The SCN Encourager – Monday, January 21, 2013

Lance Armstrong, Oprah, and the “I” word.

Incredible. Nope, that’s not the word. Inconsistent. No, that’s not the word, either.

From any angle you approach the entire Lance Armstrong saga, the only word that has ever really mattered is Integrity.

Our SCN “Huddle Up!” Leadership Coach Mark de Roo was spot on with a commentary he wrote back in late August on our scnforyou site. Throughout his long career of consulting an impressive roster of talented organizational leaders, I’m sure that one of the strategies that Mark has never offered to any of them is “Hey, (CEO – Supt. – HR Director), you know that personal integrity thing? Let’s get creative. It’s time to roll out something new!”

I know Mark pretty well. I can’t imagine any scenario where he would say that truth, accountability, and transparency are attributes to be managed and manipulated back in the board room. Effective leaders find ways (frequently with Mark’s help) to build on these and other core virtues to motivate their teams, their organization, and their followers. They don’t plot out deceptions to dupe them.

Here is a direct link to Mark’s commentary, now more than four months old. It’s about Armstrong. Hope you’ll read it. The lesson hasn’t grown old at all. But since Mark didn’t predict the recent “telling it all” interviews with Oprah, I must, in all good conscience, only give Mark’s essay a grade of A–. 

My integrity counts, too, you know.

Tom Page, SCN Managing Editor