In light of the release of the Mitchell Report pertaining to the widespread use of steroids in Major League Baseball, I reflected on what might be the cause of such a scandal.

Before I proceed, please pause and reflect on the following professional athletes and coaches:

• Marion Jones – disgraced track and field athlete
• Michael Vick – disgraced professional football player
• Bill Belichick – current NFL head football coach accused and fined for cheating
• Barry Bonds – indicted for lying about his involvement in steroids
• Roger Clemens & Andy Pettitte – Major League Baseball players accused of taking steroids in the Mitchell Report

As to the cause, let’s start with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. As most of you are aware, Belichick was caught spying on other teams. He admitted to cheating and was fined $500,000 by the NFL. To the average citizen, this fine would have been devastating but to a coach who makes millions in salary and endorsements, it’s little more than an inconvenience.

Now to the real root cause of the problem that is haunting professional sports. It’s us, the fans. Despite the fact that Bill Belichick was caught and admitted to cheating, fans keep buying the tickets and filling up the stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts to watch their World Champion Patriots.

I’m confident that Atlanta Falcon football fans would have filled the stadium if a convicted Michael Vick had been allowed to play this season.

Also, we have to be pretty naïve to believe that the steroid scandal exposed in the Mitchell Report is something new. How many coaches, players and owners have been aware of this abuse over the years? My bet is that it’s in the thousands. As long as the teams kept winning, kept filling the stadiums, kept making millions for the players, the owners, and the league, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy ruled. Now that the truth has been exposed, the media machines will go to work on “damage control” to restore the integrity of “America’s Game.” This is where the fans have the clout. If we as Americans believe in integrity and doing the right thing, we’ll boycott next year’s games until professional baseball cleans up its act. The question is, will fans act with integrity and expect excellence from the game or will they keep filling the stadiums as long as their team wins? I’ll bet on the latter.

It goes deeper. Parents spend millions of dollars a year sending their sons and daughters to special camps to hone their talents. Why? So they can win. Also, don’t be surprised if the next steroids scandal pertains to high school athletes. In America, it’s all about winning!!!

Even though Marion Jones cheated and she deserved the punishment that she received, she at least had the courage to admit what she had done. The guilt weighed so heavily on her conscience that she had to admit the truth so she could live a life of dignity. Unlike those implicated in the steroids scandal, she at least had the courage to face the truth.

As to the power of one’s conscience, this is where I will circle back to fellow Texans Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. The big question is, did they or didn’t they take steroids or performance enhancing drugs? Roger Clemens and his attorney are adamantly denying the accusations while Andy Pettitte’s camp is currently remaining silent. No matter the millions that these athletes have made, money will never remove the cloud of suspicion that will accompany their names. The millions that once praised them for their pitching expertise will always question their integrity. My recommendation to these, and all athletes who have cheated by taking steroids and performance enhancing drugs, is to come clean with the truth. This is the only way integrity can be restored to Major League Baseball.

Oh, I forgot to mention the most important result of telling the truth – a clear conscience.

Byrd Baggett
Track & Field All American, Team Captain
University of Texas, 1968-1972

Note: For those who might be interested, I didn’t cheat and I didn’t take steroids during my career at the University of Texas. My parents and coaches instilled in me the importance of fair play and sportsmanship. And yes, I sleep well at night, as the softest pillow is a clear conscience. Also, Andy Pettitte and I were both inducted into the Deer Park High School Hall of Honor. My hope is that an asterisk will not be placed next to his name.

The sponge is a great metaphor for life.  Like our life, the sponge requires moisture to stay flexible and resilient.  The moisture of life is the truth.  As long as we are vulnerable and open to absorbing the truth, we remain vibrant and are able to withstand the inevitable storms of life.  Once we cut ourselves off to truth, we become hardened and brittle.  Like the sponge without water, the challenges of life will slowly but surely break us apart, leaving us a shell of what we could have become if we had only been open to absorbing the truth.

Are you moist and growing or dry and rotting?  The good news is that it’s never too late to start creating the legacy you want to leave behind.

Following are a few recommendations on how you can benefit from the awesome power of truth:
Seek It – Speak It – Expect It – Respect It – Live It

To determine whether your team is green and growing or ripe and rotting, evaluate each team member per the following four Ripeness Ratings:

• High on ability and high on motivation – top performers
• High on ability and low on motivation – good to average performers
• Low on ability and high on motivation – good to average performers
• Low on ability and low on motivation – poor performers

Is your team green and growing or ripe and rotting?

I want to warn readers that this article can, and hopefully will be, hazardous to the health of managers. It was written with the intention to both offend and challenge those who treat people as human cattle. I was inspired to write this article after speaking with two friends, one a mid-level employee and the other a senior executive with a company that was recently acquired by a corporate giant. Both calls were depressing, as these loyal and capable people were totally disengaged because their companies were so focused on the bottom line and, in their opinions, no longer cared about them. Worst yet, both of these individuals were considering leaving their organizations because of a genuine feeling that their respective companies no longer valued people.

These are just more examples of the hundreds of people that I meet - from entry level to executive level - who are disengaged at work. This brings up a good question. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? This question is the title of Lee Iacocca’s new book, which I highly recommend for those searching for answers to our nation’s problems. It’s an open and candid conversation about the number one problem facing America: the lack of leadership at all levels - business, home, church, school, and government - of our society. It’s a sobering book, written with conviction and passion about the destructive forces of greed and envy.

Winning organizations leverage human capital, as they understand that intellectual capital is the only advantage they have in today’s highly competitive global marketplace. Ron Baker, a consultant to the service industry, states that, “you can’t measure or manage that which is most important.” “That” is people, the intellectual capital that is the lifeblood of an organization’s future. I wanted to share the following from his enlightening book, Measure What Matters Most to Customers:

I do not intend to dwell on the debate over the word “manager” versus “leader,” but in the specific context of knowledge work it is interesting to ponder where “manager” comes from:

“Manager is derived from the old Italian and French words maneggio and man`ege, meaning the training, handling, and riding of a horse. It is strange to think that the whole spirit of management is derived from the image of getting on the back of a beast, digging your knees in, and heading it in a certain direction. The word manager conjures images of domination, command, and ultimate control, and the taming of a potentially wild energy. It also implies a basic unwillingness on the part of the people to be managed, a force to be corralled and reined in. All appropriate things if you wish to ride a horse, but most people don’t respond very passionately or very creatively to being ridden, and the words giddy up there only go so far in creating the kind of responsive participation we now look for. Sometime over the next fifty years or so, the word manager will disappear from our understanding of leadership, and thankfully so. Another word will emerge, more alive with possibility, more helpful, hopefully not decided upon by a committee, which will describe the new role of leadership now emerging. An image of leadership that embraces the attentive, open-minded, conversationally based, people-minded person who has not given up on her intellect and can still act quickly when needed.” (Excerpts from Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity by David Whyte)

Following are the “takeaways” from this article:

• Manage yourself and lead others.
• Build a team around the values of trust, open and honest communication, respect, and performance accountability.
• Hire the best and get out of the way!

Another point to ponder:

If you think you’re leading and no one’s following, you’re just taking a walk!

The quality of performance in any organization is a direct reflection of the quality of leadership. The quality of morale, loyalty, retention, relationships, and business performance is directly related to how individual team members respond to the following questions:

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being “I very much agree” and 1 being “I very much disagree”, respond honestly to the following questions:

1. I am treated with dignity and respect _____.
2. I trust management _____.
3. My opinions are both solicited and valued _____.
4. There is equity in accountability (excellence expected from all/no double standards) _____.
5. I feel appreciated _____.
6. My immediate supervisor is an effective leader _____.

Team Average _____

Performance Potential (team average times 10) _____ %

Do you pass the test?

One closing thought – If your tenure as a leader were determined by a vote, would you be reelected?

And remember, it’s all about the relationship.

The following words are found on the wall of the executive suite at University Federal Credit Union in Austin, Texas…

This has proven to be a very successful philosophy, as University Federal Credit Union is one of the most successful financial institutions in the area.

There are only two known constants for the future: People and customer service. What is your organization doing to leverage relationships with your employees and customers? Investments in these areas will yield the greatest return on investment.

And remember, it’s all about the relationship.