I am a sucker for anything dog related. Whenever someone posts a cute picture of a kid cuddling a puppy dog, I am bound to “Favor” it on Twitter or post it to Facebook. I completely understand that there are those of you who don’t feel as I do, but I would hope you wouldn’t dislike dogs so much, you would repeatedly 
kick a puppy and then try to choke it. They call people like that “abusers,” and as we shall see, abusers come in all different varieties and are found in many social circles.
In an article by John Marshall for the San Francisco Bay Area Examiner (September 2, 2014) entitled: “Centerplate CEO Desmond Hague resigns over dog abuse scandal,” we get a glimpse into the hidden ethical life of the CEO.
Centerplate is a huge company; a $6 billion dollar company. They are based in Connecticut and they are the firm that most probably serves you food and beverages when you go to a sporting event. They service about 300 sporting venues in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain. At the head of this hot dog empire was CEO Desmond Hague, a hard-charging executive whose rise to the top obviously did not include a course on choices and consequences.
The dog was not even his, but belonged to a friend. He was apparently so caught up in his status and anger, that as he entered the elevator of his luxury building, he decided to kick, hit and choke the puppy maybe, just because. What he failed to remember was that elevators have cameras.
The security people at the condo apparently reviewed the elevator tape and though it took a month or two, the tape was released to the public and it went viral, and did it ever go viral. CEO’s are seen in a rather bad light these days, and a CEO kicking a puppy? Online petitions exploded for his removal, the media jumped all over him, and as there are so many sports fans who are also animal lovers (Georgia Bulldogs, Washington Huskies and even the Southern Illinois Saluki’s come to mind), who made their displeasure known to the corporation. Indeed, 190,000 people signed a petition to kick the CEO a good one.
According to the article:
“The fallout over the top executive of food and beverage giant Centerplate kicking and abusing a defenseless little puppy continues to grow with CEO Desmond Hague resigning, effective immediately…The sudden departure of Hague…comes after he was caught on a surveillance video camera kicking and abusing a one-year-old Doberman Pinscher. The helpless dog — named Sade — cowered at Hague’s feet, then appeared to choke as he yanked at her chain, pulling her of the floor as the two rode an elevator in a high-rise luxury condo in Vancouver.”
The organization, trying to cover their tracks for hiring such a dumbbell in the first place made the following statement as Desmond Hague headed out the door:
“’We want to reiterate that we do not condone nor would we ever overlook the abuse of animals,’” said Joe O’Donnell, chairman of the board of directors for Centerplate, in the statement announcing Hague’s departure.”
Lessons Learned
Let us begin with the most obvious lesson: “We just never know.” Don’t ever believe that because someone looks the part or acts the part or talks the part, that they are without flaws. I have known many people of very modest means who are kind, compassionate and caring people. I have known well-to-do people who are despicable and of course, the opposite is true. It is so trite to say and I apologize for such simplicity, but we must ethically judge people on their character not their bank accounts.
The next lesson is that nothing is completely private these days. Taking Desmond Hague out of the discussion completely, if you are in a public place you are probably being watched. In the workplace, at a mall, in the gas station or supermarket and on and on chances are you are you are on someone’s surveillance. The best thing to do is to lead an ethical life.
What brought down Desmond Hague – ultimately – was the social media. It can be used for good or for bad. Anything can go viral. This is an extremely important lesson for younger people to learn. Once something is leaked on the internet it can go out of control.
Ultimately, and despite this cynical age, this case presents us with a golden ethical lesson. Good can triumph over evil, and people still do care and there are still a great many of us who try to do the right thing.
