Our Blind Spot?

I’ve been reading with interest the unfolding, or unraveling, of the Ben Roethlisberger case over the past several weeks. If you’re interested or haven’t seen the sordid details you can find them here or here.

In a recently released letter from Roethlisberger’s attorney, David Cornell, to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Cornell comes to the defense of Roethlisberger by stating the following: I am confident that we share the same view of the men who play professional football. While the public sees men of extraordinary athletic prowess, rarely is there any acknowledgement of the years of physical and mental preparation or the commitment that is made merely to be in the position to compete on Sundays. This pervasive blind spot tends to cause the public and the media to focus primarily on the football player and not the man who plays football. But, we know better.

Substitute Roethlisberger for the Wall Street CEO’s under fire (think Goldman Sachs) and that paragraph could read about the same. Something like: While the public sees men of extraordinary net worth, rarely is there any acknowledgement of the years of training and preparation to be able to move into the leadership position of a Wall Street firm. This pervasive blind spot tends to cause the public and the media to focus primarily on the perceived greed and not the man that earned it.

But here’s where that argument falls short. Whether your business is professional football or derivatives trading, the public and media ARE focusing on the man, or better yet, the leader, in both situations and that’s exactly why there is anger and disappointment. Charles Barkley once said “I think the media demands that athletes be role models because there’s some jealousy involved.” Not so much.

Mr. Cornell, we know better. Jealousy, lack of understanding or acknowledgment isn’t the issue. In fact, I would argue the “pervasive blind spot” isn’t with the public or media, but rather with the man who plays professional football or leads Wall Street but doesn’t understand a fundamental point of leadership - perhaps the single most important point: We want to trust those who are in positions of leadership. What we’re likely to find is that in the case of Roethlisberger v. NFL or Goldman v. U.S Senate, no laws were actually broken. Trust, however, was. Break that trust and then we see nothing but another football player.