Ethical Athletes: Working Out in the "Integrity Gym"

I have been watching the excellent Netflix documentary "Beckham," which profiles the life and career of the iconic Manchester United and England midfielder, David Beckham. Any football (soccer) fan will recall his extraordinary skills, especially with free kicks and corner kicks.

There is a moment in the show that made me think of the parallels one can draw between training for professional sports and preparing ourselves for the ethical dilemmas we might face at work and in life.

It's May 26, 1999 and Manchester United are playing Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final, the most prestigious club competition in world football. Almost 100,000 fans are packed into Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium and a hundred million or more around the world are watching on TV...

...Time is running out. United have trailed 1-0 since the sixth minute and are in desperate search of an equalizing goal. In the first of three added minutes of injury time, United win a corner on the left, which Beckham steps up to take. Beckham fires in the corner; two United players touch the ball then a third, Teddy Sheringham, swipes it into the net. It looks like United have earned 30 minutes of extra time. But within 30 seconds of play restarting, United win another corner. Same place. Beckham swings in a very similar corner, which Sheringham nods down for substitute Solskj?r to stab into the roof of the Bayern net. 2-1, with 43 seconds of the three added minutes remaining. Several Bayern players collapse on the turf in anguish. And that was it--history made! Manchester United became the first English team to win the treble: domestic league title, domestic cup and the Champions League.

As the documentary shows the action, it intersperses an interview clip. What was going through Beckham's mind as he stepped up to take that first corner? David replies "I just thought about what I did as a kid." He recalled endless practice sessions with his dad, taking corner after corner after corner, hitting the spot his dad indicated. His dad told him that "There are moments, like a corner at the end of a game, that can make history." How prophetic.

Few, if any of us will find ourselves with the weight of expectation of millions of people on our shoulders. But, undoubtedly, we have faced, and will again face pressure to perform. The stakes will sometimes be high; and there may be an ethical dimension to the decision or action we have to take. That may be our big moment. How we react, and whether we do the right thing in that moment, may be critical for us personally and our company. The outcome will depend on how diligently and effectively we have trained ourselves in the weeks, months and even years leading up to that moment. So, look at your organization's Code of Conduct again. When you take the annual Code of Conduct training (or any ethics and compliance training), don't absorb it passively or distractedly, waiting for it to end. Think about it and its relevance to what you do every day. Anticipate how similar situations could arise in your work. Think, too, about how you can model the example you have learned.

We may not realize it but, on a regular basis, we spend time in the "Integrity Gym," working out to build ethical muscle. Hopefully, we get stronger, more resilient and acquire the kind of muscle memory that makes acting with integrity instinctive.