Career for the Greater Good

In this honors seminar, I learned a variety of methods and ideologies that one can utilize in order to put themselves on a career path that benefits humankind for the greater good. Taught by Professor Theis, I was captivated by the "loose and open" teaching style of the seminar. A majority of the seminar consisted of having in-class discussions with my peers about class module topics and listening to guest entrepreneurs and small business owners talk about ways they try to make their businesses benefit as many people as possible. I was able to make connections with CEOs and co-founders of small and large organizations from around the world. Having the opportunity to learn from real-life entrepreneurs in an educational setting was an amazing way to learn about ways I could lead a future business. 

Some of the course modules discussed included the morality surrounding conscious capitalism, the need to deconstruct professionalism, and implementing a growth mindset in our daily lives. The philosophy of consciousness capitalism, for example, forces people to reflect on the state of the world and decide which pillars of business to place value in.  When it comes to conscious capitalism, I think my biggest critique of this model is that this model can easily breed greed for money and power in individuals running larger businesses and corporations. When it comes to addressing the issues with establishing a global standard of what professionalism in these corporations looks like, whether it is due to economic, racial, or sexist disparities, professionalism is an ideology that should be deconstructed and reformed.  These disparities that exist in the professional setting heavily uphold the stereotypes regarding what professionalism can or cannot look like. Thus, it prevents the individual from expressing their true identity, and more importantly, prevents society from placing true value in that identity and the personal ideas, inputs, and beliefs of the individual. 

The idea of pursuing a career path that establishes the greater good comes from a sense of community and good nature. The greater/common good highlights a theoretical relationship that exists between people in a community. This relationship occurs between a community of people who want to do everything they can to work in each other’s best interests. While in this modern day world this ideology is mostly theoretical, I learned that as long as even a few people find themselves constantly asking themselves: “How will this action help others?” or “ What can I do to make my community or even the world a better place?” our future can be made just a little bit brighter.  

When choosing a career, we must all learn how to choose a path that will not only benefit ourselves and those in our near periphery,  but also people whom we might never even meet in our lifetimes. This idea was one of my biggest takeaways in the class. Being a future physician, I know that there are a multitude of disparities and barriers I am going to have to both face myself and dismantle for others. The idea of taking on an entire system is so intimidating, so having a course like this to guide me through some ideologies I can implement in my daily life makes the upcoming battle just a little less scary.