Eddy Parham, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

by Eddy Parham, SPHR

I have to admit, I’m a Lance fan. The guy beat cancer and came back to win an unprecedented seven Tour de France championships. As I write this I look over at a shelf in my office and see Lance, clad in a yellow jersey, looking my way. I’ve read his books; I have Postal Service and Discovery Channel water bottles sitting on another shelf in my office. Yes, I’m a fan. And up until this week I was sure that he was clean. Even the previous accusations were supported by those who had been caught doping, had a propensity to be less than truthful, and in one case the accuser has been convicted of fraud so it was easy to believe Lance was clean – at least for me. And for the record, I still want to believe he is clean but the evidence is pointing in the other direction.

I mention this because if he did use performance enhancing drugs then this is could go down as one of the greatest cover ups in history. This was more than just one guy using EPO and then denying it. No there was a whole team of cyclist, doctors, managers, directors, and trainers who covered this up and not just for one stage of the Tour or even for just one Tour but for over a decade. Now that’s a long time for that many people to hold a conspiracy together. And, a whole lot of unethical behavior to boot!

But here is what I know – sooner or later all unethical behavior comes to light. I’m sure that there were those at Enron, HealthSouth, WorldCom, Tyco, the Nixon administration, et cetera, that truly believed that they would never get caught or worse, didn’t understand that what they were doing was wrong.  Afterall, why would someone undertake unethical or illegal behavior if they knew they would be caught?  It’s just a matter of time before the truth is known.

Ethical behavior is something that should drive all of us but unfortunately it doesn’t – at least not all of us. Some people are very ethical, some could care less about ethics, and others look at ethics in a situational manner. I remember having to take a class in college on business ethics. The class was predicated on the pretense that ethical behavior in business was somehow different than ethical behavior outside of business, which never set well with me.  To put it in Bidenesque terms - that type of thinking is malarky.

Ethics are ethics and it matters not in what situation one finds oneself. It doesn’t matter if I’m dealing with a customer, client, or a family member – my decisions should be guided by The Golden Rule and not three different Golden Rules. J.C. Watts sums up ethics this way, “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.”

Unfortunately I think J.C. is correct but I would like to believe that those who are trying to get by without getting caught are in the minority. And I really hope that Lance isn’t in that minority.