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When principles become negotiable, prosperity becomes impossible.
In 2017, a small business called Impression Products found itself in a legal battle with Lexmark International, a global printer giant. Lexmark was trying to stop Impression Products from refilling and reselling its used printer cartridges, arguing that its patent rights allowed Lexmark to control what happened to its cartridges even after they were sold. Despite the vast difference in resources, the case went all the way to the Supreme Court—and Impression Products won.
The Court ruled that once Lexmark sold its cartridges, its patent rights were exhausted, and it could not use patent law to restrict what buyers could do with the cartridges after sale. This decision was hailed as a major victory for small businesses and a testament to the power of a fair and predictable legal system to protect the “little guy” when the law is on their side.
This story represents something we often take for granted: the invisible foundation upon which all modern life rests. Not just business—everything. That foundation is under assault.
The Uber Driver’s Truth
A few years ago, I was in an Uber heading to the Toronto airport when the driver and I got chatting. “I was an accountant in Sarajevo,” he said. “Had a good life, nice house, respected position. Then the war came.”
He paused. “You know what I love most about Canada? When I see a police officer on the street, I’m not afraid. When someone knocks on my door at night, I don’t panic. In Bosnia, before the troubles, we had rules too. But when those rules became… … flexible, everything fell apart.”
His words stayed with me. They captured something profound: the difference between living in a society with solid principles versus one where they’ve become liquid.
The Great Liquidation
Polish sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman described our era as one of “liquid modernity”—where institutions, identities, and traditions no longer hold their form. But there’s a deeper transformation occurring: inspired by Bauman, I call this liquid morality. The ethical foundations that enable trust—rule of law, intellectual honesty, principled consistency—have become conditional, malleable, and transactional.
The World Economic Forum’s 2024 Annual Meeting focused on “trust” specifically because increasing division, heightened hostility and a surge in conflicts are creating a challenging global landscape where humanity is grappling with multiple issues simultaneously.
We’re witnessing the liquefaction of principles across institutions:
- Free speech? We champion it—unless we don’t like the person who says it or what they have to say.
- Rule of law? Sacrosanct—until it produces outcomes we don’t like.
- Peaceful protest? A fundamental right—unless the protesters represent the wrong political cause or challenge the wrong interests.
- International agreements? Binding—unless they conflict with immediate interests.
- Scientific method? Important—until research challenges political positions.
- Electoral integrity? Core to our system—unless the other side wins.
This isn’t about politics—it’s about the erosion of shared frameworks that make civilized society possible.
When the Foundation Cracks
The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that innovation is being undermined by political influence, eroding trust in key institutions, with 74% of people saying they trust scientists and peers equally for truth about innovations. Interestingly, however, peers are more trusted than scientists among those who think innovation is poorly managed.
The Uber driver from Sarajevo understood what many of us have been lucky to not have had to come to terms with yet: when principles become flexible, everything else becomes fragile. The business implications are obvious, but the human costs run much deeper.
For our children: They’re growing up in a world where truth becomes negotiable and consistency seems naive. How do we teach them about integrity when they see powerful institutions abandon principles when convenient? How do we explain why rules matter when they witness rules being selectively applied?
For our communities: Social trust, the invisible bond that makes neighborhoods safe and societies functional, depends on the predictable application of shared norms. When those norms become situational, communities fragment. People retreat into smaller circles of trust, and collective action becomes nearly impossible.
For our daily lives: Consider something as simple as driving. The system works because we trust that other drivers will follow the same rules we do. Everyone stops on red and moves on green. But what if someone decided they preferred to stop on green and go on red? The whole system would collapse into chaos. Traffic lights only matter because everyone agrees they matter and follows them consistently.
The Bosnian Uber driver left behind more than just property when his country fractured. He left behind the knowledge that he couldn’t trust the rule that tomorrow would operate under the same principles as today. That rule, so basic we rarely think about it, is what makes everything from business planning to raising families possible.
The Business Case for Solid Principles
The data is clear: trust drives business performance. Research shows that 94% of consumers stay loyal to transparent brands, with businesses identified as the only entity seen as both competent and ethical in today’s polarized world. The 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer found that globally, there is an 11-point gap between trust in business and trust in government: 62% trust business, while only 51% trust government.
But here’s the crucial insight: Google’s Project Aristotle study discovered that psychological safety—the belief that one can express themselves freely without fear of negative consequences—was the single most important factor for team effectiveness. Teams with high psychological safety showed a 32% faster project completion rate and a 41% increase in new ideas.
The connection is striking: just as psychological safety creates the framework for high-performing teams, principled consistency creates the framework for high-performing societies and economies. When principles become liquid, three critical functions begin to fail:
- Trust becomes transactional. Instead of believing that rules apply consistently, stakeholders assume exceptions will be made for the powerful or politically connected. This destroys the predictability that makes long-term investment possible. Why commit capital to a five-year project if you suspect the regulatory framework might shift based on political winds rather than principled consistency?
- Contracts lose their power. The Impression Products case worked because both parties trusted the legal system would deliver fair outcomes based on evidence and law. But imagine that same dispute in an environment where legal decisions depended more on political connections than contractual obligations.
- Planning horizons shrink. Long-term strategic thinking becomes nearly impossible when the ethical framework keeps shifting. Companies focus on quarterly results rather than generational thinking because they can’t count on consistent application of principles over time.
The Hidden Costs Everywhere
The transition from solid to liquid morality creates costs that extend far beyond business:
- Social capital erodes. Communities that once solved problems through voluntary cooperation increasingly require formal enforcement mechanisms. Neighborhood watch programs give way to security companies. Handshake agreements become impossible. The informal networks that make society function gradually dissolve.
- Mental health suffers. Research indicates that increasing division and heightened hostility are depleting crucial energy that could otherwise be channeled into shaping a more optimistic future. Living in constant uncertainty about which rules apply when is psychologically exhausting.
- Innovation slows. Breakthrough thinking requires the security to experiment and fail. When the ethical framework keeps shifting, energy goes toward protection rather than creation. Scientists self-censor, entrepreneurs avoid controversial topics, and researchers focus on safe rather than transformative ideas.
- Democracy weakens. Democratic institutions depend on shared commitment to process over outcomes. When people only accept democratic results that favor their side, democracy itself becomes impossible. The Uber driver fled Bosnia partly because democratic norms had collapsed into tribal loyalty.
What We Can Do: Building Antifragile Lives and Organizations
In an era of liquid morality, the most successful individuals and organizations won’t just survive the instability; they’ll use principled consistency as a competitive advantage.
For Leaders in Any Context
- Become a stability anchor. When everything else feels negotiable, your unwavering commitment to core principles becomes extraordinarily valuable. This applies whether you’re leading a business, a nonprofit, a school, or a family.
- Model consistency for the next generation. Children learn more from what we do than what we say. When they see adults maintaining principles under pressure, they internalize that integrity is possible and valuable.
- Create predictable processes. Whether it’s how you make business decisions, resolve family conflicts, or handle community disputes, consistent methodology builds trust and reduces anxiety for everyone involved.
For Financial Advisors
- Demonstrate fiduciary reliability. When institutional trust erodes, your unwavering commitment to client interests becomes a competitive moat. This isn’t just about avoiding conflicts of interest—it’s about showing that some principles remain non-negotiable regardless of external pressure.
- Help clients navigate uncertainty by building adaptive foundations rather than making predictions. Your role goes beyond financial advice—it’s about helping people build resilience for the unknown. You can’t forecast whether the next crisis will be economic, political, or social, but you can ensure clients have strong foundations: diversified income, liquid reserves, geographic flexibility, and sound debt management. Just as crucial is preparing them mentally to stay calm and think clearly under pressure. The most valuable advisors in 2008 weren’t the ones who saw it coming; they were the ones whose clients were ready when it hit. Your steady presence and disciplined process show that while the future is uncertain, our approach to facing it doesn’t have to be. That becomes a source of both financial and psychological security.
- Document and systematize your crisis response protocols. Most advisors have investment policy statements for portfolios, but few have “institutional stress protocols” for their practices. Create written procedures for how you’ll communicate with clients during market panics, how you’ll access client funds if primary custodians face problems, and how you’ll maintain operations if your main office becomes inaccessible. This isn’t paranoia, it’s professional responsibility. The advisors who maintained client relationships through 2008 had thought through these scenarios in advance.
- Establish your practice as a source of institutional memory. Position yourself as someone who understands not just current market conditions but historical patterns. Maintain a library of past market cycles, study how previous generations of advisors navigated institutional crises, and share these lessons with clients. When institutions fail, people desperately need historical perspective. The advisor who can explain how similar situations were resolved in the past becomes invaluable. This means studying not just financial history but institutional history—how businesses operated during wartime, how capital flowed during previous democratic transitions, and how wealth was preserved when governments became unreliable.
For All of Us
- Choose your principles consciously. Don’t just have values—understand why they matter and how they connect to the larger social fabric. The Uber driver valued rule of law not as an abstract concept but as the foundation for a life without fear.
- Support institutions that maintain consistency. Whether it’s businesses, schools, or community organizations, actively support those that demonstrate principled behavior even when it’s costly.
- Prepare for trust arbitrage. As institutional trust erodes, people will pay premiums—in money, loyalty, and emotional investment—for relationships with those who demonstrate genuine reliability.
The Ultimate Business Case
Here’s what leaders across every industry need to understand: maintaining solid principles in an era of liquid morality isn’t just a moral choice or even a practical choice. It’s the business choice for anyone who wants to serve their clients exceptionally, create a purposeful and productive workplace, build a business that thrives for the long term, and drive profitable growth.
The data from Google’s Project Aristotle shows that teams with psychological safety brought in 17% more revenue than those without. When people trust the frameworks they operate within—whether that’s a team environment, a business relationship, or a societal institution—they perform at higher levels.
According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, 80% of people trust the brands they use—more than they trust business, media, government, NGOs, or even their own employer. This creates a powerful opportunity for principled organizations to stand out and lead.
📥 Get the free guide: The Uncertainty Advantage—a decision-making framework for leaders navigating change.
The Choice Before All of Us
The choice before all of us isn’t just about surviving uncertainty—it’s about using principled consistency as the foundation for exceptional performance and sustainable success.
The Uber driver’s story reminds us what’s at stake. He didn’t just lose his home and his job when Bosnia fractured—he lost the ability to live without fear. He lost the assumption that tomorrow would operate under the same principles as today. Most importantly, he lost faith that the systems around him would protect rather than exploit.
We’re thankfully not facing civil war, but we are facing the gradual erosion of the shared frameworks that make civilization possible. As Klaus Schwab noted, we’re at a pivotal moment in history, yet we still cling to outdated solutions, even while dealing with many interconnected issues.
The choice is for all of us. Will we contribute to the liquefaction of principles that hold society together, or will we be part of the solution?
When we pass a police officer on the street, do we want to feel fear or security? When someone knocks on our door, do we want to panic or welcome them? When we sign a contract, do we want to have faith that we are protected—that we can make the investments of time, money and resources, confident that we will get what we are owed? When we plan for our children’s futures, do we want to operate from hope or desperation?
The principles that power not just prosperity but peace of mind aren’t abstractions. They’re the invisible infrastructure that makes everything from business planning to safe neighborhoods to raising confident children possible.
In an age where everything seems negotiable, being genuinely non-negotiable isn’t naive. It’s necessary. For our businesses, our communities, and our children’s futures.
The Uber driver found safety in Canada not because the country was perfect, but because its principles were solid enough to trust. The question we are facing is whether we’ll maintain that solidity for the next generation—and whether we’ll build our businesses and our lives on that same unshakeable foundation.
As Thomas Jefferson said: “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
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