Leadership & Character – Cheating

On February 1, 2015 the National Football League celebrated its marquee event – the Super Bowl. The latest edition of the Super Bowl has taken on a whole new story-line because one of its most accomplished and famous players – Tom Brady – has been accused of being involved with deflating the footballs used in the game to an air pressure level lower than the standard set by the rules. It is alleged that he gained an advantage by being able to grip the ball more securely on a day when the game was played in wet conditions. This story has come to be known as “deflategate”.

The individual at the center of the story – Tom Brady – is the quarterback of the New England Patriots and has had a remarkable career in professional football. He has been the starting quarterback for four Super Bowl victories. He has won three Super Bowl MVP awards and has won two league MVP awards. There is a hearing scheduled for the latter part of June where Tom Brady will presumably defend himself against these charges. However, it appears that the jury of public opinion has already decided that Tom Brady is guilty of being involved in deflating the footballs which in the end amounts to cheating. Although there is more to be written on whether Tom Brady is in fact guilty of cheating, the story brings to light an important leadership issue. There are many examples both in sports and in business where prominent individuals have been caught cheating, damaging their own reputation as well as the reputation of the organizations they are associated with. This begs the question: “how can we actively reinforce positive character behaviours and reduce the probability of people engaging in poor character behaviours such as cheating”?

The answer to this question may be found by examining a study published in the book ”Predictably Irrational” written by Dan Ariely. In the book Ariely cites research that he and some colleagues conducted examining peoples’ propensity to cheat if given the opportunity without fear of being caught. In the study, participants were asked a series of multiple-choice questions. In the first group – the Control Group – participants chose answers to the questions and then immediately submitted the answers to be scored. An average score for all participants was established. This was considered the baseline level of success in answering multiple-choice questions. A second group was given the same questions to answer, however upon completing their choices they were given a separate card to use to submit their final answers. They were also given a document outlining the correct answers to all of the questions prior to completing the document containing their final answer submission. For Group 2, the average number of correct scores was significantly higher than the average number of correct scores for the Control Group, indicating the likelihood that people altered some of their answers when completing the scorecard that was submitted after receiving a document outlining the correct answers. This result was not particularly surprising to the researchers. Although we’ll never know, one could surmise that the individuals who changed some of their answers to achieve a better score felt that:

• They weren’t doing anyone any harm
• Weren’t stealing anything from anyone
• Were simply putting down an answer that they probably had been thinking of
• They wanted to feel better about themselves by getting a higher score

The problem is, altering the scores is still cheating and puts us on a slippery slope when it comes to the notion of integrity and good character.

The study didn’t stop at Group 2. What is intriguing about the research done by Ariely and his colleagues is the results of the third round of testing. In the third round, two groups were assembled – we’ll call them group 3A and 3B. They were asked the same set of questions and were similarly given a separate card to submit their final answers after receiving a document containing the correct answers. However, one additional step was inserted into the process. Group 3A was asked to list their 10 favourite books prior to submitting their final answers. Group 3B was asked to list as many of the 10 Commandments as they could think of prior to submitting their final answers.

The results were very enlightening. Group 3A achieved an average score almost identical to that of Group 2 where the average scores were significantly higher than the control group indicating the likelihood that people altered their answers. The average score for group 3B however was the same as the original Control Group – Group 1 – indicating the likelihood that no answers had been altered. The authors of the study felt that having people think about the 10 Commandments led them to be much more aware of right and wrong behaviours. So, even though they were not being monitored, it caused them to resist the temptation to cheat.

I think the lesson from this is that if your organization wants to nurture positive character attributes, it needs to integrate strong character values into leadership training and regular communications.

To build a character-driven culture, we don’t necessarily have to promote the tenets of a particular religion so much as we have to nurture attributes such as integrity, ethics, honesty and other values and virtues connected with the concept of good character. In the past, there have been limited resources available to organizations to measure and build character competencies. However, that has changed. The MERIT Profile Assessment™ can assist in the process of measuring important character competencies. It also can be integrated into leadership training that emphasizes a philosophy of building a Personal Leadership Effectiveness Culture that reinforces many character traits that are part of building a strong CQ (Character Quotient). By embedding positive principles into the culture, an organization can know that building and nurturing character competencies will increase leadership effectiveness and overall performance.

As always, I welcome your feedback. You can connect with me via email or telephone or leave a comment right here on the site.

Until next time,

Dave

David Town, CHRL, is a facilitator and coach of leadership and management principles that enable individuals and organizations to build greater leadership competency, resulting in higher performance and higher employee engagement. David has a particular focus on effectively managing conversations involving confrontation or conflict. As well, he provides insights and assessment strategies for integrating character competencies into leadership skills resulting in increased trust and reduced risk for leaders. David is President of Your Leadership Matters Inc.