Elkin: Lessons from Penn State for both leaders and followers

It's hard to see people we admire make bad decisions.

The mess at Penn State brought about collective horror partially because it happened within a program others sought to emulate.

It's true that Jerry Sandusky's alleged actions are only tangentially related to college football, but the unfortunate choices in response to those actions have everything to do with athletics and leadership at Penn State and elsewhere, including here at Northwestern.

Joe Paterno accrued a cult following that is likely unequaled in college football, and that extreme level of fan loyalty was one of Penn State's most important assets, an asset that was unfortunately prioritized over ethical responsibilities — and possibly legal ones. It turned out the health of Nittany Lions football mattered too much to too many people in State College, a community built on the success of Paterno's team.

That's a pretty unique situation. What's not unique is the tactic of marketing a coach to a fan base and a team to a community. By allowing fans to connect to a consistent leader, a face of the team, programs prosper. You see it at Michigan State basketball games, where students pack the "Izzone," named after coach Tom Izzo. The Duke Blue Devils play on Coach ‘K' Court, named for Mike Krzyzewski. Here at NU, we follow Pat Fitzgerald on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, paint his name on our bodies and have Popsicle stick masks of his face. His likeness replaces Jesus's on a "Fitz is my Homeboy" tailgating T-shirt and this is only his sixth season as head coach.  

This loyalty on its own isn't a bad thing, nor is the Athletic Department's effort to bolster fan presence by playing up our emotional connection to an individual. It's a strategy that works outside the realm of sports, too. It worked for Apple, it worked in 2008 for President Barack Obama, and it works back here on campus for our president. Morton Schapiro has a student following of his own, and that relationship enriches student experience and reflects well on the school.

Of course, NU is a very different school from Penn State. We're a small school that encompasses very diverse passions, so our football program is not as inextricably bound with our school identity. It's also only loosely tied to the surrounding community, but that's something Northwestern is looking to change by branding itself as "Chicago's Big Ten Team." If that effort is successful, Fitz and Morty will have a broader fan following and they will have more at stake.

At Penn State, the rationale on multiple levels of leadership was there was enough on the line for individual obligations to take a backseat.

Among the many lessons to be taken away from the Penn State fallout is that coaches, presidents and CEOs stand to enhance successful organizations by appealing to communities as individuals, but protecting that success at the expense of doing the right thing is never acceptable. Forging emotional connections to our leaders imbues their positions with more power, but it also makes them more accountable. It's up to us to continue to hold the people we admire to the standards that originally earned our high esteem.

Ali Elkin is a Medill senior. She can be reached at a.elkin@u.northwestern.edu.