A Failed Integrity Scan

I am a two time alumni of Penn State.  I received my undergraduate degree from Penn State as well as my Ph.D.  I also was a student-athlete at Penn State and was indoctrinated into the culture of integrity and academic excellence that started to be embedded into the athletic department in the late 1980’s.  Some of my first memories as a child are driving to Penn State with my uncle (who was the captain of the basketball and baseball teams in the early 1970’s) to watch basketball games or to visit the Penn State farms.  As a senior in high school there was only one real choice for me as I looked at colleges...Penn State. When deciding where to get a Ph.D. it made perfect sense to me that I would travel over 2 hours one way four times a week in the summer and once or twice a week during the school year so I could receive a degree from a program (Educational Leadership) that was the third ranked program in the nation at the time.  In other words, I bleed blue and white; which brings me to what is presently occurring at Penn State.

I am sickened about what I hear of the sexual abuse case at Penn State.  I am appalled and infuriated that children were placed as pawns in a way to protect the image of the football program.  I am also deeply saddened that a few key people totally failed an integrity scan.  Susan Scott, in her book Fierce Conversations, talks about a conversation that all of us should have with ourselves at least once a year.  This conversation is called an “integrity scan” because you ask yourself if your actions align with your stated values.  An integrity scan is a powerful and scary undertaking.  For example if you state that honesty is a value you live by but you find yourself not telling the truth in a lot of conversations then you have failed an integrity scan.  If you say one thing in private to someone and state the opposite in public, then you have failed an integrity scan.  I understand that humans are fallible and not perfect. As a matter of fact, I know that I am far from being perfect and have had to realign my actions to my values.  I also know that organizations are a collection of imperfect human beings working (hopefully) toward a common goal; thus organizations are not perfect.  However, to have a total failure of integrity within an entire system (as occurred at Penn State) is simply unacceptable.  In this case children were forever harmed because of a total lack of integrity. It is sickening to think about. 

Moving forward, what does the tragedy (for the victims) at Penn State teach us?  I think our individual reactions to this mess probably tell us more about ourselves if we are willing to listen.  For me it emboldens me make sure that I can do everything I can in my personal life to align actions to values.  As a leader of a great school district I want to make sure that the organization and everyone involved in it acts with integrity.  People are not perfect and none of us should expect to be perfect, but it is not unreasonable for all of us (as well as the organization) to strive toward aligning actions with values.  Not to do so can lead toward a complete failure of integrity and in our business that means children get hurt.