A scorpion sat by a river wondering how he could get across.
A turtle ambled by and the scorpion said, "Hey, turtle, would you give me a ride across the river?'
The turtle responded, "Are you kidding? I may be slow, but I'm not stupid. You'll sting me and I'll drown!"
"That would stupid on my part, turtle. If I sting you, we'll both drown!"
The turtle thought about and said, "I guess that makes sense. OK, climb on my back and I'll swim across."
The scorpion climbed on the turtle's back and they started crossing the river.
Halfway across, the scorpion stung the turtle.
The turtle cried out, "Why did you sting me? Now we're BOTH going to drown!"
To which the scorpion replied, "I can't help it. I'm a scorpion."
Steve,
Trust is a very valuable commodity that should not be given or received without due consideration. For many years Lance Armstrong has asked us to trust him, and our reward for that trust is disillusionment.
Our parents taught us how to cross a street by Stop, Look & Listen. We should do the same with customers, friends and colleagues.
I know that you Steve, enjoy the game of golf and I enjoy playing golf with friends, customers and colleagues. You learn a lot about a person’s temperament, honesty & values. It would have been interesting to have played golf with Lance Armstrong.
Good point about golf, Eric. I’ve known several executives who always played a round of golf with someone they were thinking about hiring. The real “you” comes out on the golf course!
Steve,
Great analogy…I’ve heard before and it fits well re Armstrong. I used to think no way would he dope…he’s just a great athlete and bicyclist. But as time went on it just seemed too obvious although I still hoped it wasn’t true. Now I’m done with him. I guess anyone can change, but this went on for years evening lying to his children. He hurt a lot of people. I don’t feel he’s sorry and is fessing up now for his own agenda. Sigh! Other more important things going on in this country to give him the attention he so obviously craves. I do admire his work for cancer but TRUST is a big thing – you don’t have much without it even if you do good.
While I do not condone what Mr. Armstrong has done, I have to look at what we, as a society, will allow to happen. His doping was not a one man show – he had trainers and suppliers who made this an easier choice. Ultimately, the choice was his, yes, yet it is bigger than his choice. It is a cultural issue regarding integrity and honesty and the ability our society has to overlook some dishonesties based on the perpetrator and then cry foul when the falsehoods become public. That is what needs to be fixed.
These types of decisions are made every day in the business world – the choice to walk the right path or choose the slightly crooked path to further our own agenda. Choosing the slightly crooked path is not much different than what Mr. Armstrong did, he simply stood on a larger platform than most of us will ever stand on. His choices have implications on so many levels, but don’t ours as well? In the end, we each have to look at ourselves in the mirror and deal with the consequence of our own decisions.
I agree that Lance Armstrong was wrong and that he should not have lied. The fact that so many other cyclists also used performance enhancing drugs does not matter.
However, while Lance was rising to the top of Cycling after the cancer many newspapers and networks sold ads because they were covering the Lance story and everyone wanted to know about it. Companies wanted Lance to be their spokes person and I am sure they sold lots of whatever he was promoting at the time. NBC decided to broadcast the final day of the tour on their network. They knew people would be watching and they knew they could make money selling advertising. Lance created an interest in cycling that has not been repeated since his departure from the sport.
Lance now admits his wrong doing and now networks are selling advertising on programs replaying his confession. Newspapers are selling ads, bloggers are getting attention because they are remarking on Lance.
There are many folks that profited from Lance and they will never have to give their money back.
Did Ray Lewis murder his friend? Did Ben Rothlesberger rape that girl? Should Michael Vick be playing professional football. It goes on and on. Trust continues to be broken.
Is it the money?
Where do we start? Where do we stop?