Being uncomfortable

"Smith and Carlos sacrificed privilege and glory, fame and fortune, for a larger cause—civil rights."- From GOOD- 'Fists of Freedom'

Every now and then I am reminded that school yard antics didn't end with a high school diploma. In life, often upholding stronger morals can cost you, and make you less popular among your peers.

Girls can be mean. I remember in grade 7 getting ostracized from the popular girls for refusing to participate in a group drama, not understanding the point of the planned back-stabbing, and simply asking why we had to be so mean? I thought I was being mature and diplomatic. That resulted in the group then in turning the negative attention towards me. Not the reward for good behaviour I had expected, and it left me quite unpopular.

A year latter in grade 8 we became friends again, and thankfully it was based around being a good group of friends and not being mean. In between the summer of grade 7 was lonely, but in the end I had better quality friends and more importantly held onto my sense of self and integrity.

"You are better off alone than in the company of fools."- Modulok

Since the playground comes to the workplace quite often, speaking out and doing what is right maybe lonely at first. It may be hard. It may earn you a harder time. Ironic, right?

Any good business person knows that nothing gets done without hard work. Why is it then that so many businesses shy away from applying hard work to morals?

If more individuals in organizations spoke up, took the hard way, worried about popularity less, and decided to look at the long term effects of their actions... well, what would that look like? From my experience, it equals the future looking better then the past.

That's the best kind of business to be in.