#4 - Moral Muteness

A time I was morally mute was when I was interning in marketing and promotions. There were about 20 interns in our department and we were responsible for a lot of different aspects of games including all of the in-game promotional games and giveaways. For one of the promotional games we had, if the contestant on, they and everyone in their row gets a voucher for a free food item, but if they didn't win, the row behind them got the vouchers. More often than not, there were more vouchers than people in the row, and all of the vouchers had dates on them, as they can only be used during that specific game. On a few occasions during especially long days, sometimes interns would take the remaining vouchers and use the to get free food from the concession stands. As interns, we were given a lot of privileges and free things from the organization, but free food from concession stands was not one of those privileges. No one ever said anything to our supervisors because we never saw it was that big of a deal, most of the winners didn't use the vouchers, and the vouchers are taken into consideration when the organization budgeted for the vouchers being used by fans. Obviously it was against company policy and it shouldn't have been done, but I also don't feel bad about not telling our bosses because in the grand scheme of things, a few food items over the course of the season, as well as the other events that brought in revenue for the organization, really don't make that big of a difference. However, if I was in charge of the entire organization and I found out that interns were taking things even though they get a lot of other perks with their jobs, I'd be disappointed, but because it is accounted for in different ways I wouldn't be worried about the organization in general. Loyalty is one of my most important values and that includes being loyal to people but also to the team/organization. In this case, I was loyal to my coworkers because those relationships were more important to me than a few food items.

#3 - Implicit Bias

I took the bias quizzes for age, weight, and gender-career. Going into these I had my ideas about what they would say about me, considering my background, upbringing, and interests.

Before getting my results for the age bias quiz, I thought I would have a slight bias against elderly people because in all of my volunteer jobs, internships, and even organized sports, I have always been around supervisors and coordinators who were on the younger side of the "adult" spectrum. My parents are older than a lot of my friends' parents and I've been very aware, and a bit envious, of the differences in our family lifestyles. After taking the implicit bias quiz, it told me that I only have a "slight automatic preference" for young compared to old. I've always gravitated towards people around my age who are as independent as me, and I think that contributes to the bias the quiz detected  because we are all so independent that we aren't around adults as much as other people our age. Also, I think it is easier to empathize and identify with people my own age because we go through very similar things in life, however baby boomers and generations above went through very different things, so there's a large disconnect between those generations and ours.

My results for the weight bias quiz also didn't surprise me. Again, it said I have a "slight automatic preference" for thin people. As someone who has spent my entire life in organized athletics, and my childhood heroes were all elite athletes, I have become accustomed to people who work physically hard, and their bodies are how they make their life, so they are all in very good physical shape. I think as a female in the society we are in, where there is no "right" body to have and people are constantly shamed for being too fat or too thin, it is not uncommon to struggle with body image issues and constantly wanting to be thinner. Society definitely contributes to the idea that thinner is better and that weight is something that everyone needs to fix regardless of health issues.

The last quiz I took was the gender-career quiz, and on this one it showed that I have "little or no association between male and female and career and family." Again, this doesn't surprise me at all. As a woman who wants to go into a career that is overwhelmingly male-dominated and being pretty equally parented by two working parents, I don't really have anything to push me to be biased one way or another. Obviously in society, women have historically been seen and pressured into being the family side, and males to the career side, but that has changed and women are now more accepted in workplaces.

#2 - Relational Leadership

The Sandlot

The Sandlot team always encourages and empowers the other teammates and they come together for the love of their game and their friendship. When Benny first invites Smalls to play with them and realizes Smalls has no idea how to play baseball, he tells Smalls "just stand there and stick your glove in the air, I'll take care of it." Later, when they're trying to get the Babe Ruth autographed ball back, they all work together and create ideas of how to get it back, they all work together and encourage each other to get more creative once their first few attempts don't work.
After Smalls makes the mistake of stealing his step-dad's Babe Ruth autographed ball, the whole Sandlot gang comes together and puts their creativity and ingenuity to the test for the purpose of getting the ball back from the Beast.
At first, Benny is the only one to want to include Smalls into the group, the other Sandlot kids were very wary of adding a new kid to their team. However after spending time with Smalls, the rest of the team included him and they came together as a group to beat their rival team, and ultimately get the Babe Ruth autographed ball back.
Obviously, the boys know that there is some sort of creature on the other side of the fence, but they don't want to bother it or anger it at all and they don't want to knock on Mr. Mertle's door. Their decision to not mess with the large potentially dangerous creature is pretty ethical on their part, they not only want to protect themselves and their teammates, but they also know not to anger the Beast.