Lessons from the Field: A Twist on Mentorship and Ethics

In the world of business, ethical dilemmas often arise in the most unexpected ways. A humorous yet thought-provoking incident from my experience as a mentor in a Junior Achievement program highlights just how creative one can get within the bounds of seemingly strict rules.

As mentors to a group of high school students in the Junior Achievement initiative, we were tasked with guiding them in establishing and running a small business. Our team decided on an appealing venture: producing and selling fruit baskets. The plan was straightforward – purchase bulk fruit, assemble it into attractive baskets, and deliver them to customers within our community.

However, we soon encountered a significant hurdle: a Junior Achievement rule prohibited the incurrence of any debt. While the intention behind this regulation was undoubtedly to safeguard the organization, it posed a real challenge for our budding business. It quickly became evident that without taking on debt, we faced insurmountable barriers to purchasing the fruit needed for our baskets. After all, how could we procure supplies without upfront capital?

To navigate this restriction, we conceived a workaround: we required our customers to prepay for their orders. This strategy effectively allowed us to collect funds at the time customers placed their orders, which we used to cover our costs. From a business standpoint, this approach was clever—yet it undoubtedly undermined the spirit of the rules we were meant to be following.

This is where the tale takes an amusing turn. Part of our responsibility involved creating weekly financial reports for submission to the Junior Achievement office. If we accurately recorded our cash collections and deferred revenue, the organization’s representatives would likely express their disapproval. However, we needed to keep track of payments and the corresponding deliveries, leading us to unwittingly maintain two sets of financial records.

We had what we called the “real” book—an accurate representation of our financial dealings—and a separate set to present to the Junior Achievement office, which would essentially undergo an Audit. In a comical twist, it was one of those moments of realization where we paused mid-discussion and collectively recognized, “We’re keeping two sets of books!” At that juncture, we concluded that since the project only had a few weeks left, we might as well continue with our dual Accounting system until its completion.

This experience not only taught us about the complexities of ethical business practices but also about the importance of adaptability and creativity in problem-solving. As we progressed through our mentorship, it became clear that