Onwards

Today is a historical day.

Four years ago, we saw how disappointed our team was (most of them, we assume) about the results of the election, so we tried to be the thermostat, not thermometer as we’re known for being radically candid with our team. Revisiting our words from four years shows how little progress we’ve made as a culture. But we press on. As leaders, we are acutely aware that the macroclimate can affect the microclimate (e.g. company culture, vibe, tone). It is why hurt people hurt people but also how leaders can build leaders.

Now, we have a lot of work to do (for everyone), so we’ll keep it short. If you’re curious, this is what we wrote to our team on Monday.

The Boba Guys

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Hi Team,

We want to provide a few words to our team today given the upcoming inauguration and social climate.

You've seen it in our orientations, The Boba Book, and social media posts that the biggest cultural divide that we face as a country is East vs. West (philosophy), Individualism vs. Collectivism. We've talked about this for nine years straight. Now, we think it's time to tell you where we got it from...

"The emergency we now face is economic, and it is a desperate and worsening situation. For the 35 million poor people in America—not even to mention, just yet, the poor in other nations—there is a kind of strangulation in the air. In our society it is murder, psychologically, to deprive a man of a job or an income. You are in substance saying to that man that he has no right to exist. You are in a real way depriving him of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, denying in his case the very creed of his society. Now, millions of people are being strangled in that way. The problem is international in scope. And it is getting worse, as the gap between the poor and the “affluent society” increases…

In a world facing the revolt of ragged and hungry masses of God’s children; in a world torn between the tensions of East and West, white and colored, individualists and collectivists; in a world whose cultural and spiritual power lags so far behind her technological capabilities that we live each day on the verge of nuclear co-annihilation; in this world, nonviolence is no longer an option for intellectual analysis, it is an imperative for action."

“The good and just society is neither the thesis of capitalism nor the antithesis of communism, but a socially conscious democracy which reconciles the truths of individualism and collectivism.”

I came across these quotes nearly two decades ago in a collection of speeches dubbed "The Trumpet of Conscience'' (1967). It is actually one of MLK's last set of talks before he passed in 1968. This is part of his deeper level of work-- it won't show up on your socials today. Most people do not know that MLK is one of the first leaders in modern America to have analyzed and connected the strands of Individualism and Collectivism.

Both MLK (and even Malcolm) used Asia as a major talking part about economic and political movements. Many of the civil rights leaders were watching the wars in China, Korea, and SE Asia and wondering what it meant for the American movements. As a leader in the AAPI community, I have the utmost respect for anyone who sees global culture and history.

Whether it be our support for UBI (Universal Basic Income), commentary on race and class, or our generation's biggest cultural divide (Collectivism vs. Individualism), it does all come back to Dr. King. We admire him so much you can literally now see that we built an ecosystem around his work. We don't always get it right, but we hope some of his teachings are evident in the way we run a boba shop.

Today is about him and his legacy. The work isn't done, but we've learned that sometimes to move forward, you have to look backward (in the past) and connect the dots. We are here to build a more inclusive and just society. We just hope that people don't forget the blueprint for that had always been reconciling "the truths of Individualism and Collectivism."

Now you see why we love layers. ;)

Onwards,

Andrew & Bin