Well, it happened again. The all too familiar story of a highly-placed CEO having sex with an employee, trying to cover it up, getting sued and harassed, threatened, revealed, then fired. The new CEO’s name is not important. He’s been fired from HP because his sexual desire couldn’t be controlled. And that sexual indiscretion that so many people think is personal, and private, and nobody’s business but my own has devalued the HP stock a little over $2 billion since the controversy, strife, and ultimate firing was revealed.
And what does this CEO get? A 40-plus million dollar severance package just so he’ll agree not to sue HP for wrongful termination.
As a guy who has been fired, I am careful to acknowledge that we don’t know the whole story on either side of the equation. But what we are reminded of is the human condition. That when a man’s desire, whoever it is, whether it be HP, a football-player, or a politician; when that man’s desire has turned toward someone other than his spouse, the cost is sometimes beyond measure.
This is my shout-out to my brothers out there. The men who want to be man-up men, who make promises and keep them, who have accepted the responsibility of manhood, by wooing, wowing, and winning a good woman, who have embraced enthusiastically the privilege of fatherhood by bringing children into this world; it’s to you my brothers that I say, “Keep your passion focused on your wife. Find your desire in her. And when that can’t happen because of conflict or lack of intimate communication find a way to fix it. Do not, under any circumstances allow your attention and affection to drift.”
Men, we live in a culture where we’re under attack. The buffoonication of our manhood is a real deal. But you and I can push back against the pressures and the stereotypical nature and cynicism of our present culture. Let’s be men, and let’s start at home.