self-regard – you simply cannot give what you don't possess. This crucial insight explains why many well-intentioned leaders struggle to implement ethical frameworks despite knowing better.
The discussion takes unexpected turns as Simon shares powerful client transformation stories, revealing how patience and consistent application of ethical principles create ripple effects across generations. One particularly moving example involves a client battling fear after job loss who eventually became a mentor herself, multiplying the impact of Simon's coaching across continents.
Most compelling is Simon's perspective on reputation in business: "A good name is better than money. You can't buy reputation." This truth cuts through conventional business thinking, suggesting that ethical conduct based on the Golden Rule isn't merely morally sound—it's strategically advantageous for sustainable success.
Whether you're leading a multinational corporation, small team, family, or simply yourself, this episode offers practical wisdom for creating positive change through intentional application of timeless principles. Connect with Simon through LinkedIn to explore leadership development, coaching services, or speaking engagements focused on bringing ethical frameworks into your organisation.
Music, lyrics, guitar and singing by Dr Ariel Rosita King
Teach me to live one day at a time
with courage love and a sense of pride.
Giving me the ability to love and accept myself
so I can go and give it to someone else.
Teach me to live one day at a time.....
The Business of Life
Dr Ariella (Ariel) Rosita King
Original Song, "Teach Me to Live one Day At A Time"
written, guitar and vocals by Dr. Ariel Rosita King
Dr King Solutions (USA Office)
1629 K St, NW #300,
Washington, DC 20006, USA,
+1-202-827-9762
DrKingSolutons@gmail.com
DrKingSolutions.com
Welcome to another episode of the Business of Life. Today we have a very special guest, Sir Simon Mataria from Kenya. Welcome, Sir.
Simon Macharia :Thank you so much, Dr King, for the invitation and for the honor of hosting me. It's a great pleasure. It's a great honor.
Dr Ariel R. King:Thank you so much. Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?
Simon Macharia :I come from Kenya. Just like you said, I'm a church leader and a community leader. At the same time, I'm engaged in business, certified leadership development, certified life coach and a certified leadership development coach.
Dr Ariel R. King:Wow, that's a lot, that's wonderful. So what is our subject today?
Simon Macharia :My subject today is golden rule golden rule.
Dr Ariel R. King:I like that. The golden rule Great. Let's talk about what is the golden rule.
Simon Macharia :Tell us more. Yeah, golden rule is a principle, and it is a rule that we hear so much. When we are talking about ethics in the business, you know, when we are doing our business headaches, when we are leading other people, it is about doing unto others as we would want them to do to us, or treating other people the way we would want to be treated by them or by other people. That's what, basically, golden rule means.
Dr Ariel R. King:I like that and this is the golden rule. Can I like that? And this is a. The golden rule can be used anywhere and everywhere.
Simon Macharia :Yes, it can be used anywhere at home, in the workplace, in the marketplace, in church and everywhere. In the political world and when nations are dealing with other nations, you know, we have different countries in the world and sometimes we've seen atrocities, enmity being displayed and we've seen conflicts and such things happening, and one of the ways to be able to avoid such is when we as mankind, especially we as leaders, practice the golden rule. When we do that, then we are going to make the world a better place. A better place because we will treat other people well and other people will treat us well. So we are going to have, you know, a better world.
Dr Ariel R. King:It seems like it's so simple, right? Do you want to help others as you would? How do we do that better?
Simon Macharia :I mean, obviously we're not doing that, so why do?
Dr Ariel R. King:you think it's difficult? Sorry, Dr King, I missed that. Maybe you could. No, that's okay.
Simon Macharia :My question was why do you think we do not do that well? Ah, thank you so much. That's a very important question. I don't think that we are doing that well, because if we were doing that well, we would be having healthy families, we'll be having healthy communities, we'll be having a healthy working environment, you know, but that's not what we are seeing.
Simon Macharia :You know, in our times we're seeing a lot of conflicts, a lot of fights, boardroom wars and things like that. We've seen international conflicts. We've also seen people you know, selling, especially those who are in the business world, selling substandard goods. So people were offering substandard services. This shows that we are not doing so well as far as that is. You know, the golden rule is concerned. So we need to up our game. So we need to up our game. We need to up our game and we need to rethink and ask ourselves how would we want you know, other people you know to treat us? If you were to go out and buy a commodity, how would you feel if you were to buy a substandard commodity? Of course you would feel good. So, in the same way, you should make sure that the commodities, the services that you're, you know, selling, the services that you're giving out to people are of high standard. You know high quality.
Dr Ariel R. King:I think that's true. I mean, all of us want the best of whatever we receive of service or relationships also. You know we want the best, so it's sometimes not easy to get the best. How can we I mean you as a coach also you know we want the best, so it's sometimes not easy to get the best. How can we I mean you as a coach also how do you help some of your clients to realize the possibility of more times golden rule, actually taking it into their lives?
Simon Macharia :Okay, I think I didn't clearly get your question. I'm not sure whether we have a network problem on my end or it is on your end, but from what I got is that. How do you answer? Sorry, sorry.
Dr Ariel R. King:Thank you, sir, for your patience. Can you tell us, for your clients and you know when you're coaching how do you help people to integrate the golden rule into their lives?
Simon Macharia :First and foremost is to help them, you know, realize and see them see themselves, sorry, in a perspective, in a positive way. You know, when you see yourself or, like, see myself, in a negative way, then it becomes a little bit hard to relate with other people. But the moment I see myself as uh, you know, as a human being created by God, although not everybody believes about God but the moment we understand that we are human beings and we are important and we have the sense of whereby we appreciate ourselves and love ourselves and we value ourselves, then it becomes easy for us to be able to value other people. At the same time, it is important to note that man is interdependent. I need you, you need me. I cannot live in isolation.
Simon Macharia :We live in a community, we live in a community, we are a community.
Simon Macharia :So, therefore, what I do is that I help people, or my clients, to be able to see other people important just like the way they see themselves.
Simon Macharia :You know they see themselves important.
Simon Macharia :They treat themselves well, they are not too harsh on themselves, they treat themselves well.
Simon Macharia :So I help them to see other people the way they see themselves, and the moment they see other people the way they see themselves, they will be able to treat people with kindness. They will be able to treat people with kindness, they'll be able to treat people with love, they'll be patient with people, they'll be loving, they'll be forgiving, and that way they will be able now to relate with other people well. You know, where there is kindness, where there is respect, where there is patience, where there is love, you know, you find that the community, or where the people are living, the people that they are working with, the people that they are living with, they will be able to live harmoniously. And in case there is a conflict or a conflict arises, they will be able now to resolve the differences that may happen or the difference that may take place. So that way, the people my clients are able now to integrate the golden rule into their lives and in their relationships when they are working and things like that.
Dr Ariel R. King:I really love the fact, thank you, that you said that it starts with the person, which is true, I guess. Unless you have self-love, unless you accept yourself and sometimes allow yourself grace when you make mistakes, it's not possible to then give it to others. So you know, I've learned from you which I've never thought about the golden rule, as you do unto others, as you would have them do unto you, starts with you understanding and loving yourself, because without that you can't give it to others. So thank you for that. That makes all the sense in the world.
Simon Macharia :Thank you, thank you, thank you, because of course, you cannot give what you don't, you do not have. We, we always give what we have. So if we do not have love, then it becomes hard for us to and for me to be able to love other people. If I don't, don't have forgiveness within me, I forgive myself, then it becomes hard for me to forgive other people. If I don't respect myself, then it becomes hard for me to forgive other people. If I don't respect myself, then it becomes hard to respect other people.
Dr Ariel R. King:This is true, you know. It reminds me of I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm starting with the woman in the mirror. I'm asking her to change her ways. That's so true. May I ask in modern day and we all know this to be true that we have to love ourselves in order to give it to others, the golden rule? I think many of us even learn it as children, but sometimes it's so hard to integrate into our lives, especially with some of the stress, some of the pressure, some of the other feelings that we have, some of the other situations, some of the other situations. May I ask, in a modern day world, where it's sometimes so difficult to do that, how would you suggest that people start to learn to love themselves and start to, little by little, use the golden rule, you know, maybe not all the time, but start to really integrate it as a part of their lives?
Simon Macharia :Okay, thank you so much. You know, know, the first thing that we need to do is to look at what is happening in our lives, what is happening in our families and what is happening in our communities, in society, in the workplace, in the marketplace and, um, all of us, I believe we we've come to the realization that things are not working right and what could be the remedy to the challenges and the problems that we are facing. And one of the remedies is the golden rule, because when we practice and embrace the golden rule, like, like I said earlier, we are going to have a healthy community, a healthy working environment. When we come to that realization that that is a key it is not the only key, but it's one of the keys that we can use to make the whole difference we start working on the same. Because it's like when you go to school and we learn, if we do not put into practice what we learn, then you know, theory cannot help much. We need the practical part of it. So we need to be practical and we need to be intentional, and it should start with the leadership. And it should start with the leadership. It should start with the leadership. And when I talk about the leadership. I'm talking about parents at home, their leaders, despite the fact that you know there is modern day stress and the demands that are there.
Simon Macharia :We need to be intentional because we are raising a generation and if you are not keen, we are not careful, then we are going to miss it. It's like we are passing on a baton to our children. We are passing on a baton to the people that we are mentoring. People are going to take from us in the leadership of an organization. So if we do not do it right, then there is going to be a problem and a challenge at some point. So we need to see that it is our responsibility and it is our duty. We don't have to wait for others to correct our errors, so we are the ones to correct the errors that maybe we inherited from our parents or from our mentors and the people at our instructors and our teachers and the people at our instructors, at our teachers.
Simon Macharia :So so that now we can be able now to pass on a you know the a better life, better life, better leadership, so to say, to the people who are coming after us or the people that we are mentoring. So so we need to be practical. We need to be intentional, we need to take it as our responsibility and as our duty to bring about positive change, because we are talking about positive change making the world a better place, making the workplace environment much better, marketplace practices, ethics, how we do business and things like that. We do it in a way that, uh, even those who come after us they will remember and people will be talking good about us, about our community. I mean about our commodities, about our commodities, about our services, about our practices and things like that. And a better name a good name is better than money. A good name is better than money.
Dr Ariel R. King:You can't buy a good name.
Simon Macharia :Yes, you can buy a good name, so it is very important.
Dr Ariel R. King:And this is so true. So reputation, you're're saying, makes all the difference, right by the golden rule. So the reputation, you can't buy the reputation. The reputation is earned by the way people see you. That's so insightful thank you.
Dr Ariel R. King:Would you like to tell us more about? Can you give us any stories about clients that you've worked with and just it doesn't have to necessarily be the golden rule, but how you were able to take them from one point when they came to you to whatever success that they wanted to have, just so we know more about your services more about your services.
Simon Macharia :Okay, there is one client who came to me and she is a lady, and she reached out to me and she was dealing with issues related with fear because she had been laid off from a previous job laid off from a previous job and she was unsuspecting on how things would turn out, because I think, from what I learned from her is that she had a series of with the previous employment. So when she reached out to me, me she was at a point whereby she had given hope. So I worked with her and one of the things that helped me to work with her, I was very patient with her, listening to her and being there for her. And in the course of our interactions you know the coaching, the process and things like that there are some times that she did not get it right and so she kept on. One day, you know she's strong. You know she's optimistic and positive, a positive attitude and positive mindset. You know dealing with fear, but the other time she's down, you know, discouraged, and saying I don't know whether something good is, whether I will make it. But I had to be patient with her and I listened to her. It took like almost a whole year, almost a whole year, you know, talking, encouraging her, teaching her, giving her, you know, principles on how to overcome fear, things like that, talking about positive self-esteem, you know, self-awareness and things like that, looking at life in a positive way, and things like that. But I'm proud to say that, as we speak today, she's been able to grow. That is the right time. That's the right time. She has grown and she's doing quite well, and to make it more better is that she's a mentor. A lot of people come to her for encouragement, for counsel, and every time she's introducing me, she says that I'm her mentor and this has really, really, really encouraged me because I'm in Africa, she's in the United States of America and you know I'm so proud.
Simon Macharia :There is somebody who say that it is as we develop others that we permanently succeed. So when you change one person, you know that you've changed a whole generation and it's like a seed that you planted and the seed is going to germinate, it's going to grow into a tree and it's going to bring forth many fruits and the fruits that are going to be, you know, are going to be produced. They can also be replanted and many trees are going to, you know to grow and, in return, many, many, many, many, many more fruits are going to be produced. So the impact is going to be huge. It's going to be great.
Simon Macharia :You know your podcast. I know that it is impacting people One person at a time and when that happens, know that you're impacting generations, you're impacting communities and the difference is huge and it is great. So I can say that you know, changing lives is very close to my heart. You know changing lives is very close to my heart and I'm proud to say that. I can point, I can say that this person has benefited from my coaching.
Dr Ariel R. King:That's really fantastic. I'm sure that she has, and what I really love is the ripple that you talk about. You know that you worked with her for over a year and she was going through the highs and lows of life, like many of us do, and then there came a time where she took up the mantle and the mentee became the mentor.
Simon Macharia :Yeah.
Dr Ariel R. King:And now she's spreading it all over. What I love also is that you basically are an international coach. You're working with people from all over, so could you please tell our listeners how to get in touch with you for your services, for your coaching services, for your life coaching services? Thank you.
Simon Macharia :Thank you so much. Any person who would want to get in touch with me, they can get in touch with me through my linkedin account. I'm there, simon mataria, and I can also give my mobile phone. I've got no problem in. In case there is any person who may want to get in touch with me, they can do so.
Dr Ariel R. King:I will and I ask one more my my apology is the mobile phone on the linkedin no, it is not there oh okay, thank you. Yeah, so please give it, and I hope it stays that way for a couple of years, because this video will be out for a couple years. So they can contact you, or email address is also good. Thank you, sir yes, sir.
Simon Macharia :Yes, I have the email address, Thank you. The email address on my LinkedIn account. You can use it and you can be able to get in touch with me and I'll be glad to hear from you in case you have any issue, any concern, any question. You're most welcome. You're most welcome In case you may want to get in touch with me with my mobile phone. It is two. Okay, because of the international code, it is plus.
Dr Ariel R. King:Yes, it's okay. What I can do is I'll put it in the podcast. So I will put it in the writing. So let me me just ask, since we only have several minutes and your time is so important are you doing any speaking engagements? Are you available also for speaking engagements for encouragement and for speaking with groups about golden rules and these other things that can affect our lives and our businesses? Do you also do speaking engagements?
Simon Macharia :Yes, yes, I do, yes, I do. I speak in churches, one. I also speak in corporate functions, in schools, to students and to parents and to teachers. So I'm open. And whether it's something to do with leadership, whether it's something to do with leadership, whether it's something to do with mental wellness, yes, I'm open and I've been speaking for some time now.
Dr Ariel R. King:That's what I thought. Thank you, sir, and what kind of last thoughts would you like to leave for our listeners? We literally have about one or two minutes left and I'd like you to have the last word. So what thoughts would you like to leave for our listeners? We literally have about one or two minutes left and I'd like you to have the last word. So what thoughts would you like to leave with our listeners?
Simon Macharia :What I would like to say is that we are here on a mission, each and every one of us. We are here on a mission, we have a divine agenda and we have a calling upon each and every one of us. The work that we do is a calling, and the objective and the purpose and our primary focus should be to make the world a better place, and this can only happen if we are going to see people the way we see ourselves and, of course, we need to see ourselves in a positive way. So we need to make the world a better place and we can only do this by loving people, respecting people, appreciating people, treating people with dignity. And there is great and immense potential within us and we need to unlock it, and we should not be self-centered. We should think about others and value them. Thank you.
Dr Ariel R. King:Thank you, sir. I want to thank you for being with us. It was so insightful and I learned so much, and I'm sure all of our audience also learned so much. So thank you for that. And to our audience, remember, if I learned so much, and I'm sure all of our audience also learned so much, so thank you for that. And to our audience, remember if I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, then when? That's by the philosopher Hillel and I say if not me, then who? Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of the Business of Life, thank you.
Simon Macharia :Thank.