The Bets Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) is attracting a lot of attention in the country, mainly because it has summoned famous influencers with many followers, such as Virginia Fonseca, to testify. However, it is necessary to move beyond the surface and conduct a deeper analysis, because behind yet another scandal, we must evaluate issues such as ethical failures and leadership.
Although the scenario involves betting, I believe that the lessons emerging from this crisis, which can have very serious consequences for those involved, are highly relevant to the corporate world. The way leaders – or the absence of them – contribute to permissive environments for ethical misconduct raises a warning for managers and companies in all sectors.
In the CPI, it became clear how the lack of oversight of these platforms, especially by those who promote them, can get the situation out of control, causing losses. In companies, similar failures can lead to fraud, corruption, embezzlement of resources, and illegal decisions in the name of profit. These deviations almost always reflect management that ignores ethical risks or does not set a good example to follow.
It is worth emphasizing that leadership goes beyond making strategic decisions and involves being a role model. At Bets' CPI, we noticed that the absence of responsible leadership has opened the door to questionable practices. In the corporate world, leaders who do not closely monitor processes or even condone some irregularities end up planting the seed for future crises.
Companies that faced scandals generally have something in common: leadership that ignored warnings and/or encouraged wrongful practices. When the top is corrupt or omitted, the rest of the organization tends to follow the same path. Furthermore, an excessive focus on aggressive goals can create an environment where the ends justify the means. When ethics are not prioritized, employees may seek "shortcuts" to meet targets, even if it involves reprehensible practices.
The question every leader should ask themselves is: "Are we rewarding performance, even when it comes at the expense of integrity?" The CPI is not just a police case; it serves as a warning sign of what happens when there is a lack of integrity culture, leaders are not attentive to details, control structures are fragile or nonexistent, and no one feels responsible for the whole.
Bets' CPI reminds us that punishing the deviation is not enough; it is necessary to prevent its origin, which is often rooted in neglectful, complicit, or unprepared leadership. It is up to the leaders to choose whether to play fair or not. In the end, a company's reputation is built by the daily choices of its leaders and destroyed when those choices neglect the most basic value of all: integrity.
