Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric, talked about the three jobs he had growing up in Salem, Massachusetts: caddying, punching holes in a piece of cork and selling shoes. He loved being out on the golf course because he’d hear about the big deals being made by affluent businessmen, according to a story on the Reader’s Digest website.

“It was like being a fly on the wall at a meeting,” he recounts. As for the second job, punching holes into a piece of cork for a Parker Brothers game called “Dig” was his first glimpse into monotony. “It lasted about a month,” he says, “and I concluded that I never wanted to do anything like that again -- ever.” And he kept his promise; he never returned to anything remotely similar.

It was through his third job, selling shoes, that he learned the basic tenet of business: close the deal. “If they didn’t like a shoe,” he says, “I always tried to be thinking ahead to a pair they might like better.” Every time someone walked into that store, he said, he felt he was going to bat and taking a swing.

“Today I believe that the worst sin in running a big company is to manage its size rather than using that size,” he said. “The advantage of size is the resources it gives you to go to bat often. You have to take risks in business. If you take a risk and fail, get up to bat and swing again.”

Risk is necessary for a company to grow and prosper. Pharmaceutical manufacturers always take a risk when bringing drugs to market. But because they are willing to take these risks, lifesaving drugs have dramatically extended our life expectancy.

Business is filled with stories of companies that took risks and succeeded. My favorite quote on risk-taking is from one of my heroes, Earl Nightingale, a pioneer of the personal development industry. Earl said: “You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved. They go together.”

King Camp Gillette, who founded the company that bears his name, dreamed of developing a disposable shaving razor that caused investors, metal engineers and even experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to question his invention. Gillette worked four years to develop a razor sharp enough to provide a clean shave and yet cheap enough to be thrown away when dull. It took him another six years to get it in stores, and he sold only 51 razors the first year. However, his disposable razor went on to transform the shaving industry.

Mary Kay Ash similarly revolutionized women’s beauty products. Her first home show in 1963 produced sales of only $1.50. However, after modifying her selling techniques, refining her packaging and adjusting her attitude, she had sales of $34,000 in her first year. Mary Kay Cosmetics today has more than 3 million consultants in 37 countries and sales in excess of $3 billion.

Spanx founder Sara Blakely knew little about business and was told over and over that her idea of seamless pantyhose and women’s shapewear was crazy. Today, her undergarments are everywhere.

Perhaps the biggest threat to businesses is remaining comfortable. The co-founders of Whole Foods Market dared to leave a successful grocery store business in the 1970s and invest in a supermarket devoted exclusively to natural foods. Whole Foods is one of the most successful supermarkets today.

A story in “Art and Fear” by David Bayles and Ted Orland illustrates the power of taking chances and risking failure when you’re trying to achieve something of quality.

On the first day of class, a ceramics teacher announced that he was putting his students into two groups. Half the students would be graded on quantity of works produced, the other half on the quality of just one work. On the final day of class, the instructor looked at the pots from both groups and realized that the best pots -- those with the most creative designs and those that seemed most beautiful -- all came from the group graded on quantity.

The authors noted: “It seems that while the ‘quantity’ group was busily churning out piles of work -- and learning from their mistakes -- the ‘quality’ group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.”

Mackay’s Moral: Even a turtle sticks its neck out once in a while.

Two brothers in a small town had a reputation for bad behavior. But they were rich enough to avoid the consequences. The pastor of the local church knew them well and tried to find the good in both of them, although this was next to impossible.

One day, one of the brothers died suddenly. The other came to the church and asked the pastor to speak at his funeral.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t know what to say,” the pastor replied.

The brother took out his checkbook. “I’m writing you a check for $10,000 for the church renovations you’re always talking about. All you have to do is tell everyone at the funeral that my brother was a saint.”

The pastor thought for a moment, then accepted the check.

At the funeral, the pastor stood before the townspeople who had come to see the last of one of their disliked neighbors. “I didn’t know this man well,” he said. “I do know that he cheated on his wife, and cheated everyone he did business with. But I can say one thing about him: Compared to his brother, he was a saint.”

My father, Jack Mackay, used to tell me, “You can’t buy a good reputation; you must earn it.” He also offered this advice: “You spend your whole lifetime building a good name and reputation, and one foolish act can destroy it.”

I took his words to heart, and aside from building long-term relationships, there is nothing more important than a good reputation in building a successful business. Without a positive reputation, success is elusive.

Richard Branson, who founded the Virgin Group that controls more than 400 companies, told me in an interview, “All you have in business is your reputation -- so it's very important that you keep your word.”

There are many people who were at the top of their game when they made one fatal mistake -- due to poor judgment, arrogance or the inability to do the right thing. Reputations are destroyed, and all the money in the world can't buy them back.

As Warren Buffett said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.”

How true! You can do things right 99 out of 100 times, but mess up once, and the consequences can be severe.

Reputation doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. But if you do the right thing consistently, you will build a great reputation. Reputation is never completely secured -- it is being continually earned.

Elizabeth Arden, the founder of the cosmetics, skin care and fragrance company, said, “Repetition makes reputation, and reputation makes customers.”

Building a great reputation is like building a company; you need to do it one brick at a time. While you cannot build reputation on what you are going to do, you do build expectations with your customers. And if you don’t meet those expectations, you can’t expect your customers to trust you. Your reputation is always on the line.

So, which companies have the best reputations? Rolex topped the list, according to recent research from the Reputation Institute. The report was based on data from more than 170,000 ratings of companies in the first quarter of 2017 by consumers from around the world. Each firm was assigned a score by the researchers based on its reputation in seven areas: products/services, innovation, workplace, governance, citizenship, leadership and performance.

Rolex was recognized for its strong reputation with consumers across all seven performance areas, especially quality of products/services. Lego ranked second for best reputation with consumers. The Walt Disney Company was third, followed by Canon, Google, Bosch, Sony, Intel, Rolls-Royce and Adidas.

Fastcompany.com lists seven habits of people with great reputations, and I think they are worth sharing: They get things done. They take ownership of their mistakes. They are generous. They listen to other points of view. They’re decisive. They don’t sacrifice principles, and they’re resilient.

That list is a perfect guideline for those who aren’t sure what they need to do. Pay particular attention to the final habit: resilience. You will make mistakes, you will upset some people, and you will be blamed for things that aren’t your fault. But your reputation will take a beating if you react rashly. Take the high road, not the shortcut. That’s the brilliance of resilience.

Mackay’s Moral: Your reputation depends on your past and determines your future.

Years ago, one of the most popular shows on television was “Candid Camera,” which captured people's funny reactions to situations on a hidden camera.

One set-up that I remember in particular was a little grocery store that put a big table heaped with oranges outside with a sign that said “FREE.” They purposely didn't leave anything to carry the oranges in. Predictably, everyone tried to take three or four more oranges than they could carry. Their hilarious reactions at being busted for being so greedy usually included embarrassment.

Greed is one of the most dangerous emotions. It makes people act irrationally and foolishly. Greed clouds your judgment. That’s why in the investment community they say bulls and bears make money, and pigs get slaughtered.

Businesses that overcharge or take advantage of their customers often end up spending more to fix their reputations than they made in the first place. That is, if they stay in business at all. One way or another, they will get slaughtered.

Our materialistic society urges us to accumulate more. We “need” a bigger house, a bigger car, a bigger TV. We see other people with more stuff, and we want more.

Let’s face it: Few of us would ever turn down a pay increase. It’s natural to want more. The quandary lies in deciding how much more is enough. There’s no crime in accumulating money or things. The problem arises when the quest for more dominates all else.

The Merriam-Webster definition describes greed as “a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed.”

The key word is "excessive."

Greed doesn't necessarily relate only to money. Anytime someone wants more than their fair share or has a strong desire to accumulate something, especially at the expense of others or if there is only so much to go around, is an example of greed.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins, along with gluttony, lust, sloth, pride, envy and anger. Each of those also relates to greed: Greed is the gluttony of stuff. Greed is the lust for stuff. Greed is moral sloth; an inability to conceive of making do with less than too much. Greed is the pride of having stuff. Greed is the envy of those who have stuff. Greed is the anger that believes we have the right to possess. Greed is destructive.

My friend Brian Tracy says: “Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What's in it for me?’”

According to folklore, long ago during the time when the salmon swam up the Cheakamus River to spawn, the people of the Squamish Nation would fish and store their catch for the coming winter.

One day, a man came to the river and cast his net into the water hoping to catch something for dinner. Within minutes, he had enough fish to feed his family through the following spring. He packed his catch in cedar baskets and prepared to haul it away.

As he started to leave, he looked to the river and became unsatisfied with the abundance he already possessed. He cast his net into the water once more and pulled out another bounty of salmon. He emptied his net onto the shore and admired his second catch. He now had enough fish to feed two more families until the spring.

Instead of leaving, the man wondered just how many fish the river would give to him. He tossed his net into the water for a third time. He pulled it back in and found that it was tangled and filled with sticks, river stones and muck.

He shrugged off this misfortune and turned away from the water. When he looked toward the last catch of salmon he’d left on the shore, he saw only piles of rocks in its place. When he checked his cedar baskets he found them filled with twigs and roots.

Then he noticed Wountie, the spirit protector of the river. Wountie spoke to the man and told him that his greed had broken harmony with the river -- and that Nature expressed her displeasure by withholding her gifts to him.

The man returned home with empty baskets, haunted by the consequences of his actions. He would always remember that enough is more than plenty.

Mackay’s Moral: One who grabs too much may lose it all.