Leadership’s Future: Cheating Is OK, But Lying Is A No-no
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Cheating isn’t new, nor is my writing about it.
It probably dates back to the cavemen, but it’s become more acceptable with the passage of time. Or maybe it’s just that the level of cheating needed to upset people and the stakes involved have increased so much.
An article in the Sun Journal gives an excellent overview of the pervasiveness of cheating.
Of course, the best thing to do if you’re going to cheat is don’t get caught, but if you do and lie about it the penalties increase exponentially.
For some reason people are tolerant of the cheating, in some cases they even seem to expect it, but they go totally ballistic when they get denial and lies from the cheaters when they are caught.
Nixon and the Watergate tapes are a case in point. Dirty tricks in politics were nothing new; it was his blatant lying and lack of remorse that resulted in his impeachment.
When Nixon was up there denying that he edited the tapes and claiming to know nothing about it one thought kept going through my mind and my conversations, “How stupid does he thing we (the American people) are?” and that reaction hasn’t changed with any of the hundreds (thousands?) of accusation/proof/denial scenarios that have played out since, whether in politics, business, religion, sports or any other arena.
It takes a great deal from our so-called leaders to get a reaction beyond a shrug of disgust from me, probably because I have no-to-low expectations.
But treating me as if I am stupid will send me around the bend in no time flat.
I have no liking for Bernie Madoff, but at least he had the guts to plead guilty as opposed to Jeff Skilling, who added the cost of his trials and appeals to the rest of his fraud believing that we were too stupid to see/understand what he did.
The saddest part is the example these clowns set for younger generations.
What really happens to those like Nixon, Ebbers, Skilling, and all the lesser cheats?
Some serve a few months or years in jail; they might lose their “good name,” although that will fade in time, but they won’t be left destitute. Most go back to their old life; if they can’t do that they can always write a book, become a guest speaker or go on the talk show circuit.
The same actions that brought them down will serve to lift them up, so what’s the big deal?
As to the sports arena, another athlete on steroids or some other performance-enhancing drug is barely news these days.
“The Canadian sprinter stunned the world by running 100 meters in 9.79 seconds. Oops. Busted. Turned out Ben Johnson was the world’s fastest steroid abuser.
“How many athletes are using performance-enhancing substances? The answer is, everyone who’s willing to.” says Jay Coakley, author of Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies.
“Every athlete looks for an edge,” says Charles Maher, Cleveland Indians team psychologist. “Some are conflicted about it. They want a competitive advantage but they don’t want to damage themselves.”
With no real consequences in the vast majority of cases, and whatever penalties there are quickly forgotten, why not cheat?
Your comments—priceless
Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL
Image credit: Hariadhi on Wikipedia Commons
In response, 
The first are all the ‘leaders’ who turn out to be crooks—Dennis Kowalski, Jeffrey Skilling, Bernie Madoff and a host of other hedge fund managers—to name a very few.
Ever notice how apropos a comment made about one thing is for something totally unrelated?
