Frank Rich, The New York Times’ columnist, wrote in his column today that Tiger Woods should be the person of the year because so often we’ve been “spun silly” into believing that a leader or organization’s character is stellar only to discover it wasn’t. Tiger, Enron, Eliot Spitzer and athletes on steroids are a few of the examples Rich sites.
Earlier I wrote about LRN’s Dov Seidman and his view (expressed in his book How) that in today’s connected and wired world it has become increasingly important for individuals and organizations to get their “hows” right. In other words, it’s difficult to manage your public reputation these days so character matters more than ever. Dov encourages organizations to out-behave the competition. I couldn’t agree more. (As an aside, reading the Times this morning I could see that the late Iranian cleric Ayatollah Montazeri was a fierce critic of Iranian hardliners because they were getting the “hows” wrong. Montazeri wrote “a political system based on force, oppression, changing people’s votes, killing, closure, arresting and using Stalinist and medieval torture, creating repression, censorship of newspapers, interruption of the means of mass communications, jailing the enlightened and the elite of society for false reasons, and forcing them to make false confessions in jail, is condemned and illegitimate.” Read more about Montazeri in his obituary at this link.)
No doubt, the connected world is improving transparency and rooting out the bad behavior of individuals, organizations and nations. It provides another much needed check on power.
Last week while having lunch with Jay Morris, the head of Yale-New Haven Health System’s Center for Excellence, the topic of Tiger came up. Jay and I frequently see examples of lonely individuals in high status positions who isolate themselves from others to protect their facade. When loneliness sets in and they begin experiencing feelings of emptiness and boredom, they typically don’t understand why. Instead of developing meaningful relationships with others, which is what they need, they self-medicate with substance abuse and/or the illegitimate, temporary thrills from excessive risk-taking at work and in sexual conquest. It always ends badly. What can be done? Jay and I both agreed that Tiger is in need of a trusting, wise and caring older mentor who he can open up to, who will help him understand himself — including his need for meaningful relationships — and how to straighten out his life.
Tiger’s fall is yet another reminder of the need for human beings to live — and lead — in community. The more connected, transparent future will either drive bad actors to further isolate themselves or it will motivate them to develop strength of character that comes from the guidance, encouragement and accountability of others.
