This week is FIU's Panther Alumni Week (PAW), which connects our students with alumni through class presentations, industry panels, and networking events. PAW promotes the building of relationships with alumni and students, which leads to networking, internships, mentoring, and career opportunities.
In my class, we were privileged to have Mr. Jovani Salceiro share his experiences and knowledge. Jovani was a recipient of the FIU Presidential Torch Awards and Chaplin School Shining Star Alumni Awards. He currently serves as a Senior Assistant Director of Finance and Accounting at St. Regis Aspen Resort.
A story in Jovani's speech deeply touched me. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the hotel where he previously worked planned to furlough hourly employees. However, Jovani made a decision to furlough himself but keep his hourly employees working because he believed he would be fine for a while versus them.
It reminds me of a news article I read before, "CEO who slashed his salary to give employees a raise shares more good news". Dan Price addressed inequality and showed his care for his employees in a unique way.
Both of them are admirable.
I'm not encouraging all business leaders to sacrifice themselves as Jovani and Dan did. It is understandable that sometimes managers have no choice but to lay off their employees. Most managers said it was the toughest decision, but they must consider cash flow, profit, and shareholder value maximization.
However, I have seen business leaders being coldblooded in today's business environment where money is the priority. In fact, some people are even proud of being coldblooded. By making life easier for themselves, they tend to not care about others.
No, that's not right! We need humanity.
I strongly believe that when your employees feel humanity is important to your business, they will do the same for your customers. People are generally nice to each other if they're treated well. Do you agree?
