My initial thoughts on EcoSeagate is utter and shear anger. I am upset. I am mad. I am motivated to go right up to CEO Bill Watkins and ask him how someone like me would be able to receive equal opportunity employment at his business. How would I be afforded the same opportunity to engage with my peers during their extreme team building events. I am outraged that someone could honestly think this is the only way to effectively bring a team together and that it would require $2 million dollars annually to invest in this.
Now that my initial thoughts are out there, I am still furious. How can someone who does not even have the agility to complete his own tasks expect others to fulfill the physical requirements put forth during the event? How much physical stress do the employees need to go through prior to and after the team building experience to be able to keep up with their peers? Moreover, how much is he paying in workman's comp benefits?
Calming down a little, I can see some benefit to having these events. The endorphin level is high, the physical connections formed between employees that live miles and miles apart are growing strong and the memories made together will last a lifetime. That is all well and good. Yet, could not the same amount of joy be experienced giving back to the community together? What if instead of spending $2 Million to go to a remote location, the group was able to build an entire community in an undernourished and underdeveloped area of the world without clean water or sewage systems? What if the $2 Million could help leave a legacy of hope for generations to come?
I understand the power of competition. I understand the need to hire people that are at the peak of the their performance. However, I am appalled that someone who is a leader in the modern age could be so out of tune with the reality that physical abilities are not equivalent to intellectual and emotional ability levels. Perhaps Bill Watkins' boot camp days helped him form great bonds with his "platoon mates" (Brown, 2011, p. 294) but I am going to assuredly state that similar bonds can be formed without the need of climbing over rock walls or risking life and limb to achieve a goal as a team.
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