Is saying "I'm sorry" sometimes not enough?
Should we say we're sorry when we're not?
What if we're not sorry when we should be?
These are some of the questions the ethics panel will take up this Wednesday at 5:00 pm ET when Mark Brown, CSP, Deb Coviello, and Kimberly Davis join me to Grapple with the Gray.
Here is our topic?
Days after a highly charged appearance before a Congressional hearing, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned under pressure after she refused to condemn anti-Semitism and genocidal slogans as violations of her school’s rules of conduct, despite offering a public apology.
Curiously, the presidents of Harvard and MIT, who gave virtually identical testimony at the same hearing, have received overwhelming support from their boards and faculty. Meanwhile, wealthy alumni are withdrawing their support in droves.
It’s hard to imagine that the three presidents did not confer with one another prior to the hearing, since they all gave the same answers, almost verbatim. For President Magill, at least, that seems to have been inadequate preparation. How might she have better prepared herself for the hearing that went so awry?
And what are we to make of the radically divergent reactions among three similar university communities? Do the responses of MIT and Harvard appear to be really about core principles or more about territorial autonomy and political posturing?
In general, how should leaders respond when their comments or behavior creates unexpected controversy? When and how can leaders recover from mistakes and when are they fatal to future effective leadership?
Meet this week’s panelists:
Mark Brown, CSP is a world champion speaker, an executive coach, and an artificial intelligence software advisor.
Deb Coviello The Drop In CEO™ Coviello, aka the Drop in CEO, is an author, speaker, podcast host, and silver medalist curler who coaches C-Suite leaders of today and tomorrow to navigate challenges with confidence.
Kimberly Davis is an author, TEDx speaker, and founder of the Brave Leadership University, leading development programs world-wide, around authentic leadership, purpose, presence, and influence.