POSTSCRIPT
Working together as a team isn’t about being better than other teams. It’s not about winning. It’s not about beating out the competition. It’s about embracing our shared humanity. It’s about opportunity. The opportunity to develop our talents in concert with others. It’s not a “dog eat dog” world. Dogs don’t eat other dogs. If you beat out everyone else in your area and they go out of business or quit their endeavors, pretty soon, you lose the opportunity to develop your interests in that area any further. Your opportunity ceases to exist due to a lack of diversity. For example, McDonald’s needs others in the fast -food industry for their success.
During the COVID- 19 pandemic, Domino’s pizza franchise owners de cided to support local businesses because they knew they needed them to be successful for their success. They created an ad that ran nationally.
Domino’s decision is an excellent example of the social philosophy of UBUNTU (ooo-BOON-too). The story of this African social philosophy captures the essence of our shared humanity. An anthropologist was studying in an African village and decided to run a simple experiment. He put a basket of fruit below the largest tree in the village. He gathered all the children together and asked them to line up. He told them they were going to race to the basket of fruit. Whoever got there first could enjoy the fruit. They lined up, and the anthropologist said “Ready, set, go!” To his surprise, the children didn’t take off. Instead, they looked at one another, grabbed each other's hands, and made their way to the tree together. While they were all enjoying the fruit, he asked one of the children why they did that. The child responded, “How could any one of us be happy when everyone else is sad?” This is UBUNTU. The embracing of our shared humanity. Learning how to be human through others. UBUNTU teaches us that “I am only because you are.”
“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. – African Proverb
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