As a Sports Ethics and Business Ethics keynote speaker, I began to see an interesting confluence take place several years ago. For the life of me, I cannot remember “exactly when,” but I do know the phenomenon reached an ongoing crescendo of public interest when running back Ray Rice was pictured beating his wife in 2014. This was followed by the full explosion of Bill Cosby case (a most beloved Hollywood star), and then Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul who accused of sexual harassment and abuse in 2017.
The Phenomenon
Around 2017, I was asked to be a keynote business ethics speaker at an industry meeting in the healthcare world. The topics of my keynote speech and then the break-out sessions included sexual harassment and workplace bullying. A particular company in that industry was undergoing a great deal of turmoil (legal and “social”) after several women stepped forward and made serious charges against high-ranking executives.
The keynote portion of the business ethics presentation went very well, however in the breakout sessions where I worked with smaller employee groups, as an experienced speaker, I could literally feel the tension in the room. No one wanted to share or talk about what was going on in their organization. No one wanted to explore the idea that women and at least two gay men were harassed physically and verbally on an ongoing basis.
In that moment, I posed a question to the audience (of mostly men): “Fans of the Baltimore Ravens cheered like maniacs when Ray Rice took to the field after Ray Rice was caught on camera beating the hell out of his wife. What do you think of that?”
The Floodgate
What followed in that room was a full-blown, highly productive conversation which I did lead back to their company. In fact, my last session went an hour over its scheduled close.
As interesting to me, is that those in the sports world whether athletes or executives and team ownership, are sometimes just as reluctant to talk about ethical issues certainly within a team, university or conference. However (no surprise) they will talk about a similar scandal affecting an actor or singer; politician or business leader; scam artist or certainly, a retired player or sports story from the past. It was one of my motivations to write Monday Morning Ethics along with Bruce H. Wolk.
As a sports ethics keynote speaker, my passion and mission is to teach that every choice has a consequence. I doubt if Ray Rice, Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein ever fully embraced that notion. Yes, I believe in second chances but I also know that if a scandal or fraud can be stopped the first-time around, it is all that much better.
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