I DID BRIAN WILLIAMS |
46 years in this country and I never felt a need to express my viewpoint in writing. Now is the time for me to say something. I immigrated to this country and have been admiring being American. Every success and failure I have through this time is all my doing. No one to blame and why? This country has given me the freedom to accomplish what I am capable of while making me responsible for the outcome. I am not forced into anything I did not wish. I am permitted to savor my successes and been in the fetal position in a dark corner for each of my failures.
So comes my admiration for humanity and community – I call my country – the United States of America. The freedom allowed to me was always attached with responsibility. No one defined my responsibilities, just my common sense and being a human being – I knew them. I have freedom of speech and I know language that would be offensive. I have drawn a line for every disagreement and resulting anger, I have either remained silent or turn red or walked away or made a rational counter point or in my recently acquired vocabulary I would say whatever. But I never used my freedom of speech to be disrespectful of others. There were occasions when I would have liked to strangle the other party but I knew better. The self management was the key to integration in America.
Being in America – I accumulated heroes for their accomplishments, what they do and set-up the bar of what I expect them to be. Bill Clinton for being a technically smart president, Ronald Regan for being presidential, Tip O’Neal for being a politician deal maker, Steve Jobs for being an innovator, Walter Cronkite for truthfully saying every night the way it is, Tom Brokaw for being cherished broadcaster, Bill Gates for sequestering the world with Windows and Kennedys for creating a charming dynasty for public good. This list entails a few characteristics; each person excelled in the arena where they were recognized with no self promotion. They belong to my elite group of heroes by who they are and what they accomplished. They are recognized without seeking self promotion. Their accomplishments seen through my eyes and not any self promotion placed them on my list of heroes.
Brian Williams – I do not know him. As he has captured the recent events, I began to wonder. As I usually do, I started with a benefit of doubt scenario. So I started reviewing my Brian Williams [embellishing the truth for self promotion]. I recalled when we started our small software distribution company in Northern Virginia we had Tysons Corner office address that made us legitimate. In early days we were asked how many clients we had and I may have said we do not publish the client list but you will not be the first. On purchasing my first Mercedes the sales person asked if I had one before and without hesitation I said with confidence – what you think? I can recount at least fifty instances where I pulled my Brian Williams if outcome was to benefit me. So I had my share of Brian Williams. Somehow my Brian Williams is still not generating the benefit of doubts I had hoped for.
I finally looked deeper and realized Brian Williams as a news anchor held a position of trust, honesty and requirement to report events he would not have to apologize. He has committed sin of breaking the trust for a single reason of self promotion. An educated, seasoned journalist cannot hide behind memory lapse when there is a mountain of evidence and number of incidences showing a pattern. This is a character flaw naturally built in to him and refurbishing him back into the same position is the worst outcome by NBC management. Second chance yes but it need not to be in same profession. Great examples of second chance successes are Jimmy Carter’s post presidential career, Bill Clinton’s migration to global leadership after presidency and many others. Brian Williams second chance may come from space away from journalism of trust. Like many before him, he has lost something very valuable – his character. He shall never be in the category of Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, Harry Reasoner, David Brinkley, John Chancellor and others. They created the journalistic integrity bar. Brian Williams does not belong in this elite group.
Concluding my piece, the Brian Williams I pulled through my career were minor instant event with no life. They probably pulled me out of some tight spots. From early years to now the number has fallen to nil. Most critical though was a lack of pattern based self promotion. Brian Williams will survive the recent events but I wonder whether he will ever be a sterling reputation journalist again.