Musings from the CU Suite

Sep 22, 2015

The Cost of Cheating

Written by Anthony Demangone

Volkswagen is a cheater. 

There is just no other way to put it. The company outfitted roughly half a million diesel vehicles with software that turned on full pollution control only during official pollution testing. After the test concluded, the software turned off the pollution control system.

Think about that. Someone (likely many people) developed a computer program that deceived inspections. Either the programmers knew when vehicles were being tested, or someone else supplied that information. How many people knew about what was going on in Volkswagen?

The automaker is facing fines estimated at nearly $20 billion. And Volkswagen's CEO now says that he is deeply sorry for the manipulation.

But here's the question...

Is he sorry for the manipulation, or for being caught?

There are two truths that come to mind.

Your reputation is priceless.  And the truth always comes out.Â