“If I had known being nicer to customers was going to work so well, I would have started many years ago,” remarked Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary, after the airline posted its third profit upgrade in a matter of months this week. One suspects there may be more to the “rip-roaring” performance (half-year profits jumped by a third to €795m) than being “less horrid” to customers, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. But if O’Leary wants to cite “customer experience improvements” he’s free to try. “It would be a useful service, though, if he’d estimate how much shareholder value Ryanair squandered over two decades by being so “objectionable”(he is famous for being very objectionable – Ed.).

Regrettably, in business it is probably true that the “nice guys finish last”. Business requires the killer instinct. (I know. I didn’t have it). It also requires an unattractive desire for, and preoccupation with, money (I didn’t have that, either).  This is why Epicurus told us to avoid business, as well as politics. Business requires you to to be ever anxious and on your guard, and even to do things that are, if not unethical, certainly sailing close to the wind, leaving you with a slightly queasy feeling of “Not sure I should have done that”.  There is little time for finer feelings, and little opportunity for ataraxia.

We all have to earn a living, and telling people not to disturb their peace of mind by avoiding going into the business world is unhelpful. If, like me, you have had the privilege of working with a great group of people, all of whom had a great sense of humour, then business can be companionable and fun in any case, a sort of game. However, to those with a choice, my recommendation is, “Avoid it!”