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A life transforming moment for me.
It must have been almost 20 years ago. A conference in Dresden, Germany organized by the BMW Foundation.
I was one of two Blacks there. But this isn't about race. 1/
It must have been almost 20 years ago. A conference in Dresden, Germany organized by the BMW Foundation.
I was one of two Blacks there. But this isn't about race. 1/
So they had these team bonding activities which I found so annoying. That stuff about challenging yourself and overcoming your fears. I'm like dude, that's my daily life. I came here to get away from challenges!
They had this mountain climbing exercise. I didn't bring sneakers or hiking shoes so I had to borrow. They were too small. It was simply a nightmare. I just wanted to go back to my hotel.
But as annoying as I found all these silly exercises, I participated. I didn't want any, 'oh the Black girl' complaints.
In of these challenges, they split us into three teams. I was in the blue team. There was sand and a whole bunch of cones. The rule was to get through the course without touching a cone, fastest team winning. For each cone touched, points were deducted.
My team, as one of the others, strategized on how many cones we could touch while still being fastest. The other team decided to follow the rules and do the best it could without touching a cone.
Our team had managed to get the fastest result. Even with the points deducted for the cones we touched, we still won. High fives all around. I almost forget how much I hated all these team building activities with people I would never see again.
Later on that day, one of the BMW executives was making a speech on business ethics. And he said, you had a business ethics exercise tjis afternoon and how did you do?
I was like dude, we were climbing rocks and running across sand. Whatcha talking bout?
I was like dude, we were climbing rocks and running across sand. Whatcha talking bout?
Then he explained that being ethical in business meant following the rules. It didn't mean being able to afford the cost of breaking them. So winning, while knocking down the cones because the "cost" in points was worth paying if we could still win was unethical.
He went on to talk about real laws and real fines that never seemed to be a deterrent when a business could simply pay its way out of unethical practices.
I'll never forget this lesson. And I've since never underestimated how deeply a few words could be so profoundly impactful.
I'll never forget this lesson. And I've since never underestimated how deeply a few words could be so profoundly impactful.
The reason I remembered all this today is this tweet: https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1356680284071198721?s=19
