Our family visited the Statue of Liberty this past Memorial Day. First off, the monument is impressive and the visit to both Liberty Island and Ellis Island are well worth enduring the long lines. Security is tight at the monument and a Nat’l Park Service employee was at the front of the line. We watched him bark orders, sigh in disgust, reprimand parents and the like. The irony was thick. The messaging around the monument focused on how Lady Liberty was a symbol of hope, a welcoming sight to those yearning for a new life in America. On Monday, one key person made it feel very uninviting especially for foreign visitors who didn’t understand him any better because he was rude or loud. What was his job? He clearly thought it was to establish and maintain control as if he were working a protest line. I submit that his job…

I was speaking with some friends this week about how companies and organizations can be duped by individuals they believe to be one thing, but turn out to be quite another.  Insert your favorite villain here.  From Madoff duping the world of finance to George O’Leary duping Notre Dame (at least for a while), I think the reason why it takes so long for these individuals to be found out is the same: credibility creep. As time passes, credibility creeps when potential employers or customers rely on a due diligence process that only includes a candidate’s more recent employer/customer history.  Since prior employers/customers did the same, if one employer/customer in the chain is duped, it’s likely that subsequent employers/customers will also be duped since they’re relying in part on the due diligence of a prior employer/customer.  This is especially true when the employer/customer list covers a long period of time or contains an marque name. How do you avoid this?  The next time…