Taking a Closer Look at Integrity

For the past several days, I watched the horrors at Penn State University unfold with a heavy heart. My parents both graduated there as did my sisters and scores of other family members and friends. Academically, PSU is one of the nation's great learning centers and still is. The cloud that has now covered the entire school is tragic at many levels but especially because of the fact no one stopped a predator from destroying so many young lives.

As a child, I remember my grandfather, who had zero interest in football, placing a petition in the entrance of his small clothing store about 20 miles west of the school asking Joe Paterno to not leave for the NFL. I asked him why this was so important and he told me it was because Joepa meant so much to the local economy and there was not a better man with higher mral standards (something my granfather was very big on) to be found.

My dad and I spent countless Saturdays in NJ struggling to get the radio broadcasts from Happy Valley so we could follow the legend of Joepa. My daughter was 2 weeks old when she sat in my lap as I tried to get her to understand the greatness of this program as they demolished U. of Cincinnati on 9/1/1990.

For years, I defined integrity as Joe Paterno and PSU Football and have always defended the program when others tried to challenge it. High graduation records, swift correction of disciplinary issues, refusing to pour it on when playing lesser opponents, all signs of high integrity, or at least that is what I thought.

What I have learned this past week is that no one is perfect. No one can go through life without making mistakes. Accountability is essential at all levels. Whistle blowing is essential to a safe and healthy workplace and should not be frowned upon. All employers, public, private, governmental need to be held to a higher level and looked at through a more powerful microscope than ever before. We all need to taka our jobs even more seriously than most of us now do and demand higher levels of integretity from our organizations and ourselves.

Public Perception

After watching too much football of late, I am deviating from the norm today to look at how the public perceives people through some personal observations dealing with college football coaches.

Urban Meyer has been highly successful where he has coached and I think the University of Florida would have been happy to keep him around for many decades. Last season he had some health issues and almost stepped down. This season, he found himself tired and missing the time he should be spending with his wife and 3 children so he resigned. Rumors have him doing some part-time work for ESPN but nothing at anywhere near the magnitude of a D-1 football program. He put his family and health ahead of his ego and preserved his future if he ever wants to return.

Dave Wannstadt was a fiery NFL coach who came back to his roots to coach at the University of Pittsburgh. While there, he forced several touted recruits (Joe Flacco-now an NFL QB for one) out to make room for his style of athlete. Most of his work backfired and now he is publicly stating he is angry at Pitt for forcing him to resign.

Pitt's new hire, Mike Hayward, came with only 2 unimpressive years as a head coach at a smaller school but with lots of talk about improving the discipline, GPA's, and dress codes of his players. Less than 3 weeks after being hired, he spent a night in jail before posting bail on a felony charge of domestic aggravated assault. Pitt fired him a few hours later.

George O'Leary was hired several years back to revive Notre Dame's slumping football program after some successful years in the Big 12. He was fired a few weeks later for falsifying his resume and has struggled to regain respect in the coaching world taking low paying assistant coaching jobs before making his way to the University of Central Florida.

Finally, there is Joe Paterno who just completed his 45Th season as head coach at Penn State, 60Th overall at PSU. 'Joepa' has never changed one thing about his approach to coaching, always putting integrity of himself, his staff, his athletes, his family and the university ahead of winning. Albeit a tough loss yesterday, he has taken his teams to 37 bowl games in 45 years. His graduates have become classically trained musicians, noted surgeons, politicians, corporate presidents, educators, and yes, football coaches and athletic directors. Those who got in trouble got a second chance but he strongly adheres to two strikes and you are out.

These contrasting stories could easily transfer to any profession. As 2011 begins, I urge you to take a good hard look at yourself and make sure you represent the type of person you really want to be!

Actions of several consultants working for me, a few candidates, and even a few hiring managers, got me thinking about the word integrity over the past several weeks. To me, integrity means never deviating from being honest, reliable, dependable, hard working, and trustworthy. I have seen so many people deviate from those standards of late that I really starting questioning whether or not I understood the true meaning of integrity!

Numerous dictionary sites all have basically the same definition and here it is: adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

Look at yourself in a mirror and decide if you fit the definition of integrity. If not, the time has come to fix this and fix it fast before others notice your flaws!