Parable of Sadhu

The Parable of the Sadhu

The Parable of Sadhu is a story of an ethical and moral dilemma presented to McCoy and the group that was trekking through an 18,000 foot Himalayan peak. The Parable in my opinion tries to explore the group’s willingness to help a fellow man while realizing that there might be nor a single or a right solution to the problem.

My initial reaction after reading this case was that McCoy did all he could not to sacrifice the group’s purpose over an individual. But that is not the case as no one appointed McCoy as the person responsible to be making decisions for others unlike in corporations, where a CEO or a CFO can make a change and all others have to follow those guidelines. McCoy described his rationalization under stress, and the group's decision to continue toward the summit. He also did point to his main "excuses," but he knew they were not adequate and he was just looking out for his own self-interest or in this case trying to rationalize his actions, as described in chapter 2 of the book “Ethics & Business”. McCoy’s friend Stephen, felt guilty after the entire ordeal was done but in my opinion he was trying to distance himself from the responsibility which is a norm in our society these days. It is in human nature to limit our own individual sense of responsibility, which is especially evident if we are facing a dilemma. Also, one could say that there was a communication breakdown between McCoy and Stephen as McCoy did what he thought was sufficient to help the sadhu and then went along his way without consenting with Stephen.

In conclusion, I think that McCoy’s parable can easily be translated into the corporate business dynamics which we see these days. The thing I loved about McCoy’s narration of the story was that he asked open ended questions, whose answers depend on a person’s own morals and values. There can be many lessons learned from this story but the one in my opinion matters the most is about...