HOWARD TULLMAN JOINS LISA DENT ON WGN RADIO TO DISCUSS NU HAZING

 LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE

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.   

LOOP NORTH NEWS

 

Northwestern athletic scandal: ‘The buck stops here’ isn’t enough to stop the rot (Above) The Northwestern University “Wildcat” Marching Band performs at the 2005 Sun Bowl on December 30, 2005 (Mlehrer/Wikimedia Commons). Every business is going to face unexpected problems, challenges, and disappointments. What matters more than anything is how you, as the leader, respond. By Howard Tullman 23-Jul-23 – Watching the administrators at Northwestern University shimmy and shake and try to scramble their way out of the worst athletic scandal in the school’s history looks like just as fruitless an exercise as sitting quietly in the stands at any typical NU football game on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Evanston as the Wildcats get their asses kicked for the zillionth time by a bunch of oversized Big 10 giants from any of the other teams in the league that prize steroids over scholarship. The NU team lost 11 out of 12 games last season. We all knew that the fans and the players were all gluttons for punishment – why else would we keep showing up to watch the weekly shambles and slaughter – but we didn’t know that – in addition to the on-field beatings – dozens of the players were also hazed, harassed, and humiliated by the older players – encouraged, aided, and abetted by the coaching staff – in practices, in the locker rooms, and at training camp. Anyone who thinks for a minute that the players decided on their own – year after year – to punish the newer players in darkened locker rooms for perceived playing 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 crap go on – on a regular basis, year-in and year-out – without ever speaking up. Why the school thinks that any of these losers should be retained is beyond me. And, of course, the abuse wasn’t limited to the gridiron. The baseball team, the cheerleaders, and probably every squad except the chess club paid the price and suffered at the hands of a bunch of testosterone-maddened and insecure scumbags and bullies who ran these programs and who violated every bit of trust, faith, and confidence that the players, their parents, and the public had placed in them for decades. NU’s president tried at first to bury the whole thing – even after a six-month investigation – with a despicable two-week suspension of the head coach accompanied by a bland and clearly mistaken statement asserting that no one on the coaching staff – up to and including the head coach – knew anything about what was going on. This contention was so patently stupid and unbelievable on its face that the statement needed to go on to admit that there was more than ample opportunity, evidence, and reasons for all of the coaches to have discovered what was happening right under their noses – and obviously with their blessings – but somehow, they all missed it. These clowns were apparently more Inspector Clouseau types rather than Columbo types. My guess is that NU will have to eat their words and try to get out from under this obvious lie as the evidence grows and more credible student athletes come forward. But the Daily Northwestern, the school’s student-run newspaper, wasn’t buying this pile of baloney and published lengthy articles with student-athlete disclosures about the true state of affairs. Somewhat surprisingly, given the arrogance, obliviousness, and reluctance of university administrators worldwide to ever concede error, NU’s president shortly after the paper’s disclosures was shamed to his senses, and fired the head coach. He 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 and the University retained all of the other assistant coaches and promoted one to be interim head coach. The lawsuits have begun to mount – there are at least a dozen plaintiffs and three or four suits already on file – and the daily damage to the reputation of the University, the growing scale and scope of the scandal as it spreads through other parts of the athletic program, the almost immediate impact of the recruiting of new players, and – interestingly enough – the prospect that the scandal may impair or shut down the school’s grandiose plans to rebuild the football stadium are all just accelerating parts of the debacle. The fact that the head coach was only part of the way through a massive ten-year contract that the University may have to honor and pay out is just icing on the greed-laced cake that treats these coaches as economically-critical supermen. But the most important lesson for every entrepreneur trying to build his or her business isn’t simply that hazing is horrible. Or even that it’s sickening and sad that so many people in responsible positions knew what was going on, claim they were unhappy with it, and still did nothing. Every business is going to face unexpected problems, challenges to the institution’s integrity and core principles, disappointments from people you trusted and counted on, and issues that threaten to impact the business far more broadly than the simple unfortunate circumstances which may be immediately at hand. What matters more than anything is how you, as the leader, respond. So far, everything Northwestern’s leadership has done after the fact is wrong. Needless to say, they also share boatloads of blame for years of facilitating and accommodating chubby old men, alums, and donors fondling cheerleaders in skimpy uniforms at pre- and post-game tailgate and cocktail events. Just part of the job, I guess. And frankly they still are doing a half-assed job by trying to keep the majority of the people around who were absolutely part of the problem. They need to dump the whole football coaching group, maybe give some thought to cancelling the season, get some fresh new people into the job, and bite the bullet by bagging the Big 10 and playing in a group or division where their players have half a chance to win a few games and won’t have to take the losses out on their peers. 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 on how to proceed: 1 Blaming the big guy is never enough if the system stinks Big deal – NU got around to belatedly firing the top guy after they were shamed into it and they think that through that simple gesture he’s going to absorb all the blame for the problems even after they’ve given him a complete pass and claimed that he actually knew nothing. He built the outhouse that is your football program over dozens of seasons and to think for a second that pushing him out without completely cleaning house is going to offer any comfort or consolation to any of the victims or convince anyone that the University is really committed to change is wishful and foolish thinking. And to be clear, the head coach is not 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 quickly lose interest in your problems are just as painful and destructive approaches as making a series of small layoffs instead of biting the bullet one time, digging deep, and cutting to the bone so that you’re in a position to start effectively rebuilding from a solid foundation. Northwestern – whether they admit it today or not – needs to promptly dump all the guys involved with the football and baseball debacles from top to bottom and not try to pretend that they were ignorant or innocent. Waiting for the “new” guys who will eventually be hired to do the dirty work and cutting later down the line just delays the process, destroys any credibility that might have remained, and sends the wrong message to the victims that instead of fixing things, you’re trying to gloss over them and hope they disappear. 3 Start immediately to build for the future and forget defending the past 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 on for years unchecked, uninterrupted, and likely encouraged. It’s a complete waste of time to even try to say that it goes on everywhere, that boys will be boys, that it’s just locker room horsing around, etc. As we’ve seen, it only ultimately serves to justify and encourage more outrageous actions and 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 likely to be threats of 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, and 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 of today, everyone expects answers and, 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. Bottom line: Northwestern has been inept and badly advised to date and the situation keeps getting worse. They needed on Day One to come out and 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 and a new plan forward.

New Findlay Fellow headed to Oxford for graduate degree - Granddaughter Makes Good !!

New Findlay Fellow headed to Oxford for graduate degree

July 17, 2023

The Office of Fellowships is thrilled to announce that Madeline “Maddie” Brown (WCAS ’23) has been chosen as the 2023 recipient of the Findlay Fellowship! Next year, Maddie will travel to England to earn a graduate degree at the University of Oxford.

Maddie graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with departmental honors in American studies and minors in legal studies and English literature. Her senior thesis, “How the Imagination of Nineteenth-Century Newspapers Made Abortion Gothic,” examined the histories and language of nineteenth-century newspaper coverage of abortion and received the 2023 Carl Smith Prize for Outstanding Essay in American Studies. Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, Maddie was awarded the PBK Centennial Prize in June for most fully embodying the intellectual, ethical, and communal values of the organization.

During her time at Northwestern, Maddie held a number of leadership positions on campus. She served as a fellow at the Center for Civic Engagement, where she worked on NU Votes initiatives to register students to vote in national, state, and local elections. As a consultant at the Writing Place, Maddie provided writing assistance to fellow students at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She was also the Weinberg College Student Advisory Board Representative for American studies, and, during her senior year, founded Northwestern Students Organizing for Reproductive Justice in response to antiabortion activists on campus.

In addition to these roles, Maddie worked as a research assistant for Professor Joanna Grisinger’s project on historical airline regulation under a grant from the Baker Program in Undergraduate Research and for Professor Sherwin Bryant under a yearlong Leopold Fellowship, researching the lives of enslaved people in North Carolina. Finally, she had the privilege of interning for Congresswoman Janice Schakowsky on Capitol Hill, where she worked on issues of reproductive rights and gun control.

At Oxford, she will study at Wadham College for a one-year Master’s in Women’s, Gender, and Queer History, through which she plans to continue her research on nineteenth-century abortion, print culture, and the rhetoric and politics of reproductive choice and control. She then hopes to return to Washington, DC, and work on issues of reproductive justice before obtaining a law degree. She is very grateful to her professors, peers, and mentors at Northwestern for all they taught her and to the Findlays, the Findlay Fellowship, and the Northwestern Office of Fellowships for their support of her future studies.

The Findlay Fellowship provides financial support to a recent Northwestern undergraduate who is pursuing graduate study in the United Kingdom. The fellowship was created through a generous gift from Northwestern trustee Cameron Findlay (pictured left) and his wife, Amy Scalera Findlay.

Cam Findlay is an attorney and former senior US government official, who obtained his master’s degree at the University of Oxford after graduating from Northwestern. He went on to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he and Amy were classmates.

Maddie is the second-ever recipient of the fellowship, after Abigail Roston (WCAS ’22) became the inaugural winner last year and used the award to study criminology and criminal justice at the University of Oxford.

 

Northwestern vs DePaul at Wintrust Arena

NU Reunion

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN SPEAKING AT 3RD ANNUAL NUBAA SUMMIT IN LOS ANGELES

1871 CEO Howard Tullman Gives Keynote Address at Northwestern - 20th Anniversary of MSIT Program

1871 CEO HOWARD TULLMAN SPEAKS ON TECH TRENDS TO NU'S WOMEN'S BOARD

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS PACK THE HOUSE FOR 'A DAY WITH NORTHWESTERN'

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS PACK THE HOUSE FOR 'A DAY WITH NORTHWESTERN'

April 28, 2016 | by Kristin Samuelson

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2016/04/a-day-with-northwestern-2016-davis-tullman.html

EVANSTON, Ill. --- It was standing room only in Norris University Center’s auditorium for inspiring keynote addresses by Chicago-area luminaries at Northwestern University’s annual event, “A Day With Northwestern.”

Presented by the Northwestern Alumni Association (NAA) and open to the public, nearly 400 attendees gathered for the sold-out program April 9 to hear riveting keynote addresses from Orbert Davis, an Emmy Award-winning musician and co-founder, conductor and artistic director of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and Howard Tullman, CEO of Chicago’s 1871 startup incubator, as they highlighted the day’s presentations from prominent Northwestern alumni and faculty.

Though from different backgrounds and industries, both keynote speakers focused on a similar theme of urgency and the importance of acting in the current moment.

Davis’ speech, “The Urgency of Now,” focused on four key elements to pursuing anything important in life: dreams, faith, opportunity and work.

“Dreams should always evolve,” he said. “My dream was to be a musician and a catalyst for change. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, and faith is positioned by opportunity, which is built upon work.” 

Davis earned his master’s degree at Northwestern in jazz pedagogy in 1997 but said his passion while here was to learn as much as he could about African and African-American history.

“I spent some of my fondest hours at the Melvin J. Herskovits Library of African Studies,” Davis said. “It changed my life.”

Davis’ organization, the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, focuses on music performance, education and cultural diplomacy.

“We believed that music is the medicine for students who are at risk for failure … and we believed that music involvement can save lives,” Davis said, recounting why he founded music education programs for Chicago children.

 Davis spoke about establishing relationships and exchange programs with young musicians from Cuba. He helped bring a group of Cuban musicians to Chicago and Northwestern in 2015.  

“We wanted our students to see the splendor of Northwestern,” Davis said. “Because if you saw their facilities in Cuba, you would cry … But maybe you wouldn’t, because when you hear these kids play, it’s mind-blowing.”

During his speech, Davis played video clips from performances and at one point spontaneously grabbed his trumpet and played to illustrate how improvisation (in music and life) means responding to the moment.

True to his industry, keynote speaker Tullman, a member of the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s class of 1970 and a 1967 graduate of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, spoke swiftly and concisely. His speech focused on seven current and future trends in technology and social media, and his first point was about time being the scarcest resource of all:

1. “Time is the single vector on which every business will have to compete. Today, it’s not the big that eat the little; it’s the fast that eat the slow. If you’re not in a big hurry, you’re probably too late.”

2. “Data is the oil of the digital age,” Tullman said, adding that the most important thing about the Internet is that it allows us to measure what users are doing, take information and turn it into insights.

3. You are competing against everything for people’s attention, and “the clutter is accelerating,” he said.

4. Social marketers and companies should aim for “engagement, not eyeballs,” he observed. Don’t raise your voice, he said. Improve your arguments. People want engaging, relevant and customized content in the right place at the right time. 

5. “We live in a world of constant connectivity,” he said. More people have cellphones than ever had landlines. Worldwide, there are more phones than toilets, he noted.

6. Tullman spoke about the importance of “cyberspace, not any place.” Today, he said, “real time matters, not real place, because we can be anywhere and everywhere at the same time.”

7. The Internet is changing attitudes toward sharing, reputation and trust, Tullman said. Studies show that people don’t trust each other as individuals, but they do trust “the crowd” that reviews and offers products or online services they value. For example, through Airbnb, many people will open their homes to strangers. It’s still unclear where this trend will lead, he said, but it’s something to watch.

Tullman ended with a series of tips and practical advice for innovators and would-be entrepreneurs. 

His bottom line: Start now, focus and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

“Your greatest fear should never be failing,” he concluded. “It should be spending your life succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.”

- See more at: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2016/04/a-day-with-northwestern-2016-davis-tullman.html#sthash.wgmQxhoe.dpuf

1871 CEO Howard Tullman Keynote Address at A Day with Northwestern 2016