The Unconventional Lessons Learned from Mentoring a Junior Achievement Team
In the world of mentorship, there are often unexpected situations that test our ethical boundaries, sometimes leading to humorous revelations. A recent experience involving a group of eager 2nd and 3rd-year associates volunteering to guide a high school Junior Achievement team showcased just that.
Our task was straightforward: help a group of students set up and run a small business for a couple of months. After brainstorming multiple ideas, the team settled on selling fruit baskets. The plan was simple; we would purchase bulk fruit, assemble beautiful baskets, and deliver these delights to our local community. However, it soon became evident that the Junior Achievement program imposed strict financial rules that didn’t always mirror reality. One of the most significant restrictions was the prohibition on incurring any form of debt.
At first glance, this guideline seemed reasonable, aimed at fostering financial responsibility among young entrepreneurs. Yet, the practical implications of such a rule posed significant challenges. To operate effectively, we needed to buy fruit for our baskets, but without allowing ourselves to take on any liabilities, acquiring the necessary funds became a daunting task.
After several brainstorming sessions, we devised a workaround: we required customers to prepay for their fruit baskets. This approach allowed us to collect funds upfront, which effectively created a liability in terms of outstanding orders. From a business standpoint, this method was quite effective, but it set the stage for a rather amusing ethical dilemma.
As part of the project, we were responsible for producing weekly financial reports to be submitted to the Junior Achievement office. We quickly realized that if we reported the actual cash collections and deferred revenue, we would likely face severe scrutiny from the organization. To maintain transparency within our group while adhering to the program’s rules, we inadvertently developed two sets of financial records.
One set accurately reflected our transactions, detailing who had paid for baskets and what we owed for deliveries. The other set—the one submitted for review—was sanitized to meet Junior Achievement’s guidelines. This revelation, discovered during a casual conversation among the associates, led to a collective chuckle: we were, in essence, running dual Accounting systems, and even involving the high school students in the process.
Despite our initial surprise at this quirky realization, we decided that, given the project’s impending conclusion and its unexpected success, we would continue down this unconventional path.
This experience not only provided valuable insights for the students but also served as an amusing reminder of the complexities and occasionally
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