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September 05, 2005
Ethical Ambition. An Oxymoron?
Picked up a gem for only $5 at the Times book fair about 3 weeks ago. It's a book entitled Ethical Ambition by Derrick Bell.
The title was the thing that caught my attention. At first glance, Ethical Ambition seems like an oxymoron. If you're ambitious, you'll have to compromise on your integrity. If you're ethical, you may have to scale back on your ambitions.
Since my days with Aiesec, I've always found it incomprehensible when people adopt a dichotomistic view of the world. As a non-profit, we were always debating about whether the quality of our exchange program, or the number of participants we put through the program was more important. Why does it have to be one or the other? Why can't you have a quality program that have a large quantity of participants?
It's not only non-profits that grapple with such issues. Corporations deal with similar issues too. Can a business entity be socially responsible while it remains highly profitable? How can an organization allow each employee to make a unique contribution and realize his or her unique potential working under structures, systems and processes? How can an organization maintain equilibrium and not be in a constant state of chaos while remaining responsive to the dynamic external environment?
The issue that Bell sought to address in his book was something more personal: "How can I maintain my integrity while seeking success?"
Here is someone who resigned as the dean of the University of Oregon Law School after the law faculty voted that he could not offer a position to an Asian American woman who had been placed third on a long list of candidates after the top two choices turned it down.
Five years later, he took a leave without pay as a lecturer at Harvard Law School to express his disappointment with the school's failure to appoint a woman of colour to the faculty. His protest lasted two years before he was dismissed by Harvard.
He's quite a troublemaker...
I find this book an inspiring and uplifting read. It's also reassuring to know that it's possible to have your integrity and realize your aspirations at the same time, although the journey may not be easy.
My favourite paragraph is found in Chapter Two on Courage and Risk Taking. He wrote:
When we contemplate the ways that people see thrills, is it possible that we all need this feeling in one form or another, and that many who would not dare to challenge those in authority seek the needed assertion of self in the artificial thrill of playing the lottery, bungee jumping, or driving too fast? If it is possible, then it is sad to think how many people miss the more real and more humane thrill that can come when we stand up for what we believe is right against those who believe are wrong.
Posted by loganw at September 5, 2005 05:10 PM
