June 30
Steve Lewis had every reason to be pleased with the ways things were turning out. After finishing his graduate degree near the top of his class, he had landed his dream job as an analyst at a prestigious New York investment bank. While the work days were long, and the regular weekend assignments a bit onerous, he was willing to put in the time. Among his most important values was the belief that hard work and sacrifice early in one’s career would bring future rewards. He was convinced that if he could build a reputation as a capable and dedicated worker, a person who could be counted on when things were difficult, there would be no limit to what he could achieve in the future.
Early one Tuesday morning, Lewis picked up a voice mail message asking if he would be willing to fly to St. Louis in two days to help with a presentation for an important prospective client. Lewis was surprised. The firm had a policy against analysts being included in the company presentation teams because they lacked adequate experience and relevant expertise. What made this invitation even more puzzling was that Lewis had no idea how he could help. He had no knowledge of the subject of the presentation, a specialized area of municipal finance.
Lewis immediately picked up the phone and called Andrew Webster, a friend and partner in the firm and his mentor during the time Lewis at been at the bank. “Andy, what’s the deal here? Did you know that I’ve been invited to go to St. Louis? Are you behind this?”
“Steve,” responded Webster, “come and see me in fifteen minutes.”
Fifteen minutes later, as Lewis settled into a chair in Webster’s office, Webster began by saying, “Steve, I hate for you to be introduced to this side of the business so soon, but here it is. The new state treasurer of Missouri is black, and he has let it be known that he expects to see one black professional on our presentation team or there is no chance the firm will be named manager for this deal. So, there are two possibities, either you or me. If you feel uncomfortable about it, I could try and change my schedule and make the trip.”
“Well,” said Lewis, ” let me think it over. I’ll get back to you this afternoon.”
For Lewis, the issue was important. He had spend years wondering if he had been included or excluded from things because of his race. The issue made him uncomfortable and at times, angry. And now, at a critical time in his new career, he was being asked to be on a high profile team, not because of what he could contribute, but because he was black.
His first impulse was to say no, that he would not be used this way. And yet Andy, his mentor and a partner in the firm had seemed to be at peace with race being used as a competitive advantage. After all, he had offered to go in Lewis’ place. Did his own sense of unease come from his youth and lack of experience? Would he come to understand that in the “real world,” there was little room for idealism and integrity, that you did what had to be done?
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
He felt caught. On the one hand, he had been invited to join the team that was making a presentation to the most important potential client the bank had on its agenda. If he said no, would that be seen as not being willing to show up and do what was required? Would it lead to being defined as “not a team player?” On the other hand, the reason that he had been invited was because of the color of his skin, clearly a form of racism tacitly approved by the organization.
He took a pad of paper and wrote on one side: “It is right to be a loyal and a contributing member of the firm.” He could see the obvious advantages, both for him and for the firm. Even if he could not make any substantial contribution, his presence with his black skin would not only be helpful, but necessary. And he would earn points for being willing to help.
On the other side he wrote: “It is right to refuse to be treated as a token, to be used because of one’s race.” He remembered a conversation he had in graduate school with several other black students. As they talked about their futures, they were in agreement that they should stand up against racism in all of its forms. He thought of Malcom X who condemned the “house slaves,” those who worked comfortably indoors and were willing to do whatever their masters wanted.
What is the right thing to do? What was wrong seemed clear. “It is wrong,” he thought, “to be treated as an object rather than as a person. It is right to stand up for one’s core values, to be true to one’s identity.”
Yet the other side continued to command his attention: “It is right to be loyal to the firm and to take on important assignments. Is it wrong” he wondered,” to be overly concerned with one’s personal issues and concerns.”
Right vs. Right: Self Respect vs. Loyalty
Lewis’s dilemma was that both sides of this issue were right. He could make a case for saying yes, and one for saying no. He could focus upon his personal sense of identity and worth – “I am a black man and I refuse to be treated as a token person or as an object.”- Or he could focus upon the organizational reality – “In order to get the business, we need to have a black professional on the team .”
“I didn’t make up this rule ,” thought Lewis, “it’s the way things are done at this time in our business. If I don’t go then Andy will. And where will that leave me? If I can’t live with this, then maybe I am in the wrong business.” Yet Lewis was also keenly aware that that if he chose to join the team and serve as the token black, he would be disappointing himself, his parents, and the larger black community.
Lewis Finds A Third Way
Lewis faced a serious dilemma. As Joseph Badaracco put it in Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right , “He needed to find a plan of action that would preserve the values he cared about without making himself a noble, unnoticed young martyr.”
After an hour of wrestling with choices and consequence, an idea came to him. Thirty minutes later, he reached for the phone and called the leader of the presentation team. “Jack,” he said, “I have been thinking about your invitation to join the St. Louis team and I would like to go. But there is something I would like to run past you before I make a final decision.”
Later in the afternoon, Lewis called Webster. “Andy,” he said, “I have been thinking all day about the invitation to go to St. Lewis. It’s no secret that I have felt uncomfortable in being asked to go just because I am black. But I also want to be supportive and help out. So I called Jack and told him that I would be willing to go if I could make part of the presentation to the client. Jack was doubtful at first, but he was willing to hear me out. We went over the presentation agenda and found a topic that both he and I felt that if I worked really hard over the next 24 hours, I would be ready to present. So I’ve signed on and feel good about it.”
Even though it was an enormous and stressful task getting ready, after it was over Lewis felt good about the way it went. No one on the client team had any questions for him (for which he was very grateful) and his colleagues seemed satisfied. On the flight back they thanked him for helping out, especially on short notice.
Steve Lewis had come face-to-face with what is often the most difficult of wicked problems. Both of his choices were “right,” yet if he chose one over the other there would be real costs, on one hand a personal one, and on the other, an organizational one. By working hard to find a Third Way, Lewis was able to find his way out of the dilemma with no cost and important benefits. “On balance,” Badaracco writes,
” Lewis was pleased and relieved about what he had done. He believed that he had defined the dilemma soundly, at least in terms of his experience and values. And on the whole, he resolved it without betraying his parents and himself by merely attending the meeting and serving a decorative function. At the same time his career prospects may have been strengthened. He felt he had passed a minor test, a rite of passage at his firm and demonstrated that he was willing to do what it took to get the job done.”All of us, at one time or another, will come face-to-face with the wickedness of Right vs. Right problems. Spending the time and effort to look for a Third Way alternative, and when one is not clearly apparent, creating one as Steve Lewis did, is a valuable skill and a strategy worth pursuing. And when they are executed well, Third Way alternatives can bring huge benefits, both to us as individuals and to the organizations and institutions in which we work.