It was about EPO.
As a cycling fan, this breaks my heart. I’ve read the books, watched the races, and was convinced that it was extra hard work and determination that allowed Lance Armstrong to stand upon the podium seven times. In fact, I was a Greg LeMonde detractor when the three-time Tour winner accused Armstrong of cheating a few years ago. “Sour grapes,” was my thought. However, LeMonde has been vindicated in my eyes.
It isn’t just sports stars that struggle with cheating. Earlier this year former Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson was forced to step down because he lied on his resume. Integrity doesn’t appear to be a virtue we can expect people in the public spotlight to live up to. Just look at the fact checking that goes on after a Presidential debate or after one of the candidates make an important speech.
The last time I wrote about this I actually received feedback from a reader or two who felt like there were times when lying to the team or your employees was OK. I tend to take the view of President Dwight Eisenhower who said, “The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionable integrity. Without it, no real success is possible.”
The leaders I have responded to best over the years have been men of unquestionable integrity. As a business leader, without the trust of your team you will never have the ability to lead anyone anyplace.
You’re right Ty…I’ve long said that, “the method you choose to do something is often more important than what you are trying to do/accomplish”. I applaud his wanting to bring awareness and a cure to cancer, but it should never have been done at the expense of his integrity or the integrity of his sport, or his team, or anything else. As it says in the bible, “to obey is better than sacrifice”. True stuff, I say.
Thanks for your comments Adam. I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this. Lance isn’t the first to get caught cheating and he certainly won’t be the last. It seems to plague every facet of life from business and sports to politics. I’m not sure how we fix this problem. It’s obvious that “Don’t lie,” or “Don’t cheat,” hasn’t been the answer for far too many athletes, politicians, or business leaders.
Without integrity and truth what do we have ?
I lost everything because of a business partner who lacks integrity as well as ethics. So, as a reminder, there are those that are “left in the dust” by these folks that continually lie, cheat, even steal. The scope of damage from one liar can be devastating.
Ty,
Clearly the end result of this outweighs his accomplishments thru LiveStrong. It’s sad that such a beacon of light for so many people has been permanently tarnished. I wonder if Lance actually sees how powerful the unraveling has been and regrets his decision to cheat???
P.S. Great article
People think it’s ok to lie. My boss can me up front and question me about a client’s file the clerk accused me of closing with out merit and stated that that person had been in to office and could not get their services that did not happen. I asked for the sign in sheet and asked the clerk to show me where the person sign in she could not I turned to my boss and say before you accuse me of something do your research. He get a pass he is *80 years old and will not go home. Sadly he know that this employee has no integrity. People don’t understand that you morals and integrity is the most important trait in life.