I believe people can change. I believe in second chances, and I've needed a few myself. What I keep wondering is why a mistake becomes something one person gets past and something another person is known for.
I've watched this happen at work. Two people make the same mistake. One gets a do-over because the boss likes them, or sees something familiar in them. The other becomes the story people tell new hires about what not to do. Nobody necessarily announces that they are using two different standards. It can happen without anybody saying it out loud.
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The question I ask myself is whether I would give this person the same chance if they were somebody I didn't like. It's easy to explain why someone you like deserves another opportunity. You know their history. You can imagine what they were trying to do. With someone you don't like, you may stop at what they did wrong.
I spent the November 6 podcast looking at Elizabeth Holmes, Martha Stewart and the different ways people come back after a public failure or a conviction. I went into it with an idea about who gets punished more harshly. Some of what I found did not support what I thought. I had to separate the courtroom from the job, the next investor and the public's willingness to hear from somebody again.
Most of us are not deciding whether to fund a famous founder. We still decide whose explanation we listen to, whose mistake we keep bringing up and whose good intentions we assume. Those are decisions we can look at without settling every argument about the people in the headlines.
If somebody comes to mind while you're reading this, try describing what happened without starting with what you think of the person. Would you use the same words if someone you liked had done it? The answer may still be that the two situations are different. At least you will have looked at the difference instead of letting familiarity make the decision for you.
I'm not going to tell you who deserves another chance. I don't have a final answer for everyone. I do want to notice whether I am moving the line depending on who is standing in front of me.
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Michelle Vaughn