Listening to Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” (song and lyrics here) brings together a number of thoughts about how we deal with ourselves and each other, both in our personal and business relationships. Specifically, I’m thinking about the need for cooperation, self-knowledge and the absolute necessity for honesty.

It’s a great song with a great beat and melody but this is a progressive rock anthem where the words and the message take center stage.

Chris Martin, the band’s lead vocalist, sings about the arrogance that’s always a prelude to a fall: “I used to rule the world/Seas would rise when I gave the word/Now in the morning I sleep alone/Sweep the streets I used to own.”

Those words make me think about the recent economic and financial catastrophes we’ve lived though. Many of the self-styled, supposedly invulnerable “masters of the universe” on Wall Street fell pretty hard – their overwhelming arrogance and greed blew up and brought the economy to its knees. I also think about the Occupy Wall Street movement that is a direct result of their overreach; or as the song continues: “Revolutionaries wait/For my head on a silver plate/Just a puppet on a lonely string/Oh who would ever want to be king?”

The arrogance is finally gone with this self-reflective lament: “For some reason I can’t explain/I know Saint Peter won’t call my name/Never an honest word/But that was when I ruled the world.”

“Never an honest word.” How many people and businesses could that refrain apply to? Probably far too many or it wouldn’t be worth singing about.

It’s never too late for self-analysis and retrenchment once the self-reproach ends.

The starting point for a Vested Outsourcing partnership begins where the message of “Viva La Vida” ends – in trust, honesty, collaboration and mutual respect. The Vested approach is about knowing the business at hand along with mutual planning to achieve the win-win—not ruling the outsourcing world.

And the Vested relationship also means leaving dishonesty and arrogance at the door.