Friend,

Yes dear reader, L is for Leadership… not "Let's wait until we know more".

That sentence, and posture, have been responsible for a lot of damage in the twenty-five+ years I've been doing this work.

There is another awful sentence. Nobody (on our team) did anything bad, and events simply happened. That gets drafted at 11pm because it's the only version that will get signed off. Then it goes on the public record as a cr@ppy response, and metastasises into a malignant judgement of our failure to take a stand.

Passive voice: where accountability goes to hide

Sydney Swans suspended five players for the rest of the season, finals included. There is a police investigation into sexual assault allegations at a Melbourne hotel. At the time of writing no charges have been laid, and now it seems there is video of the incident.

I want to be careful here. At the centre of this are women, players, allegations and a police process, none of which are the subject of this brief. What I can look at is how the club conducted itself.

Early on, CEO Matthew Pavlich said the players "found themselves in this situation" (AFL.com.au). The club looked like it was trying to stay a bystander, and sidestep owning the players' conduct.

That isn't a comms failure as much as a failure to demonstrate good character. It's the sort of approach that comes from asking "what can we safely say?" instead of "what does good leadership look like right now?"

It's made me squirm hearing the word "ashamed" so many times in today's media conference. 

What forced it, 24 hours ago, was the emergence of a video. Pridham and Pavlich fronted up and banned five of their best players on grounds they can own entirely without waiting for the police or that footage.

That's the breach of the club's own standards, deliberately separate from the criminal matter. 

Even when you don't have all the facts, you can enforce your own rules, today, on facts you have verified.

Nobody loses a season over a late night. The severity is plainly borrowed from the allegation the club says it is not judging. This isn't wrong! It makes it a real decision, aka leadership. 

Pridham was far from passive, saying the club had "torpedoed" its season (ABC).

A final so what?

Most of us will never suspend our five best people. All of us will see a matter where the legal process moves slower than the reputation issue. How long do you want to sit there before something forces your hand?

Then choose your ground. Ideally that's the moral high ground.

Best,

Carden | she/her (here’s why that matters @work)

PS This is the third (L) of four Briefs built on our first three hours FELT card: Facts, Expectations, Leadership, Time. Hit reply if you'd like one.

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