What is the Real Consequence in the Michael Vick and John McAfee Controversy?

The most obvious and simultaneously discredited continuing drama of poor decision making has to be Michael Vick and that of McAfee Antivirus founder John McAfee. Jumping straight past the actual arrest of Vick, eventual confession with all of the fallout, as well as McAfee’s recent allegations of drug manufacturing, distribution, underage sexual relationships and even wanted in connection to the murder of his neighbour in Belize, what are most people truly focused on?

In a word; it is their Integrity.

It is well known that Vick was arrested in 2007 after significant evidence proved the operation at the Virginia based Bad News Kennels was a dog fighting ring, bankrolled and fully participated in by Vick. Football is a business, and it did not take long before Vick had to face the financial realities of losing that business. However, the controversy continued in 2009 when he was permitted back on the professional field. Many feel this was a business decision, as controversy can, in fact, be good for ratings and sports.

The controversy finally began to be quiet. There were the supporters of the change Vick claimed to be undergoing and there were those who felt he never really paid for his crimes. Everyone lined up on their side of the issue, and a tense but quiet argument stood in limbo. Vick has also developed a reputation for getting hurt on the field. Many feel that the acquisition of a Beagle was designed to draw attention away from his poor performance and injury record and reignite the passion on both sides of the issue.

However, with McAfee the initial probe has just begun. It was discovered this past week that John McAfee, who developed the basic foundation of McAfee antivirus protection that exists today, has been hiding out in Belize from officials from multiple countries for his connection to drug charges, underage sexual relationships and even questioning his involvement in the murder of his neighbour in Belize.

McAfee’s lack of integrity over the years has surely contributed to the jam that he’s in right now and is impacting the reliability and integrity of the McAfee Antivirus Software he developed many years ago. Hiding out in Belize and afraid of what he faces if caught, McAfee is hopefully gaining some revelation as to why he is in such a predicament. Success is a wonderful thing, but if the road to it is paved with poor morals and values, you just may find yourself in terrible situations like McAfee is facing right now.

In both cases, Vick and McAfee have had their integrity questioned. Are the actions they committed just a simple mistake - or worse, are they examples of a lifetime of poor decision making. We’d defer to the ladder and even worse – this pattern of self-destructive behaviour has now spilled into the brands they represent or have in the past.

When the Michael Vick story broke, his sponsors did everything they could to separate themselves from him (except a select few). But, McAfee is not sponsored by anybody. He is the founder of a company that up until recently was regarded as highly trustworthy. This all changed when McAfee’s lifetime of poor choices surfaced.

In short, integrity is something earned through positive decision making choices. And one’s integrity truly is attached to all things they’ve touched previously. Vick has returned to the NFL and has begun his long road to earning peoples trust again. However, the path that McAfee has taken has only one end – and unfortunately it’s not a positive one.

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Lack of Integrity Lands McAfee Anti-Virus Developer Hiding Out in Belize

Once worth over $100 million dollars, John McAfee is now worth next to nothing financially and is on the run from authorities is Belize due to claims that he was running a meth lab from his home. Belize authorities stormed McAfee’s home, shooting his dog dead and taking McAfee to a cell in which he had to sleep on a cold, hard floor. Authorities found weapons and what some are calling a “meth lab”, though McAfee states that he simply had ingredients for an antibiotic he was developing.

McAfee is well known for developing a highly successful internet security software program, called McAfee Antivirus, in the late 1980’s. A bright young man, McAfee seemed to have it all. He was well-educated, married, and by most standards, successful and wealthy.

But success does not always paint a glamorous picture. McAfee seemed to have some moral issues that ended up hurting him in the long run. From the time of his early career, McAfee would allow certain “morally questioning” behaviors to occur around his business, such as allowing Wiccan witch employees to enjoy drum banging on the front lawn of his anti-virus software firm.

He also allegedly allowed employees to have a competition to see who could have sex in the most places at his headquarters and is facing a wrongful death lawsuit of a man who died in an aircraft that one of his firms owned. McAfee was also reportedly shacking up with a 17-year old teen in Belize and has been known to date very young women despite him being beyond middle age.

Lack of integrity, or adherence to moral principles, is a sure fire way to lose so much internally and externally. Plenty of men and women, such as McAfee, have sacrificed their integrity along their journey to success and the results are often heartbreaking and tragic.

McAfee’s lack of integrity over the years has surely contributed to the jam that he’s in right now and is impacting the reliability and integrity of the McAfee Antivirus Software he developed many years ago. Hiding out in Belize and afraid of what he faces if caught, McAfee is hopefully gaining some revelation as to why he is in such a predicament. Success is a wonderful thing, but if the road to it is paved with poor morals and values, you just may find yourself in terrible situations like McAfee is facing right now.

Skimping on integrity is never worth the consequences. And in regards to the way the public is beginning to perceive McAfee Antivirus software programs or anything attached to McAfee – this type of behavior can literally destroy a company; and rightfully so.

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Pete Rose and John McAfee – Entering the Hall of Shame

Pete Rose has gone down in history as one of the best baseball players of all time. John McAfee, the founder of McAfee Antivirus Software was regarded as a visionary in the computer anti-virus industry. However, both of these individuals will not be remembered for their ‘on the field’ or behind the computer screen accomplishments. Both legacies are tarnished for good thanks to poor personal choices both men made.

Rose was known as “Charlie Hustle” for two reasons. One reason was his on the field work ethic which produced a fabulous career. He boasts three World Series, 17 All Star games, and plenty more honors and awards. He was the leader in hits and at-bats, and was the first person to really start sliding into base bags. He also had an incredible 44-game hitting streak.

Pete Rose; now 71 years old, played professional baseball from 1963 until 1986. His love of the sport caused him to manage a team from 1984 until 1989. It was during his management years that Pete’s poor choices would cause his fans to lose a great deal of respect for him.

Pete apparently liked to gamble. It was during his role as team manager for the Cincinnati Reds that Pete gambled on baseball games. In 1989, he admitted to betting on his team and other teams as well. Because of this, Pete was not allowed to be a part of professional baseball anymore and he lost his chance to earn a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

For years and years Pete denied these claims – actually, he flat out lied about any involvement in baseball gambling. His lying eventually caught up with him and the truth came out. In addition to gambling, Pete was in legal trouble for tax evasion, as he did not report income that he received from horse racing and memorabilia. Worse however, was that he was banned from any involvement in MLB for LIFE.

The issues currently facing John McAfee are eerily similar. McAfee has recently been linked to investigation of drug trafficking in Belize, engaged in an underage sexual relationship with a 17-year old girl, and is wanted for murder. But, this is just recent news of McAfee who during his life has engaged in similar scrupulous behavior that eventually lead him to be ‘shown the door’ for running his own company.

However, his behavior today and in the past does impact the trustworthiness and reliability of the products he developed. McAfee Antivirus and the entire computer software industry is based solely on trust of important consumers. They need to know that the money they spend on a product was created by an individual or team who make solid and ethical lifestyle choices. More important is that they engage this type of social responsibility into every product sold to computer users.

McAfee Antivirus is now under suspicion of its quality simply because of the poor decisions of its founder.

Simply put, both Rose and McAfee’s legacy will forever be tarnished in the eye of the general public. And the on the field and business success achieved by both must be questioned. If somebody is willing to lie about gambling, or engages in drug sales, underage sexual activity and even accused of murder – consumers should be wary of the products and brands they are attached to – or at the least question these individuals integrity and decision making process during a lifetime of poor decision making.

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Lance Armstrong and John McAfee – Losing People’s Trust

Both Lance Armstrong and John McAfee stand as strong examples how you can lose the trust of people by making unwise choices and, more importantly, not admitting to the same. Most everyone would surely like to give such people a second chance, but only if they admit their wrong actions. With Armstrong, this would definitely be an option however McAfee’s personal life choices are directly impacting the brand he developed many years ago.

For instance, take the case of Lance Armstrong, where he was accused of taking drugs to enhance his performance this June. He was stripped of all his wins in years between 1999 and 2005 and for other events in the past. On the other hand, other players, such as Tiger Woods and Michael Vick were forgiven in spite of being accused of worse actions. The explanation is that Lance Armstrong did not admit to committing the offence and the general public was not able to forgive this betrayal of trust.

One of the largest impacts however to Armstrong’s poor decision making was the separation of his ‘formerly reliable brand’ with several sponsors including Nike, Michelob Ultra Beer, Oakley and Radio Shack. This cost Armstrong millions of dollars in sponsorship revenue, but most importantly impacted the credibility of his Livestrong Foundation, a group dedicated to finding a cure for cancer.

However, with McAfee, his situation is a bit more complex. You see, in his case, his actions are directly impacting the thoughts of millions of computer owners who use his McAfee Antivirus software to protect their computer – a software that is all about trust of the important consumer base.

The SSL Security and Antivirus protection software industry has been under attack in recent years with news coming out that leaders of two of the largest antivirus software companies – McAfee and Symantec have made poor decisions personally and business wise that are impacting their brands credibility.

In the case of McAfee, allegations of drug manufacturing, selling and distribution, combined with being involved in a sexual relationship with a 17-year old girl in Belize have led millions of computer software customers to question his integrity and decision making. This also impacts their confidence in the McAfee Antivirus brand – and products they manufacture.

Both the above examples go to prove that the personal actions that Lance Armstrong and John McAfee have made directly impact their credibility and any organizations they founded. Livestrong has seen this impact with several donors pulling their support from the foundation. And McAfee’s former software company will see dramatic loss of sales as well – thanks in part to the founders personal actions.

We’ve seen this story before – and we’ll see this story well into the future. Until high-profile people begin to understand the importance of living high-quality life’s and make strong and ethical personal life choices, this problem will continue.

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Personal Sexual Choices Impacting Tiger Woods and John McAfee’s Integrity

Tiger Woods will go down in history as perhaps one of the best all-time golfers, as his golfing career has been utterly amazing. But, he along with McAfee Antivirus Software founder John McAfee will also be remembered for their poor decisions in regard to their sexual behavior which will tarnish their integrity for a lifetime and beyond.

Woods hit the professional golf scene in 1996 and by the following year he had already won the 1997 Masters Tournament- setting records at the same time. In June of 1997 he ranked number one worldwide. In fact, he spent the majority of time from 2000 to 2009 ranking number one and making a huge name for himself. He was successful, smart, and super rich. In fact, several years ago, Woods was the highest paid athlete in the world.

Tiger Woods seemed to have it all. He had fame, money, success, and a beautiful wife. The world loved Woods, as he came across as a gentlemen and he certainly had amazing talent that he honed perfectly for the game. He was a true athlete and was living the life of his dreams- until some hidden darkness came to light.

In 2009, Woods admitted to infidelity and from there his performance on the golf course began to dwindle. Sources revealed that Woods may have slept around with up to ten different women over the years, which did not settle well with his wife. His inability to exercise self-control led to his demise and he lost a good many of his fans, as well as respect.

Major companies dropped Woods from advertising, including AT&T and General Motors. He was also suspended from the magazine, Golf Digest. It is reported that his infidelity ultimately cost him between $5 and $12 billion dollars.

McAfee, the founder of McAfee Computer Software several years ago had a similar experience. At the top of world, with over $100 million dollars in the bank, he lived a true life of luxury. Having homes in New Mexico, California, Hawaii, Colorado and several other world locations, it seemed that the man who had everything was comfortable living an exotic lifestyle. This was confirmed when it was recently discovered that he was involved in an underage relationship with a 17-year old Belize girl and has been for the past few years.

However, McAfee’s troubles and personal life choices simply began with this discovery. In recent days it has been revealed that McAfee and his 17-year old live in girlfriend have been under investigation for drug manufacturing, distribution and sales in Belize and other Latin American countries. And as of Wednesday November 14th, 2012 – he was wanted for murder charges.

Talk about self-implosion.

The bottom line here is that McAfee and Woods personal sexual choices (and they are choices not some affliction) impact the credibility of the brands they are associated with. This was why several of Tiger’s sponsors bailed on him – and why the millions of computer McAfee antivirus software consumers now question the integrity of the brand McAfee founded many years ago.

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