By George, You're a Liar!
20 years ago today, news broke that George O'Leary had resigned as Notre Dame's head football coach less than 5 days after being hired.
The reason: a few "inaccuracies" on his resume.
Now, did the masters degree (that he didn't actually complete) or his time as a fullback at the University of New Hampshire (where he didn't actually play) have anything to do with why he was hired by Notre Dame? Nope...O'Leary was hired for his proven ability to coach.
Did O'Leary even remember that his resume/bio still referred to those 2 lies that he'd included 20 years prior while trying to get a job? Maybe...but 2 decades after he'd first fibbed about his credentials, those lies probably weren't keeping him up at night.
Can we really draw parallels between the resignation of a college football coach in 2001 and leaders within today's energy industry? Absolutely!
In fact, given the number of job-seekers (and gainfully employed folks) in oil and gas who are worried that their resumes "aren't good enough," today is a great day for you to consider the ways that you might be unwittingly opening yourself or others up to integrity issues that could cost you a whole lot more than just your dream job.
It's also a great day to remember that threats to your integrity are often far more subtle than the blatant threats posed by countless phone scammers trying to take advantage of utility customers over the holiday season...
The goal: to (๐)๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ, (๐)๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐๐๐ญ, ๐๐ง๐ (๐)๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง success by pondering these 3 questions throughout your day:
๐ก What are you most tempted to "fib" about to increase your odds of short-term success?
๐ก What are the biggest daily threats to your integrity and reputation?
๐ก What baggage can you get rid of to sustain the trust of your stakeholders?
Related Content
Episode 8: Authentically Fraudulent: What an Energy Industry Layoff Taught Me About Purpose & Passion
โThe House expels Rep. George Santosโ (AP, 12/1/2023)
SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS:
Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
Hello and welcome to the energy detox petroleum based blend of leadership conversations guaranteed to boost your professional and personal output
00:29
by flushing away the hidden and often toxic barriers to peak performance. I'm your host, Joe Sinnott, a chemical engineer, executive coach and 16 year energy industry veteran helping you tap into the same resources fueling today's most successful and sustainable leaders. And today we're going to talk about how those leaders ensure that the culture that they're building in the mindset that they carry, and in turn their teams carry, minimize the chances of fraud, and lies and the temptation to maybe juice your resume say a figurative resume or literal resume or push the limits a little bit too much when it comes to integrity, and in turn threaten their ability to function and to sustain momentum and to achieve long term success. And to drive this conversation. We will of course, as always point to some energy industry headlines, but today, we're actually going to build upon in addition to some energy headlines, a headline from 20 years ago, were 20 years ago. Today, news broke that the night before Notre Dame's head coach who had only been hired five days prior resigned. And this coach Joe George O'Leary, it turned out had had some issues with his resume that he had concocted about 20 years prior. And those issues at the end of the day really didn't matter in terms of why he was hired by Notre Dame to be its next head coach. In fact, he was hired, of course, because of his ability to coach not because he supposedly had a master's degree, not because he supposedly lettered in football for three years at University of New Hampshire. No, he was hired because of what he had achieved over the prior 20 years. Nevertheless, as issues kind of came to light, and as journalists began to investigate his resume and uncover the fact that he didn't actually complete his master's degree. And he didn't actually play football as he claimed he did. There was no choice for George O'Leary, but to resign. And the word that he used was integrity, he needed to preserve the integrity of the University of Notre Dame who he saw that he had embarrassed and of course, he embarrassed himself. And his ability to function as a coach, quite frankly, may not have been terribly impacted by this. But it was one of those situations where there was no choice. And at the end of the day, it was a relatively minor fib in the grand scheme of things, but one that again, cost him his dream job. And I there as a freshman, 20 years ago, coming off the heels of a not so pleasant football season of which I became quite used to throughout my time at Notre Dame was there again, like, frankly, shocked at the situation along with my friends, I think, I don't think, you know, we were quite as shocked as people in Georgia, Leary's camp who again who just quit his job as coach of Georgia Tech, and now was floating along with without a job and again, with a pretty big black eye. But at the end of the day, we saw all of these gyrations and you know, quite frankly, you see that this is a pretty preventable error. So the question for you today is, what preventable errors are out there that, again, you can address right now. And in turn, what are you doing to push your team perhaps in a way that is encouraging them to go through and have some of these unforced and unnecessary errors that could be very, very costly. And to emphasize this theme today regarding lies and fraud, if you will, and and things that you're doing that could cost you money, and time and energy will turn to another headline. And that is the fact that lots and lots of utility scams are growing, they're growing throughout the holiday season. This is something that occurs on a regular basis. And in fact, going back to the days leading up to Thanksgiving, lots of utility companies were out there touting the fact that you have the power as a consumer to make sure that these scammers don't get you. They're constantly calling right I don't know if you're getting the calls, but I know I get them utility company electric companies saying that I've overpaid on my bill or that my electricity is about to be shut off. And while I quite frankly enjoy as I've admitted, engaging with some of these scammers sometimes and leading them along and having a conversation and and generating some material that I can use and podcast like this or in some cases even trying to coach them into a career that isn't dependent upon lies and fraud and and again, those careers might not be you know quite on the same level is George O'Leary's college football, coaching career, of course, but nevertheless, I have fun. I enjoy it. But the reality is that these scammers are out there trying to steal Do money from people or in some cases steal money from utilities depending on the specific scam that's out there. So again, we're not going to go into the details of what you can do to prevent being scammed by those who are calling and and representing or misrepresenting utility companies. But again, we're going to use this as a reminder that there are lots of people out there are who are threatening you who are threatening your success. And sometimes it's as blatant as the scammers who are calling and trying to pretend like they're from your your local utility company. Sometimes it's less blatant like a slight error or inconsistency or lie on your resume from 20 years before. But nevertheless, they can all lead to harm. So today, we're going to step through three questions that kind of weave together the infamous Georgia lottery situation from 20 years ago, that weave together the fraud that's occurring on the utility side of our industry with regard to those who are calling and reaching out and threatening people and telling them that their utilities are going to get shut off or that they've been overpaying or whatever the case might be. And we're going to do all this in a way to help you ask the questions, you need to make sure that again, you're not going down a path that threatens your success, because you feel in some way that you need to or you're forced to, or you don't have any choice. And the first question that we're going to ask today to help you avoid these errors and avoid messing up your integrity and your reputation is what are you most tempted to fib about to increase your odds of short term success? What is it that's gnawing at you that saying that in some way, shape or form, you are inadequate, or you need to push the limits? And I asked this question of you, regardless of whether you are firmly entrenched within a company, and you have a stable job, or what appears to be a stable job, and you're leading what appears to be a stable team, or whether you are in a job hunt, and you're in transition, and you're looking for a new job, because in both situations, from what I see, as a coach is that there are people who are worried that again, they're not good enough, they don't have enough. And again, this isn't meant to be some some soft, you know, overly flowery coaching exhibition, that's not exactly my style, necessarily. But there he athlet, he is that many cases, you are good enough, or quite frankly, it's not worth the risk of trying to push the limits, or quite frankly, it's not worth the time and energy to worry about where your inadequacies might be. And Case in point on the say, the recruiting side of the job hunt side, there's so many people that see all of this momentum when it comes to data science and data engineering and data analysis. And they quite frankly, feel like they don't have those skills. And so they're rushing to get certificates and move forward and try to boost up their resume. And in some cases, they're into it, they're excited, they're generating real results. And they're, they're acquiring certificates that that matter and that are meaningful, and that represent their their skill set. Whereas in other cases, people are so inclined to push and just put data on their resumes that again, they're they're stretching the truth a little bit. And they're misrepresenting themselves. And they don't even feel good about it. And they're putting themselves out there and whether or not they even get selected for an interview, the toll that it takes on them on their psyche and on their mindset, knowing that they're out there. And they're kind of again, pushing the limits just to get recognized. It's not worth it, it's not good. So in turn, from a job seeker standpoint, when I'm working with individuals, it's always starting with one of course, what is your ultimate mission, we talk about that all the time here on the energy detox, and then working backwards to what it is that you're already doing, what it is that you're good at what it is that you've done in your career, and the results that you've generated that do align with what you want, instead of becoming overly focused on what you perceive to be gaps because Giorgio Leary when he you know, came out and and talked about his errors, admitted that yeah, 20 years prior to being hired by Notre Dame, he did fit a little bit on his resume because he was young, he had a young family and he was just, like, frantically trying to get a job and he didn't care and and in fact, there's there's screenshots you can find online and going back this morning and looking for, you know, some details about the story. You can find that the handwritten job questionnaire that he filled out 20 years prior, where again, he you know, he said, Yeah, I completed this master's and yeah, I lettered in football and, and again, you look at it, and you can see it being some innocuous mistake, but again, it's a mistake that ultimately cost him his dream job at Notre Dame. And again, I don't think that you are in that position, I'm going to assume but if you are or if you're tempted to be asked yourself again, what are you tempted to fib about what are you tempted to, to push the limits on, just to get noticed, just to get some job just because you feel like you need to check boxes, when in reality, you've checked so many other boxes in your career in your life, that you can be focused on those and you could be touting those and building a story around those. So too, if you're already gainfully employed, and you're not submitting a resume to look for a job, but yet you still feel that there's some inadequacies that you need to fill in to push. What are you doing on a day to day basis in your communication with others that is basically lying. What are you trying to convey what inadequacies Do you have what you know, signs of imposter syndrome Do you have even if you've been in the same position for five years, what are the things that you're doing? and acting and saying Pon What are you doing? That is, again trying to mask or, or, or deal with what you feel are limitations that people are going to uncover? And again, I can't answer that question for you. So ask yourself today, give me one thing, one thing that you're tempted to fib out and push the limits on that could ultimately cost you long term recognition, success and integrity at the expense of some maybe short term bump in your job, in your bonus, and in, you know, getting one extra job interview. With that, we'll move on to the next related question, which is, what are the biggest daily threats to your integrity and reputation? And again, the first question, I want to ask you, and I want you to ask yourself, what it is that you feel you need to do to grow and to move forward and again, to either get a job or retain your job or move up. But the question here is, what are you doing to protect against external threats to your integrity and your reputation, things that might be outside of your control, in particular things that might be related to the teammates that you have those that you might be leaving those colleagues that you might have those who you report up through. And again, this is a little bit different vein than the than the sort of the second headline that we're looking at today regarding all of those utility scammers who are calling and threatening to try to again, take your money and then in turn, you know, steal your time and attention as you try to rectify whatever mistake you make by trusting these people who seem to claim that they're gonna shut off your power, or that you're getting charged three times that you're supposed to whatever the case might be, ask yourself today, what are the biggest threats to your integrity and reputation? And one thing to note is that by design, this question mentions both integrity and reputation, because those are two different things. It's easy to kind of blend them together at times. But integrity, of course, is what you know, to be true about yourself. That is, again, undeniable. What do you know about yourself? Are you authentic? Are you true to yourself into your team? are you spouting the truth or not? Whereas reputation tends to get a little bit more attention, because of course, that's what everybody else thinks about you or thinks they know about you. And of course, you can destroy both with one fell swoop. But it all starts with integrity. First, what do you know to be true, and in turn, again, what threats are out there that could cost you your integrity that could cause you to kind of sway one direction or another. Because if you don't have integrity, if what you know about yourself to be true is not exactly where it needs to be, then your reputation doesn't matter. Again, that's where we come back to sustainable leadership, you can certainly have short term success, you can have short term promotion, you can get a job, of course, but it might only last for four or five days, if it's built solely upon your reputation and what others think about you assuming of course, that your integrity isn't in place. But if your integrity is in place, again, that is a key to sustainable leadership, what you know about yourself to be true. So the question for you today is what are the threats, particularly the out side threats, the external threats that could cause you to chip away at what you know about yourself to be true, and what you ultimately want. And again, one of the best things I find when I'm working with individuals is to of course, get clarity upon what your ultimate objective is, when you're crystal clear about that ultimate objectives, it becomes a lot easier to identify threats to your integrity and in turn your reputation. So again, ask yourself, what is threatening your core goal, your core objective, your core values, identify that and then figure out a way to deal with it. Which brings us to the third and final question today, which is, what baggage can you get rid of, to sustain the trust of your stakeholders? Undoubtedly are there are things you're holding on to there are tasks that you're doing day in and day out to again, booster figurative resume that are probably not necessary? They're costing you time they're costing you attention, they're costing you money in some cases, and they're certainly costing you energy. So what can you set aside so that, again, you don't risk damaging the trust of your stakeholders. And again, I'm saying trust here, because that's ultimately what you need as a leader to again, sustain momentum. It's one thing to say that you're holding on to baggage or to actions or the responsibilities that can wear you out and make you be tired and make you again, burnout. And your stakeholders might see that. But again, it's not a matter of trust. What can damage the trust is when you're holding on to things that you don't need to because you feel like selfishly, you need to hold on to them to again, keep your resume intact, to keep this image that you've built for yourself to ensure that again, maybe nobody else is out there trying to compete for your job, or for your role or for your responsibilities or whatever the case might be. So ask yourself, What are you holding on to unnecessarily that can not only burn you out and again, waste your time and money and energy but could damage the trust of people who thought they had in you a confident leader who didn't have to worry about holding on to things unnecessarily? And so again, what is it? What is one thing when one thing today that you feel like you're holding on to as you go throughout your day, that might not be necessary and that in turn, others can look at and say, What the heck is he or she doing. And to that question along with the other two, and again, I promise you that you will sleep easier at night, you will have more success, you will be quite frankly freer and more confident. And again, you won't be worried about all of these threats that we're talking about, you won't be as worried about all of these things that could chip away again, at your integrity, your reputation, your ability to lead your ability to get future jobs, your ability to excel and get promoted in your current job, your ability to sustain momentum for your organization, you won't worry about these things, if you ask these questions. And if you get crystal clear about not only the threats that are out there, but of course about what your ultimate goal is, so that you can work backwards and so that you can weigh decisions, whether the decisions are whether or not to push a little bit and fib on your resume or or push your team a little bit to juice the results just to make it seem a little bit better. Know when you have clarity about all these things. When you become a conscious leader, all of these words begin to fade. And I promise you, if you ask these questions, they will fade for you and you in turn will begin to shine. And so with all that being said, as always, I appreciate you taking the time today to listen to these questions, to ask yourself these questions. And of course, to put yourself in a position where you don't suffer the embarrassment for yourself, for your team for your family for your organization, much as Giorgio Leary and his incident from 20 years ago led to substantial embarrassment for him for Notre Dame and, and again, quite frankly, for for anyone that was involved in that whole process. Now, I would be remiss, of course, not to mention the fact that Giorgio Leary from that moment, 20 years ago went on to have a very successful career, he went on to have tremendous success at Central Florida and and UCF and you know, really built that program and they were happy to have him and and some might say that this all happened for a reason. Now fans of Notre Dame who suffered through, you know, mediocre coaching from from that point forward are certainly at least from the next what, eight years following. Following that incident. Again, they might not argue that it all worked out for the better. But again, if you're Georgiou Leary you've recovered, you know, you can, you can take a different spin on this podcast episode and this title and, and again, talk about rebuilding and resiliency, and, you know, being a Phoenix and coming back from the ashes of this situation. But again, that wasn't the goal. Today, the
17:26
goal today is to be on guard against threats, and to ensure that your integrity and your reputation stay intact, and you're doing the things as a leader to ensure that it does stay intact, and, and so to the reputation of your team and everybody that you're involved with. So with that being said, I encourage you, again, to ask these questions, I encourage you to continue tuning into these live editions of the energy detox, I encourage you to continue offering your feedback and your observations about these episodes, I certainly enjoy doing them. I enjoy tweaking them a little bit as feedback does roll in. And I certainly hope that you're gaining value as you ask these questions that I have the pleasure of asking people that I work with in your oil and gas industry as they try to lead themselves and their teams forward in a much more sustainable manner. And finally, in terms of related content, if you found this, this episode, least entertaining or informative, or you find yourself asking some questions, I do encourage you to turn back to Episode Eight of the energy detox which, again, will will link below and which we have referenced up here on the screen. And that is the first of two installments that I call the authentically fraudulent series, because apparently, two episodes is enough to call it a series. And again, in this episode from last year, I talked about sort of my own transition. And the only feeling that I had is you know that hey, you know, in some ways, I was a fraud, in some ways, my background, my resume as a chemical engineer, and having held lots of held lots of technical roles, that in some ways I felt like a fraud and that I was being called to something else because it was more of this leadership development, some of these softer skills and what I might now call coaching that helped get me to where I was over my 15 year corporate career. And again, this episode is not so much about me as much as about the questions that you should be asking to uncover those areas where you might feel like a fraud where you might be unwittingly holding yourself back or in turn, as we just talked about for the last 15 minutes or so where you might be trying to push the limits and trying to fill in gaps and check boxes that you don't actually need to fill in. Because the sense of feeling like a fraud is is many cases, erroneous, you're not a fraud in many ways. You're you're actually being authentic, but the actions you're taking are are inconsistent with that. So this episode from last year, again, helps you and has helped many people that I've worked with, particularly those who are in career transition, rethink their process, go to a point where they're kind of working backwards again from their ultimate goals and understanding what it is that's driving them so that they are not being driven merely by what's on their resume and what you know, accolades they have achieved and what they should supposedly be trying to set themselves up for based on what other people's opinions are and based on what other career trajectories and career ladders are out there. So again, I encourage you to go back. The link is here in the show notes or the LinkedIn post or wherever you happen to be watching today. And again, should you listen to that one and should you subject yourself to part two, which does get a little bit more into the details of me and my career and touches a little bit more on on my time at Notre Dame including the the freshman year there when 20 years ago, I woke up on Friday morning, December 14, to discover that again, Notre Dame would be looking for another head coach as it had been for the prior two weeks after firing Bob Davy. But with that, that's enough Notre Dame talk today. That's enough talk about fraud. That's enough talk about football and, and it's not enough talk about you. So I encourage you to ask the questions that we've posed today as you go throughout the day so that you can be more authentic or confident and so that you can put yourself in a position to preserve the integrity and the reputation that you have built up until this point in your career. So with that, have an excellent day. Thank you again for tuning in and take care