I enjoy watching Jon Stewart’s Daily Show when I have the time because he provides comic relief on the discourse surrounding issues of the day which frankly is sometimes so ridiculous that if you don’t laugh, you have to cry. That’s kind of how I feel when I think about Bowen McCoy and his parable.
If I was a producer at The Daily Show and having just watched the Parable of the Sadhu video (and assuming it was current), I’d be on the phone right now saying something like this -
“Get one of our reporters over to the house of Bowen McCoy right now or better yet, get him on the show. This will be a segment on Wall Street’s lack of ethics. What’s The Parable of the Sadhu? Oh you have to see it. Basically it goes something like this – highly privileged and Harvard educated Western man (McCoy) meets a man in a life or death situation on a mountain in Nepal and chucks basic human decency out the window because he wants to get to the top of the mountain. Instead of helping the guy to safety he just keeps trekking up the mountain. It’s like he’s Gordon Gekko personified.
Yeah. Yeah. Just get him talking about the Sadhu piece. He’s bound to say that there is some struggle to know what the right decision is when faced with the issue of saving a man’s life or climbing to the top of the mountain… Yes, I know that sounds absurd – it’s an obvious choice, but not to this guy.
[In my sarcastic voice] Now don’t forget the context - he was in a tough situation. It’s important to know he traveled all the way to Nepal from New York City– and it was a long grueling flight in First Class – they didn’t even have any of the good scotch on the plane. And do you have any idea how hard it was to get six months time off from his “Master of the Universe” boss at Morgan Stanley. Masters of Universe don’t just give 6-month sabbaticals out every day you know.
Another sad part of this story that went unmentioned in the HBR article is that Mr. McCoy’s wife and kids had to go on their St. Bart’s vacation without him this year because of all his mountain climbing training. I mean, when you put all that in perspective, it really is a tough decision. “
When I watched the Parable of the Sadhu video in class I felt I was having a moment like the child in the Hans Christian Anderson story, The Emperor’s New Clothes. Ummmm, does anyone else notice that this guy is totally devoid of moral character? He’s not wearing a stitch of moral fiber.
I can understand that not every ethical dilemma has a clear answer, but this one definitely does. So I thought for sure when I came home and Googled “Parable of the Sadhu” that I would find a large number of people mocking this parable. But again I was surprised. Instead of mocking, I found search results hailing the Parable of the Sadhu as an “HBR Classic” and a 2008 blog by another business student raising the questions of ethics that came up, but not really taking a firm stand either way.
Am I missing something? Is it really that difficult to make the choice of whether to go on up the mountain in pursuit of an individual goal rather than help someone – in this case the Sadhu – survive rather than die on the mountain? Or to at least realize that the way Mr. McCoy acted flies in the face of simple human decency? I think that even in a complex corporate situation, the group has responsibility for the individual. If someone needs help, you give it to them. If someone can’t make it all the way up the mountain the first time, then help them prepare for the second try. Get them the training and the gear they need to succeed.
So here’s what I’d like to say to Bowen McCoy:
Dear Mr. McCoy (or, Hey McCoy):
OK - here’s the deal McCoy – I understand you’re a real muckety muck- a Master of the Universe straight off the pages of The Bonfire of the Vanities. You’ve scaled the heights of the corporate real estate mountains and risen up the ranks at Morgan Stanley - and you’re an upstanding member of society on several boards. Your background is outstanding and that’s what makes this all the more tragic. You represent what is supposedly the best of the best of our society and you actually have to ponder whether you did the right thing on that mountain. This shouldn’t be so hard for someone as sophisticated as you. The group always has responsibility for the well being of an individual. It’s the right thing to do. It’s also an old Army adage - leave no man behind. But don’t pass this off on the group – the leader (read: you) should have known that the right thing to do was to help the Sadhu to safety and make sure he was taken care of.
So you had a once in a lifetime chance to climb to the top of the mountain. Well, here’s a news flash - you also had a once in a lifetime opportunity to save the life of another human being. To save a life! How amazing is that! The former choice of climbing to the top of the mountain must have been personally satisfying. I’m sure you felt proud that day. But guess what, the latter choice is way better. I understand from the video that you are haunted by this choice day. Well, you should be more than haunted – you should feel intensely guilty. The mountain is always going to be there – a person is not. There is no dilemma because there are no shades of grey here - the bottom line is that you were wrong and you failed as a leader. I hope you learn from that.
Sincerely,
Andrea Berry
P.S. My Google search did not yield the full text of your parable for free (I could have paid $6 for it, but decided it wasn’t worth the cost). If, by some chance, you reveal cognizance that you clearly failed as a leader, I apologize – this was not clear in the video clip that I saw.
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