“It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.”
— Warren Buffett
He was considered a legend in his industry. Wealthy individuals from around the country asked if they could be his clients; many were turned away. Past chairman of the NASDAQ. Former board of governors member of the National Association of Securities Dealers. President of his building’s co-op board, where “tenants say he appeared down-to-earth, friendly and always greeted everyone by their first name.” His multimillion dollar private foundation gave generously to hospitals and universities and Special Olympics. “Colleagues said he was fair to those he dealt with . . . and treated employees well.” “He was thought of as a great philanthropist, a pillar of the community.”
At 70 years old, this was Bernie Madoff’s reputation, up until last week.
Reputation is actually just one lens through which a Leader can be observed and described.
Consider these five “identity lenses:”
- Reputation: the person people think you are
- Self-image: the person you think people think you are
- Ambition: the person you want to be
- Ego: the person you think you are
- Character: the person you are
Leadership simplicity comes when all five of these lenses align and reveal the same person. Leadership complexity comes when just one of these lenses diverge from the others.
As I’ve written before, reputation is our external identity. It is the person we project through our physical, emotional and intellectual presence. We want to be seen as physically attractive, emotionally balanced and intellectually bright. These external parts of ourselves can be ‘enhanced’ with other accouterments — living in the right neighborhood, belonging to the right clubs, driving the right cars. Nothing wrong with these, as long as they don’t become disguises for who we really are.
To borrow author Os Guinness’ title of his book on character, who are you “When No One Sees?”
As public and personal economies continue to get turned on their heads in the days ahead, I expect we will see more reality exposed. Last Friday’s section A of the Wall Street Journal seemed to read like a Special Edition on Corruption in America. Just below the lead article on Madoff was a color photo of Illinois’ governor, who was secretly recorded behaving in a manner unexpected of a state’s chief executive. Page A4 carried the story of a former director at Bayview Financial who pocketed an extra $2.8 million over six years by erasing and re-writing entries on applications for mobile home mortgages. The next page carried an article on real estate developer Antoin Rezko — back in the news for more underhanded activities with Chicago politicians.
The interesting question regarding all these men is this — Who did people think they were before their downfall, based simply on their job titles, or the suits they wore or the people they were photographed with?
True character always comes out in crisis. Crises are abounding these days, so character — good or bad — will be exposed.
How are you, how am I, cultivating that inner character that we can have no fear of anyone seeing?
How will the description of you, as Leader, read . . . when the tide goes out?
Leave a comment here.
Forward this to a Leader you know.
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2 The New York Times; December 13, 2008; B1; “Standing Accused”