From an organizational perspective the questions raised by the scandal at Penn State relate to the culture, at the university and within the football program. Bad things may always happen, but it should be unacceptable to permit a culture to exist that both does not permit questionable behavior to be reported, as well as potentially permit good people to wear blinders so opaque that they cannot see what is clearly right in front of them.

NY Times columnist David Brooks raised the possibility that our human nature may keep us from seeing things that are truly right in front of us. He recently wrote, “some people simply can’t process the horror in front of them. Some people suffer from what the psychologists call Normalcy Bias. When they find themselves in some unsettling circumstance, they shut down and pretend everything is normal.”

Highlighting provocative research that I refer to in The 3 Power Values, Brooks also acknowledges that people are really good at self-deception. “We attend to the facts we like and suppress the ones we don’t. We inflate our own virtues and predict we will behave more nobly than we actually do. As Max H. Bazerman and Ann E. Tenbrunsel write in their book, Blind Spots, ‘When it comes time to make a decision, our thoughts are dominated by thoughts of how we want to behave; thoughts of how we should behave disappear.’”

However, the environment where these kind of  actions take place have a major influence on behavior as well. Football itself may contribute to a culture where brutality is accepted. As NPR commentator Frank Deford writes, “Football is our proud American throwback showcase of men being at their best, most primitive masculine. Indeed, the question of whether the sport is too brutal has always been an issue, and nowadays, of course, the subject is as prominent as ever.”

Or perhaps the culture at Penn State was unique in the intensity of these values, coupled with the imperiousness of the football program at Penn State.

Matt Paknis, a former graduate assistant coach working with Penn State’s offensive linemen, was recently interviewed by Sports Illustrated. Paknis writes, that “Culture is made up of three things: values, beliefs and behaviors. It’s going to take a while. Paterno’s power went way beyond Penn State. Clearly, somebody delayed this whole thing until Paterno could get his record. Using people from the same pool they pretty much know is repeating the dangers of what they had. I don’t see how there can be really effective change unless others come in and set the groundwork, or you bring in new blood completely.”

Adding to this culture was the fact that the players and coaches isolated themselves from the rest of the Penn State community. This created an insular and elitist culture, one where it would not be unusual to feel that regular rules do not apply.

Paknis continues, “You have to look at how this happened. It obviously happened because Joe’s been given so much free reign. No one would ever approach him because he keeps the graduation rate so high, and they steered clear of every major NCAA violation, though now they’d probably be willing to trade every major violation in the book for this one. I think they were looking at their metrics and measures, the end result being that maybe the ends justify the means.”

A football program as dominant as Penn State’s must display a high degree of transparency. Yes, active and concerted efforts must be made to ensure that policies, procedures, and decisions, are subject to review by outside parties that do not have a vested interest in protecting the program above all else.  But beyond this, there must be tighter integration of the football program and football players and personnel with the broader campus community. Words alone are not enough. Individuals without the same vested interests as the football organization must have access to players and coaches so as to be able to hold them accountable for their actions. Football can be respected without being imperial. Penn State must set up systems so truth can be spoken to power. In spite of the intensity of the competition, the football program needs balance to remind its personnel that there are obligations outside of the hallowed halls of the athletic facilities.