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What happened to Bernard Madoff’s soul? Wall Street investor Bernard Madoff was sentenced Monday to 150 years in jail. Madoff serves as this week’s (or month’s? or year’s?) chilling warning of what happens when one repeatedly silences the stirrings of one’s soul.
What happened to Madoff? He was known to many of his investors as a good friend. He gave millions to charity. Where did he go wrong?
By his own account, he went astray in the early nineties when the stock market stopped yielding high returns and he wanted his investments to continue to perform well for his clients. He entered into a Ponzi scheme then, thinking he could get out when times got better. Instead, he got more and more deeply entrenched, ultimately losing the money he had promised to invest responsibly.
The corrosion of leaders’ souls is nothing new. A timeless problem, appearing in such places as the Bible in the person of King David and in Shakespeare in Richard II, the corrosion of a prominent person’s soul occurs slowly, like a stone hollowed out by water drop by drop. People like Madoff, David, and Richard do not initially set out to harm countless people and end up disgraced and humiliated.
While the temptations of those with more power are greater, all of us face daily temptations to cut corners, to be less than our best selves. It’s easy to point fingers at people like Madoff while similar struggles, albeit on a smaller scale, are occurring in our own souls every day. Our choices shape who we become day by day, week by week, year by year. For example, when I am leading a seminar I’ve led many times previously, I need to resist the temptation to lead it on automatic pilot and to take the participants for granted. I need to meet each new group afresh and attune myself to how I can best serve these specific people at this particular time.
We need to ask ourselves regularly: Are my choices today strengthening my soul or eroding it? In what ways are my choices making me the person I want to be? In what ways am I choosing a path that results in my being less than my best self? How can I get the support I need to make better choices? (Leaders on the slippery slope to disaster are notoriously isolated.)
Madoff serves as a timeless warning of what soulless leadership looks like. Let us use the opportunity his downfall provides, not to point the finger in blame, imagining that we would never do such a thing, but to examine ourselves and see what direction our choices are taking us and those we influence.
(If you enjoyed this article, see:
Madoff sentenced to 150 years
Banking on values
Goldman Sachs held accountable for subprime lending)
For more info: Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of Soul at Work and The Soul of a Leader, works with leaders in healthcare, business, churches, government and non-profits to help them stay true to their souls. Visit her website.
Comments
It is so sad what greed will do to people. I enjoyed this very much, Margaret. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
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Margaret, no relation, puts forth timely considerations here. I've been observing and transforming nearly my entire life, it seems. What I've learned is that there are ways to stay in line, monitor oneself and engage others to do the same in soulful integrity. It is time.
It is time... even according to the Mayan Calendar (many misconceptions as to the 'end of time') we are in a period of Ethics now (calendar represents cycles) as we have come out of Power... moving toward conscious co-creation in the very near future. Many are already feeling and sharing the need for collaboration in the new millennium. It is time.
It is also critical to look at oneself in light of projecting judgment or pronouncing criticism. Beyond all the dogma and dis-ease of organized religion, we are reminded of the wisdom across millennia... Love one another. It may sound so simple... and it IS!
Thanks for your wonderful view of the situation, Margaret.
Namaste,
Zen
Be The Dream - Life Coach
Thank you Margaret for helping to clarify a careful response to a dramatic downfall. It has been easy to forget that Bernie Madoff has a soul and that his choices could have led him so terribly astray. I appreciate your guidance to keep on track with a careful review of choices on a daily basis and your encouragement to build connections to others to enrich opportunities for making choices. Thank you!
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