Penn State and Hubris

My latest column for American Lawyer's Corporate Counsel magazine looks at the Penn State sexual assault scandal... and why we let high performers get away with -- not just indiscretions, but crimes! 
An excerpt follows: 

...in my years as a communications consultant in crisis and litigation situations, I've seen it all before. Whether it's financial firms breaching their fiduciary duty to clients by selling products they know will fail, pharmaceutical companies ignoring illegality in the marketing of their drugs, or law firm partners tolerating inappropriate behavior by big rainmakers, it is a pattern repeated again and again. Successful institutions begin to believe their own hype, that they can do no wrong, that economic achievement in their specific field of endeavor leaves them above the concerns of mere mortals, renders them—in the oft-used cliché—above the law. 

Thus, the transgressions of high-performing "stars" in these organizations are tolerated because of the success—and enormous profits—they bring. The money coming in blinds the institution to its own increasingly risky behavior in condoning bad behavior. "Looking the other way" becomes cover-up; "keeping it quiet" becomes obstruction. Lawyers are consulted, whose default position is often to say nothing and do nothing, lest any words or actions become a tacit admission that may one day be used in a court of law. Such advice fits just fine with what the organization has been doing all along. The moral and ethical give way to the strictly legal. 

Then it all explodes, and no one is prepared. Because they fooled themselves into believing it never would. 

If the allegations are to be believed, this is exactly what happened in the Penn State case. Jerry Sandusky, who is alleged to have perpetrated the horrible acts of child sexual abuse, was a star defensive coordinator credited with playing a key role in the Nittany Lions' national championships of 1982 and 1986. This success, predictably, brought huge financial rewards: the Penn State football program is said to have generated a stunning $50 million profit in 2009, on $70 million in revenue. No one at the institution had the fortitude to kill a goose that lays such golden eggs.  

And so, the alleged cover-up, and the inability to face head-on the incredible moral, legal, and reputational consequences of their silence.