Should cheating ruin your career?
It can potentially ruin your marriage, but what about your professional life?
By now, you’ve heard a lot about General David Petraeus’s cheating scandal with biographer Paula Broadwell. The affair cost the four-star general and top commander in Iraq and Afghanistan dearly. For starters, it led to his resignation as CIA Director. And now, the media is speculating about the state of his 38-year marriage to Holly Petraeus.Experts largely agree that the general did the right thing by resigning. Petraeus "understood that his institutional leadership was fatally compromised, by his own actions,” says Heather Hurlburt, executive director of the National Security Network, in a US News & World Report column. “You can’t both lead the CIA and recover from a public betrayal of your family,” adds Mieke Eoyang, director of Third Way’s National Security Program.
But what about the rest of us? If you’re, say, a journalist or a doctor or a teacher, could cheating on your spouse sink your career? (And I’m excluding affairs with minors here, just to be clear.) In my opinion, what you do in your personal life shouldn’t be cause for dismissal from your job, so long as national security isn’t at stake and you're meeting your employer’s expectations. That doesn’t mean I think it’s right to cheat on your spouse -- it’s definitely not -- but I don’t think that an affair should have a negative impact on your livelihood.
What do you think?
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When it comes to high profile people, do not compare yourself to them. Most of them will eventually land on their feet but career wise, you will land on your head. I have seen it happen.
Clinton, Schwartzenegger, Spitzer,Larry Craig, etc., all have the money and influence to get around these scandals but you don't. Being terminated for sexual harassment or misconduct could have you living out of shopping cart very quickly.
As for Petraeus, if you are the head of the CIA and can't keep something like this a secret, this probably isn't the job for you.
Ok first and foremost, this took place while he was the Commander in Afghanistan. I'm retired military that served in Afghanistan and I can tell you that his action violated HIS own General Order(GO). It is actually GO #1, no cohabitation or sexual intercourse, hell you can not even be in a member of the opposites sex room. I have personally seen a few military careers ruined for less then what he did. in addition cheating on your spouse is also in direct violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice(UCMJ). I was called in front of my Commander once and read my rights for perceived cheating.
This goes way beyond cheating in the workplace, this is a Commanding General in direct violation of the UCMJ, and his own orders. He should be treated just as he would treat a Private under his command for the same offense. Stripped of rank, money, and possible discharge with NO benefits.
It is not a far leap to think that if a person will cheat on their spouse that they will cheat on their work, If you do not love your spouse then just separate and get a divorce. If you are cheating on your spouse then you have a vulerability and are susceptable to blackmail or extortion. Many times those cheating on their spouse wind up with problems that spill over into the workplace, How many times do we have to read about the spouses of those who have been cheated on going to the workplace and confronting and even injuring and or killing the involved and even uninvolved parties becoming victims because of workplace cheating.
