PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com
Rod Napier
Two iconic Pennsylvania figures, Joe Paterno and Anthony Bevilacqua, passed away this year. Both the longtime Penn State football coach and the former archbishop of Philadelphia had remarkable careers of public service and achievement that ended in scandal – scandals that will forever shadow their legacies. Both men saw themselves as close to God, but both were also treated as gods by those around them. And that may have had more to do with the scandals than has so far been appreciated.
It may be that both men’s lives and reputations were horribly wounded by what I call the seduction of the leader.
As I recently told a group of Philadelphia executives, leaders of every stripe can learn important lessons about the dangers of this seduction from “Joe Pa” and the cardinal.
Court proceedings may show otherwise, but my guess is that neither Paterno nor Bevilacqua intended to deceive. If history is any guide, cultural culpability is far more likely than criminal culpability.
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