IntentionalBusinessPartnerships

At least 50% of this year’s Harvard MBA graduating class are taking an oath to uphold ethical business practices. Comments on this initiative range from the ridiculous (come on, business is inherently unethical) to the sublime (finally, a new breed of business person). What about practical? What these young grads are saying is that they need to be explicit about their intent to treat everyone involved in their business dealings with respect. And by so doing they surface a ton of assumptions (once upon a time, there was a company called Enron…therefore…) and interpretations (business people are greedy and only think about themselves). I’m totally in agreement with the new MBAs who are taking responsibility for the kind of business people they want to become. Imagine what we’d be dealing with if medical doctors suddenly decided to do away with the oath!

I just finished reading an interview with Jim Collins in Fortune magazine. Jim is a deep thinker and relentless researcher and it’s worthwhile listening to what he’s learned about businesses getting through the tough times. Something that really hit me was Jim’s strategy to succeed at climbing El Capitan on his 50th birthday. He partnered up. And guess who he took with? The greatest climber in the world, Tommy Caldwell. If a storm came up on the climb, Jim wanted to be surrounded by the best. It’s not the plan, he said, that’ll make the difference - it’s the people you have with you. I’m convinced that successful people always knew they couldn’t do it alone. I now see that however tempted we are to go “solo”, it’s never really an option for success - especially when there’s a storm on the horizon.

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