Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Being good at doing good



I was doing a module called Legal Case Studies for this semester in law school before I took leave of application. It was a module to train one to deal with corporate legal work. The scenario featured a case that requires opposing legal teams to negotiate and structure a corporate deal that would encompass the charitable aims of one side, and the profit-making objectives of the other side in the running of a hospital for the elderly.

We had to research on possible types of business arrangements, ranging from a private limited company, to a trust, or a social enterprise. And if possible, come up with a win-win solution for both sides of the negotiating table, while seeking to carve an edge for the side that you are representing. A groupmate of mine who has experience in setting up enterprises made a comment during our discussion about how it is not enough to want to do good, but that one needs to be good at doing good. There are technical aspects that goes into the running of charitable and non-profit organizations that requires knowledge and skill on the part of the one managing it.

I suppose it does take ideas and knowledge about how to effect much good in society, whether it be to help the poor or the sick. And whilst a charitable spirit is the foundation for engaging in charitable work, some expertise in knowing how to carry its operation is required as well, especially for those handling the operation of the organization. But I was reflecting on the comment made by this groupmate of mine whose comment seems to downplay the charitable sentiment as not being enough. It is a sort of statement that bears that philosophical approach of realism or pragmatism towards approaching things in life. The sort of mentality that bears the trait of ‘let me show you how good I am by how much good I have done.’

I suppose I would like to think that everyone can do good, and there is no need to measure up to a standard of how effective you are at doing good. We do need people with knowledge, ideas, and expertise. But let’s not dismiss the person who contributes with his little skill or resources to doing good as not being enough.

2 comments:

Enqi said...

quite interesting. this is similar to game theory whereby the best strategy played by each player might not necessary be the optimal for society. I guess many a times parties should negotiate and obtain a solution which benefits both side and even make third parties better off. However, i tend to believe that assumption plays a big part here.

Samuel Tee said...

Yup, I suppose society can't function if everyone wants to do only the big things and not the little things.

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