By Adam Turteltaub
adam.turteltaub@corporatecompliance.org
This coming Sunday, April 15, baseball will celebrate Jackie Robinson Day. It is now an annual event, commemorating the day in 1947 when Robinson first took the field as a Brooklyn Dodger. Every player on every team will wear his number 42 across their back.
For those of us in business, it’s a day to think differently about doing the right thing. Most of the time business ethics is a choice about what we won’t do: We won’t pay bribes. We won’t rip off the government. We won’t deal with suspicious business partners. We won’t do something that is legal but morally troubling.
The story of Jackie Robinson, and Branch Rickey who hired him, shows that business ethics can also be about what we will do: We will reject racial barriers. We will embrace diversity. We will do what our industry says cannot be done. And we will do what’s right, even if there are forces aligned against us.
It may not be easy. It will likely take great planning and care. And it will take the right people to make it happen. Jackie Robinson was selected to be the first not just because of his skills on the field but also because of his extraordinary character.
The Dodgers thrived after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. So can we, if we have the courage to recognize that doing the right thing isn’t just about avoiding a problem. It can also be about seizing an opportunity to make the world better, and, ultimately, the bottom line as well.
Have a good Jackie Robinson Day.
Perhaps the bigger story…and let me be clear…I am one of the biggest if NOT AMONG THE biggest fans of the day everyone wears 42…is to the person who was the FIRST black baseball player in the Bigs…and to the person and team that was instrumental in that happening.
To imagine it happened over 50 years before Jackie Robinson…now that’s something to think about when one considers the times.
Always like to read about day 42! Thanks for posting.
It takes moral courage and strength of character to be the first one to stand up – or sit down – and say “this is wrong and can not be allowed to continue”. Jackie Robinson. Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King, Jr. These great moral leaders can inspire us to do the same – at home, at work, and in our communities. When the power of one leads to the power of many, positive change happens.
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