Reputation

Today came reports that Penn State's administration tried to "hide" the Jerry Sandusky scandal for a number of years. As far as leadership is concerned, reputation is a lifelong goal for any leader.

In this case, the administration was not involved in the actual abuse, but tried to hide the actions of Sandusky. This is obviously a major violation of the agency problem in business.

The agency problem is where each employee is a representative of the organization of which they work. Most employees that "violate" the agency problem are viewed as the individual's issue and not a representation of the company as a whole.

However, in this case, the agency issue caused by Sandusky could have been swiftly dealt with by the administration. Here is Joe Paterno, a man of unquestionable reputation for decades until the scandal.  He let someone such as Sandusky ruin his reputation based upon these credible and proven accusations.

A decision by Paterno and the administration ruined Paterno and Penn State University's reputation. If Paterno would still be alive today I would pose this simple question: if these were your grandchildren that Sandusky molested, would you have turned him in? This question is easily answered...

Needless to say, reputation need to be guarded at all costs. Reputation is everything to a leader....