Avoid Leadership Failure by Focusing on Your Purpose

Joe Paterno’s decision to coach the remaining games,rna decision later nullified by his firing, was arnleadership failure. By focusing on his purpose, hernshould have seen that coaching out the schedule was arnterrible idea. Learn from his leadership failure that you should usernyour purpose as a moral compass to guide you in makingrntough decisions. I’ve said before that when we focus on the purpose,rnwe get ourselves and others more engaged in the work,rnmore committed to goals, and more productive in ourrnjobs. But, whenever we’re faced with big decisions, we needrnto ask whether a decision will promote the purpose, orrndetract from it. Had Paterno done this, he shouldrnhave come to the inescapable conclusion that he shouldrnNOT coach the rest of the season. A former player said that Paterno had taught him andrnhis teammates to be men as opposed to the boys theyrnwere when they came to Penn State as freshman. So Irnsee Paterno’s purpose as “transforming boys intornhonorable men.” Paterno was enabling a child predator to continuernabusing children, and he described this tragedy asrn“one of the great sorrows of my life.” Why it wasn’trnthe “greatest” sorrow, I don’t know. But he should have asked himself if coaching thernremaining games might look like “business as usual,”rnor not showing enough sorrow for the children who werernabused because of Paterno’s enabling. He should have let his purpose, as his moral compass,rnguide his actions. If building honorable men means teaching themrnleadership, personal responsibility, and compassionrnand concern for others, then coaching out the season,rnwas NOT the right decision. Some might think he was showing how you carry on withrndetermination when faced with adversity. I disagree. Maybe you do that with a “personal” adversity, therndeath of a loved one, or something like that. Butrnthis was larger than any personal loss. This was arntragedy of stunningly profound proportions, involvingrnthe sexual abuse of totally innocent children. The moral compass of building honorable men shouldrnhave shown him that this tragedy was bigger than JoernPaterno, or the team, or the university. The best wayrnto build honorable men would have been to retirernimmediately. And, although Paterno isn’t the only personrnresponsible for this tragedy, focusing on his purposernwhen he first discovered the abuse would have promptedrnhim to take appropriate action. That would havernprevented subsequent abuse. Leaders take responsibility for their actions, andrnhave laser-like focus on their purpose. In his decision to coach the remaining games, JoernPaterno, a talented man who has done a lot of good,rndidn’t focus on his purpose. Know your purpose. Articulate it. Use it as yourrnmoral compass. Until next edition, keep leading the way! Copyright (C) 2011 by Terry Wall