The Parable of the Sadhu
The Parable of the Sadhu
by Bowen H. McCoy
Harvard Business Review
Reprint 97307
This document is authorized for use only in Harvard and Radcliffe 50th Reunion Class of 1962 by Malcolm Salter from May 2012 to November 2012.
HBR
CLASSIC
After encountering a dying pilgrim on a climbing trip in the Himalayas, a bus
by Bowen H. McCoy
Last year, as the first par ticipant i n the new six-month sabbatical p r ogram that Mor gan Stanley has adopted, I enjoyed a rare oppor tunity to collect my thoughts as well as do some traveling. I spent the first three months in Nepal, walking
600 miles through 200 villages in the Himalayas and climbing some
120,000 vertical feet. My sole Wester n companion on the trip was an anthropologist who shed light on the cultural patterns of the villages that we passed through.
During the Nepal hike, something occurred that has had a powerful impact on my thinking about corporate ethics. Although some might argue that the experience has no relevance to business, it was a situation in which a basic ethical dilemma suddenly intr uded into the lives of a
group of individuals. How the group responded holds a lesson for all organizations, no matter how defined.
The Sadhu
The Nepal experience was more rugged than I had anticipated. Most commercial treks last two or three weeks and cover a quarter of the distance we traveled.
My friend Stephen, the anthropologist, and I wer e halfway thr ough the 60-day Himalayan par t of the trip when we reached the high point, an 18,000-foot pass over a crest that we’d have to traverse to reach the village of Muklinath, an ancient holy place for pilgrims.
Six years earlier, I had suf fer ed pulmonary edema, an acute form of altitude sickness, at 16,500 feet in the vicinity of Everest base camp – so
Copyright © 1997 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
we were understandably concerned about what would happen at
by Bowen H. McCoy
Harvard Business Review
Reprint 97307
This document is authorized for use only in Harvard and Radcliffe 50th Reunion Class of 1962 by Malcolm Salter from May 2012 to November 2012.
HBR
CLASSIC
After encountering a dying pilgrim on a climbing trip in the Himalayas, a bus
by Bowen H. McCoy
Last year, as the first par ticipant i n the new six-month sabbatical p r ogram that Mor gan Stanley has adopted, I enjoyed a rare oppor tunity to collect my thoughts as well as do some traveling. I spent the first three months in Nepal, walking
600 miles through 200 villages in the Himalayas and climbing some
120,000 vertical feet. My sole Wester n companion on the trip was an anthropologist who shed light on the cultural patterns of the villages that we passed through.
During the Nepal hike, something occurred that has had a powerful impact on my thinking about corporate ethics. Although some might argue that the experience has no relevance to business, it was a situation in which a basic ethical dilemma suddenly intr uded into the lives of a
group of individuals. How the group responded holds a lesson for all organizations, no matter how defined.
The Sadhu
The Nepal experience was more rugged than I had anticipated. Most commercial treks last two or three weeks and cover a quarter of the distance we traveled.
My friend Stephen, the anthropologist, and I wer e halfway thr ough the 60-day Himalayan par t of the trip when we reached the high point, an 18,000-foot pass over a crest that we’d have to traverse to reach the village of Muklinath, an ancient holy place for pilgrims.
Six years earlier, I had suf fer ed pulmonary edema, an acute form of altitude sickness, at 16,500 feet in the vicinity of Everest base camp – so
Copyright © 1997 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
we were understandably concerned about what would happen at