In March, I had the opportunity to attend the Bakersfield Business Leadership and Ethics Conference along with six of my peers from Stockdale High School. I had no idea what to expect from this conference. Before going, I was more excited about the day of school I was going to miss! However, I left the conference with a new feeling of motivation and insight on how to help my community. I got to speak with fellow youth leaders, consult on different ethical situations in groups, chat with local business leaders, and listen to a talk given by the former Bakersfield Police Department chief, Lyle Martin.

 

I learned that business is not just about sales or numbers, but rather there is much to learn about human interaction, values and ethics in business. What was interesting about this meeting was that we were placed into randomized groups with 4 other students and 3 adult leaders from our local community which helped us learn to communicate with people we did not know before. 

 

We were given an ethical dilemma which we had to tackle with our new groupmates. For example, one of the dilemmas we were presented with was how to deal with a situation where the star player on a team was late to a practice before a big game. We had to decide what the best decision would be for the team. Initially, some of us chose to bench the player, while some of us chose to let the player play in the game. Through consultation, listening carefully to each other’s viewpoints, we were able to see the situation from each other's perspective and come to a group consensus on what would be the best decision for the team. 

 

This meeting helped me learn that business was not just about quarterly production and the bottom line. A good business cannot prosper without developing listening skills to solve a problem through consultation, building human connection with people you may not know well, and understanding value systems in what makes a business run well.

 

I was also extremely inspired by the words of former Bakersfield Police Department Chief, Lyle Martin. Chief Martin helped us understand that the path to reaching goals is a difficult and tedious one. I learned that good things in life come with tough decisions and that through both consultation, perseverance, and having the right mindset, we are able to make the world a better place.