In a 2013 article by Michael Blanding he reminds us that “when
Armstrong confessed to Oprah Winfrey in January 2013 that he had
"doped" - taken performance-enhancing drugs - to win his record seven
consecutive Tour de France victories from 1999 to 2005, few might have been
surprised. Rumours and allegations had been swirling around the cyclist for
years. And yet, there was still something shocking about the admission. At the
peak of his career, Armstrong was one of the most celebrated athletes in the
world, earning $28 million a year from team salaries and sponsorship deals. More
than that, Armstrong had transcended himself to become an icon, having overcome
testicular cancer and then raising nearly $400 million to fight the disease
through his Lance Armstrong Foundation (now the Livestrong Foundation).”
So out of the horror story of power, greed, delusion and
denial what can the ‘common’ man learn from this saga?
When Armstrong chose to break the rules of professional
cycling by taking illegal substances, he did more than put his own career in
jeopardy—he betrayed millions of people who believed in him, and risked the
reputations and careers of teammates in order to win personal glory. "Once
he decides to cheat, it is not just about him, he needs to create this whole
infrastructure around him with this incredible organization to facilitate
it," says Professor of Management Practice Clayton S. Rose, who sees in
Armstrong's story an ideal vessel for teaching lessons about business ethics
and leadership.
Michael Blanding explains that “despite its emphasis on
individual heroes, cycling is very much a team sport, one where the team
supports the leader and works for his success. Riders help shield their leader
from other cyclists in tight packs, draft in front of him to reduce wind
resistance during climbs, and chase down rivals who break from the group. So
when Armstrong decided to dope, he required other riders to dope as well to match
his escalating performance level, and the rest of the support team to
facilitate the doping and manage the cover-up to achieve victory.”
In fact the jury is probably out on whether cheating in
sports is on the increase or whether authorities are just getting better at
catching the cheats. But teams don’t just exist in the sports sector, teams
exist virtually everywhere in the business sector and somewhere around the
world, while you are reading this article, some innocent employee will be asked
directly or coerced indirectly to help their department or organisation
‘cheat’.
Like Armstrong the excuse for many will be that everyone
else is doing it and therefore ‘we’ have to do this to survive – whether it’s
accepting money or a gift, normally called a bribe; or it’s crossing the palm
of a government official with ‘silver’, somewhere this is going on right now –
and to many, just like with Armstrong, it’s fair play as long as you don’t get
caught.
The plain fact is that Armstrong probably would have remained
an unknown had he not cheated – and probably would never have raised the nearly
$400 million he did to fight cancer. Some organisations lose out on lucrative
contracts because they won’t get involved in bribery and corruption – and yet
again, beyond their circle of influence, probably no one else will ever know of
their moral stand.
So shouldn’t we be doing more to acknowledge ‘ethics in
business’ (and sport for that matter) or will we continue to allow corrupt
business and sports people to be turned into celebrities, even if only for a
short time, for cheating the system – and then, worse still, writing books and
making films about their blatant abuse of the system. What about the good guys
and gals – who’s celebrating their successes?
As Michael Blanding concludes “the lessons from
Armstrong's story go beyond the classroom to apply to a range of business
situations both on both Wall Street and Main Street; where well-meaning people
might be asked by a leader to break the rules for personal or corporate gain.”
References:
Blanding, M. (2013). Lessons from the Lance Armstrong
Cheating Scandal. Harvard Business School. [On-line: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7308.html]
No comments:
Post a Comment