Herman School of Business
Bi-Polar Focus...
People have a fascinating trait not often talked about. They can be great in one aspect of their lives and bad at other sides. Bill Clinton was thought to be a brilliant politician who could work a room with his charisma that was second to none. Some switch inside his head didn’t think it was a problem to engage in flirting with an intern and sharing a sexual experience with her…and then he played word games to deny any fault. Being Impeached didn’t seem to phase him. He went about his business as the President as though nothing he did warranted such action.
A man smart enough to run Enron also was crooked enough to lie about the accounting and trickery done to make things look good even as he ravaged the employee pensions, and screwed shareholders to the wall.
Hall of Fame baseball player Kirby Puckett was beloved by fans…until they found out he hit his wife. Steve Garvey was so popular he and his wife Cindy did a TV show. When he impregnated another woman, while being engaged to a third who was also pregnant people stopped liking Steve so much. His Political ambitions were shattered by the reality that he could be so self-centered.
Ahhh self-centered. Perhaps there is a way to distinguish between the really good guys and the two-faced ones. Are their actions almost always done for their own best interest and occasionally that also helps others? Until they end up doing so much for their own best interest even when others are hurt?
I don’t like these kind of people. And I can’t understand why so many others forgive this side of their behavior and stay supportive, remain friends, and enjoy time with them when their character, or the lack of it, has been revealed. How can anyone play golf with O.J. Simpson? Why does anyone care what Bill Clinton ever said after he lied to our face about Monica? To be totally fair here, I no longer believed George W Bush after he lied about the weapons of mass destruction which were never there, and should have been a reason for us to turn around and leave Iraq. Why would people throw a party when a criminal is released from jail? Is there no dignity, no humility? Why don’t the people caught doing terrible things to others simply stay in the shadows and make up for their evil ways. Because as long as others excuse their behavior the bad actors will never admit anything they have ever done.
One of my book ideas for the future is simply to be called, “I Didn’t Do It” and it will include the video tapes which clearly show so many police beatings and so much evidence that people commit crimes and never admit it. The Catholic Church still claims that certain Priests were innocent of abuse, yet payments in the millions were made to alleged victims. Why can’t people take responsibility for their actions? Because, they don’t have too. Someone will still befriend you, celebrate your finishing your “time” for having committed a crime, something that should shame you not make you happy.
People who admit they are wrong, take responsibility for their actions, and agree to pay for their behavior…should be forgiven, but not exulted. I offer to teach students at colleges lessons they need to learn, and I offer to go for free. A debate is now raging because certain Ivy League schools are paying ex-con businessman thousands of dollars to come speak to students about the fact that ethics matter. Huh? At least the head of one Entrepreneurial Program, the one at Yale University refuses to pay an ex-con to come before students spouting any message. You see, like me, this man believes that what the students see is not that crime does not pay…but rather, that it does…for some speakers have rather high incomes from simply talking about their crimes. Just another example of our ignoring the behavior and exulting the wrongdoer.
- Posted: 20 May 2008
- Comments: 1
- Category: Business success
Great stuff, as usual, but, just for the record, George Bush cannot be said to have “lied” about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A lie is an intentional falsehood, not just repeating a false statement. If you recall, the British and French, as well as many other nations, had the same intelligence we had, to wit: Sadam had these weapons. It’s not like Bush made this up for a political or personal benefit, like Clinton.
Please, gratuitous and dissimilar paralles are unnecessary and beneath the authentic and supremely unique views on this blog.
HERMAN SAYS: I should have put quotes around the word "lies" but George has never "owned" the mistake.Written by BillOGoods on 25 May 2008