The Power of One

October 4, 2006 — Speech given by Ralph Shrader (Booz Allen Chairman & CEO) at the Booz Allen Diversity Awards Celebration held in McLean, Virginia.

As I’ve said before on the occasion of our Diversity Awards, this is an event that you earn an invitation to – by truly going ‘above and beyond’ in demonstrating Booz Allen’s core value of diversity, and by setting an example that has earned the recognition of your colleagues. Thank you all for making a difference.

I want the focus tonight to be on the recipients of the Diversity Awards, so I will speak just briefly. But, I want to convey a message that I hope you’ll take to heart, and you’ll take away and share with others.

It’s a message about the Power of One. I’m not talking about our ‘one firm’ strategy – not tonight. I’m talking about the power of each one of us.

I got to thinking about this listening to the radio, when an ad caught my attention. It was on WGMS, the Washington classical station, but is probably playing on other stations as well.

A young man tells a story of frustration. He buys a pair of jeans and learns they were made by child labor, and writes a letter complaining to the manufacturer. In response, he gets a letter thanking him for writing, and enclosing a coupon for $25 off his next purchase. So, he really gets worked up and writes to hundreds of stores that carry this brand of jeans, asking them to boycott the product because it exploits child labor. In response, he gets hundreds of thank you letters and discount coupons. When he complains to a friend, she tells him that the coupons are made from the bark of endangered trees.

Just when you’re wearying of this tale and wondering where it’s leading, the voice-over says: “Saving the world is hard. Saving a life is easy. Give blood.”

Think about it – it’s hard to save the world. It’s much easier to save a life. I’d like to paraphrase that: It’s hard to change the firm. It’s easy to change an interaction.

First and foremost, I want to assure you – I promise you – that I am unswerving in my commitment to change the firm. And the Leadership Team is deeply committed to change the firm. The Board of Directors, through our Board Diversity Initiative – which many of you here are involved in – is committed to changing the firm.

We’ve already made some very good strides. A few weeks ago, I was speaking at a meeting of the Mid-Atlantic partners. And, looking out at that audience – it looked quite different, in a very good way, than it did just five years ago with the number of women and minority partners in the seats. But, in other parts of the firm, we haven’t made the same impact yet.

Changing the firm for the better is my absolute priority. But like saving the world, it takes time – and, at times, it’s discouraging that we can’t make more impact, faster.

Which brings me to my message tonight about the power of one. Each of us can make a difference – a difference that we can see everyday – by changing just one interaction:

By teaching someone else something we do well…
By reaching out to someone new – perhaps sitting next to someone different at a meeting or inviting someone new to participate in a task force…
By taking the time to provide counsel and advice on how a colleague could be more effective (sometimes a sincere compliment is the right thing, and sometimes it’s giving constructive criticism that will help a colleague succeed), or
By asking, in a genuinely caring and interested way, a question about a different religion, or culture, or lifestyle -- and passing on what we learn.

There are so many opportunities that literally land at our feet in a single day. And, there are many more possibilities for us to proactively create interactions. But, too often, in our multi-tasked lives we speed on to tackle the next thing on our ‘to do’ list – when just 5 or 10 minutes of our effort could make a huge difference to someone, especially to someone outside our usual circle.

If each one of us made a conscious commitment to change one interaction a day – and if we passed on this message to someone not in this room – we could change the firm faster than we ever imagined.

The power of one person to make a difference is marked throughout history. We can make history at Booz Allen. Consider this passage that dates back 2000 years:

Watch your thoughts; they become your words…
Watch your words; they become your actions…
Watch your actions; they become your habits…
Watch your habits; they become your character…
Watch your character, for it will become your destiny.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
And, if not now, when?

The quote is from the Jewish scholar, Hillel the Elder who lived and taught in the first century. And, I believe it speaks just as eloquently to the “power of one” in the twenty-first century.

We can change history. We can make the difference of a lifetime – one person, one interaction, at a time.

Thank you.