When the Sport of Curling Should Make Your Hair Curl

6
2155
By Adam Turteltaub
adam.turteltaub@corporatecompliance.org

In the You Can’t Make This Up Department, reports out of Korea indicate that a Russian curler has tested positive for a banned substance.  Yup, doping in curling.

Doping in sports is not so surprising these days.  Doping from a Russian athlete, not so shocking either.  But doping in curling?  Really?  Curling?  I mean, seriously?  Have you watched the sport?  I don’t deny that it’s harder than it looks, it is probably quite physical, and I know I couldn’t make the US Olympic curling team, but really?

While it’s easy to laugh off, it shouldn’t be because it’s a vivid demonstration that people will cheat wherever they can, whenever they can.

You know that famous fraud triangle of pressure, opportunity, rationalization? Forget it. This shows it can be a square with an added dimension of “Why? Why? Why?”

For us in compliance, it’s yet another reminder that when it comes to competition, whether in sports or in business, some people will do almost anything they can to get ahead, even if it means cheating, even if no one can figure out why.

If people see an easier way they’ll take it.  If people see an advantage, they’ll seize it.  Even if no one else can figure out why, they’ll find themselves a reason, and no rationally-designed training will stop it.

You’ll always need controls to catch wrongdoing, because there’s no accounting fully for human thinking.  And if you’re not prepared, you may get blindsided by a horrifically bad decision, gliding slowly down the ice, right at you, with someone sweeping the way clean in front of it.

6 COMMENTS

Comments are closed.