It’s been a while since the SMartPR blog came out of the woodwork.  Thankfully, we have been busy campers around here.

But the recent news involving Penn State University and its athletic department got us thinking about companies that don’t admit fault when things happen.  How can organizations withstand being guilty for so long?

Sometimes, we can chalk up these mistakes to one’s honor code or how one was raised.  In the Pacific Rim, it is common for companies to not apologize because it is dishonorable.  They would rather hold in the guilt and blame and deal with internally.  But ask the executives and Board members at Olympus how much that guilt has eaten them up inside.  If you haven’t seen the news about Olympus, the company hid at least two decades of losses even though a whistle-blower came forward and thought the company was doing suspicious activity…

…which brings me back to the coaches and athletic department in Not So Happy Valley.  There is a clear disconnect between companies and officials who are MORALLY guilty and those who are LEGALLY guilty.  Thankfully, we saw a Pennsylvania legal official make the same reference in Michael Rosenberg’s CNNSI.com.  Either she is a loyal follower of SMPR (a guy can wish, right?), or she understands the realization that there is a big difference between guilt in a court and guilt of one’s actions.

To be clear, no one should condone what the coaches and personnel did to boys and young men; as a father, it pains me to read stories like what happened at Penn State.  We can say “they should get what is coming to them,” but the damage should already be done.  Guilt is a powerful thing–even if it doesn’t show its face in a court of law right away.