Tuesday, July 25, 2023

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

Sometimes You Have to Quit When You're Behind

The football scandal at Northwestern is a lesson in bad crisis management. If you have an issue in your business, trying to punt isn't the right call. Keep these options in mind. 

 

BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS@HOWARDTULLMAN1

 

Watching the administrators at Northwestern University shimmy and shake to try to scramble away from the worst athletic scandal in school history looks as fruitless an exercise as sitting quietly in the stands at any NU football game on a Saturday afternoon in Evanston as the Wildcats get their butts kicked by a bunch of oversized Big 10 teams that prize steroids over scholarship. Northwestern lost 11 out of 12 games last season.

We all know that the fans and the players are gluttons for punishment, but we didn't know that, in addition to the on-field beatings, dozens of younger players were also hazed, harassed, and humiliated by older players, who were encouraged, aided and abetted by the coaching staff. This took place in practices, in the locker rooms, and at training camp and eventually led to Northwestern dismissing longtime head football coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Anyone who thinks that the players decided on their own-- year after year-- to punish the newbies for perceived mistakes or just for the hell of it is a bigger moron and just as complicit as the assistant coaches, trainers, and other enablers who let this stuff go on for years. Why the school thinks that any of these losers should be retained is beyond me.  Yes, this is personal: I am an NU alum, both undergraduate and law school.

The abuse wasn't limited to the gridiron. The baseball team, the cheerleaders, and probably every squad except the chess club suffered at the hands of a bunch of testosterone-maddened and insecure bullies. They violated every bit of trust, faith and confidence that the players, their parents, and the public had placed in them for decades.

Northwestern's president, Michael Schill, tried at first to bury the whole thing, even after a six-month investigation, with a despicable two-week suspension of Fitzgerald accompanied by a bland and clearly mistaken statement asserting that no one on the coaching staff knew anything about what was going on. The statement then went on to say that there was more than ample evidence for all the coaches to have known what was happening right under their noses. (An attorney for Fitzgerald denied the allegations and issued a statement saying that he "had no knowledge whatsoever of any form of hazing within the Northwestern Football Program.")

But the Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper, wasn't buying the administration's baloney and published lengthy articles about the true state of affairs. NU's football team may stink, but its journalism school is top 10.  Somewhat surprisingly, given the arrogance, obliviousness, and reluctance of administrators worldwide to ever concede error, president Schill was shamed to his senses and fired Fitzgerald. Schill seized upon the old and tired rationale that "the buck stopped with the boss"-- even as the university continued to suggest that the coach knew nothing.  The assistant coaches were retained, and one recent arrival was made interim head coach.

The lawsuits are mounting, inflicting reputational harm to the athletic program, the most immediate impact being the recruiting of players, and the prospect that the scandal may impair or shut down the school's grandiose plans to rebuild the football stadium. The fact that Fitzgerald is part way through a massive 10-year contract, which Northwestern may have to pay out, is just icing on the greed-laced cake that treats bigtime college coaches as economically critical supermen and fundraisers.

But the most important lesson for every entrepreneur trying to build a business isn't simply that hazing is horrible. Or even that it's sickening and sad that -- like everyone in the Trump White House except the Orange Monster himself -- so many knowing people in responsible positions claim they knew about it, were unhappy with it, and still did nothing.

Every business is going to face unexpected challenges to its integrity and core principles, disappointments from people you trusted and counted on, and issues that threaten to impact the business far more broadly than a rogue actor. What matters more than anything is how you, as the leader, respond.

So far, everything Northwestern's leadership has done is wrong.  Needless to say, they also share boatloads of blame for years of accommodating chubby old men -- donors -- trying to fondle cheerleaders in skimpy uniforms at pre- and post-game cocktail events. And they're still doing a half-assed job by trying to retain most of the people who are part of the problem. They need to dump the whole coaching staff, maybe give some thought to canceling the season although that seems to unfairly punish the players, bag the Big 10 and play somewhere where the team has half a chance to win a few games and won't have to take the losses out on their peers.  That would cost them the Big 10 revenues, which are probably one of the main drivers and corrupters of the whole program.

When, not if, you face a similar major and maybe existential problem and risk like this in your company, there are a few basic rules to keep in mind.

(1)   Blaming the Big Guy is Never Enough if the System Stinks

Big deal: Northwestern belatedly fired the head coach after being shamed into it; they think that by swinging the axe, he's gonna absorb all the blame even after they've given him a pass and claimed that he knew nothing. He built the shithouse that was their football program and to think that pushing him out without completely cleaning house is going to offer any comfort or consolation to the victims or convince anyone that Northwestern is really committed to change is wishful and foolish thinking. And to be clear, the head coach ain't even the biggest guy-- they need to dump the athletic director as well. 

(2)   Slicing the Salami Instead of Making Deep Cuts is Stupid

Half-assed measures, slow steps, and hoping that the world will lose interest in your problems are just as painful and destructive approaches, as is making a series of small layoffs instead of biting the bullet, digging deep and cutting to the bone. At least after you do, you're in a position to start effectively rebuilding from a solid foundation. Northwestern - whether they admit it or not - needs to dump all the guys involved with the football and baseball debacles and not pretend that they were ignorant or innocent. Waiting for the "new" guys who will eventually be hired to do the dirty work and the firings down the line delays the process, destroys any credibility that might have remained, and sends the wrong message to the victims.

(3)   Play Offense, Not Defense

There's no explanation, excuse or justification for the flat-out abuse and other disgusting behaviors that the coaches and program administrators allowed to go unchecked and likely encouraged. Forget about saying that it goes on everywhere, that boys will be boys, that it's just locker room horsing around. That's the kind of Trump talk that the MAGA morons used to try to justify his genitalia-grabbing gusto and - as we've seen - it only ultimately serves to encourage more outrageous behaviors from the same bad actors. The future starts every morning and each day you spend looking backwards is another day that you fall further behind in fixing the problem and building a firm foundation for the future.

(4)   Don't Leave Anything Important to the Lawyers

There are already lawsuits and plenty of advice from counsel, but - whether the audience is clients, customers, parents and students or the whole world - practically speaking, matters of reputation are decided in the court of public opinion, not some dusty courtroom. Having your lawyers speaking to the press for you with a bunch of denials and "no comments" is the most certain way to put your worst foot forward. In the attention economy, everyone expects answers. If you don't get out in front with a comprehensive story, you can be sure that the vacuum will be filled by media trolls and anyone with an adverse position or a hostile agenda. Silence is no longer golden, it's an invitation to a further mess.  

(5)  Tell Your Team about The Trouble

The latest reporting suggests that NU’s president didn’t tell his staff, his direct reports or his board of directors about the problems or the proposed action he was going to take before he moved. Apart from the sheer foolishness of trying to bury bad news on a Friday afternoon - as if the media world went home, like in the old days - the fact that all the people likely to support him knew nothing about the plans just confirms his inexperience.

Bottom line: Northwestern has been inept and badly advised and the situation keeps getting worse. They needed on Day One to tell the truth and the whole truth and they didn't do it. The truth only hurts when you don't tell it. Nothing is going to get easier from here, and nothing will get better without an honest accounting and a complete break with the past as well as a new plan forward.