Code of Ethics You Can Learn From Oprah

Oprah made a mistake. She came forth and took responsibility for it in her admission of error. She apologized. She, and her adoring audience, moved on. There is a huge lesson for all of us here.

Everyone, from the most powerful leaders and opinion makers, companies large and small, to three-year old children, make mistakes. It is probably human nature that, when an error is discovered, many of us immediately attempt to cover it up. We deny it, blame someone else or something outside our control (the dog ate my homework), we launch a smokescreen to avoid admitting our humanity and the fear of our inability to be perfect. The cover-up gets bigger and bigger, often becoming much larger than the original mistake. While many get away with the deception, some get caught and are destroyed by it.

Oprah triumphed because of her honesty and her integrity. For days after her admission of error the news media ran lead stories about the incident and the manner in which she faced this potentially career destroying event. This big flap will be over and done with in short order; probably by the time this column is published. Her audience will forgive and forget but her brand will glow, not because she is immune to error, but because she admits her human fallibility and didn’t attempt to hide it. With most people she has risen in stature because of her integrity and respect for her audience. Contrast the long term effect of this incident to that of political, religious, business, scientific, and athletic icons who made errors, denied them, attempted to cover them up, and got discovered in the deception. Not a pretty comparison.

This Oprah incident is a lesson for all of us. We all should remember it whenever we err. We can use this lesson to review our stand on personal and business ethics, to consider how we will react when we make a mistake. Once we know how we want to react, instill the Oprah ethos to the staff so we all can learn a lesson from Oprah.

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, “Front Lines with Larry Galler” Sign up for his free newsletter here

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