By Kevin Smith
What kind of standards do we expect from the leaders who shape the way our businesses and social institutions function?
A little while ago my friend and colleague Sam Bright wrote an article for this site in the aftermath of erstwhile Barclays boss Bob Diamond’s resignation due to the unfolding LIBOR scandal. In it, Sam asked where the responsibility for such scandals should fall, and whether it’s appropriate in such instances to assign – or conversely, to restrict – blame to the shoulders of the “people at the top.”
Both the article and the issue itself raise challenging questions about accountability to the public. Ignoring for a moment the specificities of the Barclays scenario, there’s the broader question in any such instances of whether it is really reasonable to expect the resignation of an individual who might have had no idea about ongoing improprieties in his or her organisation. At the same time, holding accountable only the person or few people directly responsible for various misdeeds might see a handful of low-level “bad apples” out of their jobs, but is this enough to maintain or restore the public’s trust in the organisation as a whole? And what about, as Sam asks, the wider group of enablers – the legislators who created a legal framework where such scandals could take place, the regulators who turned a blind or even colluding eye, or the wilfully-ignorant shareholders who collectively had the power to demand better but failed to? Should any culpability rest with them? Read More
