The Bathsheba Syndrome

Following yesterdays article, I decided to look further into my e-mails and see if the DCO sent out any other interesting reads.  In light of the current focus of the news, no, not the “Fiscal Cliff,” but the news of Generals with fidelity issues, the DCO sent out an article debating the topic surrounding the “Ethical Failure of Successful Leaders.” 

This is quite an interesting read.  Since multiple Generals in the Army have been exposed for their lack of devotion to his spouse, we, members of the volunteer Army, are being mandated to conduct/train on ethics.  This makes sense in my career.  We often see the results of one person’s bad decisions in the form of a class to the rest of us. 

This article challenges the idea of ethics training and instead replaces it with training in preparedness in dealing with personal and organizational success. 

This article does not focus on the military.  It offers grand examples of powerful people with a strong, admirable base in ethics rising to positions of power and committing acts that are out of character according to their friends and family.  CEO’s, religious leaders, Mayors, and a division president were all shocking instances depicting strong morals and ethics prior to their rise to greatness.  Some were Eagle scouts, student models, and missionary workers achieving success and eventually falling off the moral path and into positions of shame.

These once great leaders are compared to the story of David and Bathsheba.  David was a great leader with a humble past, a dramatic and rapid rise to power, strong organizational skills, a charismatic personality, an eclectic approach to problem solving, a strategic vision for his people, and a man of high moral character.  He was a king with all he could ever ask for, power, influence, wealth, physical comforts, loyal servants, a strong army, and a growing prosperous country.  Despite all this, he was still unable to avoid the downward spiral of unethical decisions that ultimately created grave consequences for both his personal life and the organization he was called upon to lead and protect.  His fall included an affair, corruption, deception, abuse of alcohol, murder, the loss of innocent lives, and a “greater than thou” attitude when he thought his cover up was absolute and he was free of persecution.  All this drama because he could not control his desire for Bathsheba, a young beautiful female married to one of his officers away in battle.

This downfall, like the downfall of many others, stems from four things:

1-success causes leaders to become complacent and lose focus

2-success grants privileged access to information, people, or objects

3-an unrestrained control of resources

4-a belief that he/she has the ability to manipulate outcomes

Therefore, this article suggests giving a course on success and maintaining ethics rather than a course on ethics.  It also labels the inability to cope with and respond to the by-products of success as “the Bathsheba Syndrome”  in reference to the story of King David, which really is fascinating if you care to google and read it.

I completely agree with this article.  I have witnessed the “greater than thou” attitude develop as Soldiers rise in the ranks and are given more power rather than responsibility.  I have also seen people throw themselves at power in the form of a person and have often asked what the attraction is for the person on the receiving end.  “Not having to work for the affection,” was the answer.  Which begs the question, “Isn’t anything worth having worth the effort of gaining?”

What do you think?