Business Ethics: CEO as Liar, Coward

 

 

Worldcom and Enron seem like they were years ago. Actually they were. Supposedly since then, things have changed. Thanks to Sarbannes Oxley and a hard focus on governance, organizations are more transparent and honest.

 

Are they?

 

One of the things that characterized both Enron and Worldcom was the dishonesty and lack of accountability at the highest levels. Bald face lying and blaming underlings for everything was a critical defense. There was no place for the buck to stop.

 

What’s fascinating is how Worldcom and Enron appear to have accurately represented their generation in the business cycle. From politicians to high profile managers, avoiding blame by telling lies and blaming others seems like its never been so in-your-face.

 

Lying politicians isn’t new. But read the polls. Regardless of political persuasion, American voters have come to the conclusion – rightly so based on overwhelming evidence - that the current crop of political leaders are amongst the most outrageous liars ever.  From wars to pedophilia, voters do not believe what their leaders are telling them.

 

In the business world, examples of liar, liar syndrome keep appearing in the press. In Canada, the outing of Westjet’s founder and CEO is a case in point. Accused of stealing and utilizing secret information from a competitor’s website, the CEO was indignant. “I absolutely, categorically, did not, would not, never, under any circumstances would I do that.” 

 

Then the Company settled it’s lawsuit and apologized for spying.

 

Then, the court released emails detailing the CEO’s full knowledge and involvement in the scheme, putting a lie to all earlier protestations and destroying his credibility. The CEO’s defense?  The emails and IM’s are out of context.  

Really?

Having been exposed as being unethical, perhaps also being exposed as a coward is irrelevant. But if it is - it’s counterintuitive – because the boldest liars frequently seem to be the most macho managers. Naturally, it would be wrong to think that someone’s who’s got the ‘guts’ to lead their company off into unethical behavior would also have the balls to admit it when they get caught.

 

It makes me wonder what’s going on here. Is lying new? No, obviously not.

 

Thanks to the internet and news media are we simply more exposed to it? Probably.

 

As a result, are we getting immune to it? It sure looks like it. According to ‘Canadian Business Magazine’: “Revelations that the chairman and CEO of WestJet Airlines (TSX:WJA) was well aware of confidential information from a corporate espionage case that was settled earlier this year were not expected to have a big impact on Canada's second-largest airline.”

 

Finally, given lying’s high profile and the lack of visible consequences are we teaching a whole new generation of business leaders the wrong message? I believe we are.

 

Honesty equals trust. Without honesty there can be no trust and CEO’s who fail to recognize that or choose to ignore it are only lying to themselves:  “This is totally unjust and unreasonable and unfair because that's not what I am.”

 

Tell it to your employees.

 

Tell it to your Board.

 

Tell it to your investors.

 

Tell it to the judge.

 

 

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