Metaphors

The other day while scrolling IG (#disassociating) I saw a guy do something that looked amazing and combined two of my favorite things: espresso + peanut butter. From what I remembered, he took the peanut butter jar that had those last bits you can never get out, added some sweetener, a shot of espresso, vanilla, and shook it. He then poured this peanut butter infused goodness over ice and seemed very happy with the result. It loked very straightforward so I decided to try it with my most recent jar of almost-gone peanut butter. I made a shot of espresso, poured it into the peanut butter jar and started to shake (the sweetener and vanilla seemed like unnecessary additions). Immediately the jar started to sputter and leak/low key explode hot espresso. This was the opposite of my desired outcome. I took the top off, gave it a bit to cool down and tried again. The result was underwhelming at best. It was not creamy, the jar was not free of peanut butter,* and I was sad. When I rewatched the video I realized that he added oat milk to his espresso shot prior to pouring it into the container. It would seem this step made the espresso cool enough to make it less explosive and lead to his delicious outcome. I had missed a crucial step. I had inadvertently messed up the process. To me, this seemed like a metaphor for ethics. I understand no one else sees this. I will attempt to clarify. 

Every time I hear the word “metaphor” I think of the (1994) movie Il Postino. Please note that the 7.7/10 score on IMDB is an atrocity and clearly perpetrated by tasteless heathens. The movie is about an Italian postman, Mario Ruppolo, who delivers mail to exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Mario learns what a metaphor is and then incorporates them into poetry he writes for his love interest Beatrice (much to the consternation of her mother). The movie is lovely and sad and has an amazing soundtrack and I think you should do yourself a favor and watch it.

Allow me a digression from my digression. Pablo Neurda poetry holds a special place in my heart and this is saying a lot because I am not much for poetry (or jazz but that’s for another time). Maybe it was the movie. Maybe it was because I read it in college. Either way I distinctly remember memorizing this poem for Spanish class my junior year. If you are feeling too lazy to read you can also listen to the poem.

When I talk about ethical theories in my classes they fall into two exceptionally broad categories. Those that focus on the means (process) and those that focus on the ends (outcomes). I tell students that one of these approaches will usually just “feel” right to them and that you can hear peoples’ preferences in the way they talk about difficult decisions. The people who like process cite rules, individual rights, and their duties as a person; they view the world as black and white. Those that favor outcomes talk about the greater good and what creates happiness for many; they view the world as gray. To help facilitate students’ understanding of these concepts I have them take the Ethical Lens Inventory. I utilize this assessment because I don’t think we necessarily take the time to consider our moral foundations very closely or very often. I often joke that I don’t expect that they spend their weekends discussing Kantianism so this is a great opportunity for some self reflection. If they do spend their weekends discussing Kant, good for them and thank you for taking my class even though you are a philosophy major!

For me, process is important. It is what makes sense but it is not the default for many business students (except my accounting majors!). I think that can be problematic for students when they graduate and enter the workforce. Case in point: Elizabeth Holmes. She was so focused on the (potential) of her final product that she lied, swindled, and caused harm to others in an attempt to achieve it. Don’t do that. Focusing only on that shiny outcome (a new car, paying off student loans, getting your own place, etc.) may cloud your ability to see the process and where it is going wrong. It is exceptionally difficult for newly hired employees to call out inappropriate behavior by their organizations. There is  the (completely logical) fear of being fired, ignored, or punished because calling out bad behavior puts a target on your back. Doing that takes you off track for your desired outcome so why bother? My response is usually to ask questions:

If you know something bad is happening and you don’t say anything and people find out you knew, how does that make you look? The simpler version of this is called the Front Page Test. If your behavior was talked about in the top story of the day and all over the internet would you feel good about your choice? Would you be proud of yourself? 

Will you be able to sleep at night? Some people simply have a higher tolerance for this kind of stuff and sleep like babies knowing they totally screwed people over but I am not one of them.

When you finally reach that outcome will it feel as good? This is often met with things like, “Obviously, YES it will because I will no longer be living with seven roommates!” Fair, but I think that excitement will be short lived.

I am not saying that focusing on the process is always the best or that it is always “good.” In fact each ethical approach has its own pros and cons. If you are too bogged down by rules you become inflexible (raises hand) and have trouble operating in situations where things are a little loosey-goosey. If you only focus on the outcomes you can miss all the people who aren’t benefiting (i.e. getting screwed over) by your decisions. What I am saying is that I want my students (and everyone else) to be able to get to their desired outcome without dealing with an espresso burn on their hands (or the workplace equivalent). Think about the process AND the outcomes. Don’t make snap decisions and don’t let shiny things cloud your better judgment. Instead, take a step back and think about the person you want to be. Not who others think you should be, but what YOU actually want for yourself. What approach will lead to the decision that makes that happen? That’s the right one. For me, I’ve decided to reattempt the peanut butter espresso by following the entire process. I am hoping for an outcome that is delicious and magical and I am going to drink it while rewatching Il Postino. Arrivederci!

*Seriously HOW do you clean a peanut butter jar so you can recycle it?!?

**Weirdly the one place except when it comes to recipes. In the kitchen recipes are general suggestions to me so perhaps this is the root cause of my espresso explosion.