To the casual observer, the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy was an engineering marvel. Constructed in 1966, it was, at the time, the longest concrete span in the world. A cable-stay bridge similar in concept to the Brooklyn Bridge, it was named after its designer, Riccardo Morandi. The bridve was a picture of modern, post-World War II Italy, crossing over a river, railway depot, several large factories and apartment homes, the centerpiece of a new highway network connecting the countries larger cities.
It may surprise you to learn that on August 14, 2018, during a morning rainstorm, a 650-foot section of the bridge collapsed, killing 43 people.[1] The bridge had diminished in strength with age and corrosion, the concrete weakened and cracking after years of delayed maintenance. The support cables, hidden by an outer sheath of concrete, had deteriorated underneath and could no longer hold up the immense weight of the span. What happened was a loss of structural integrity.[2]
Integrity in a bridge structure is not unlike integrity in a leader. It is the state of being whole and undivided, without weakness and able to uphold itself through strength and persistence. A leader of integrity is known for being honest, for having a strong moral foundation, and conducting himself ethically and in an upstanding manner. Like the Morandi Bridge, a leader’s loss of integrity most often happens below the surface. Everything looks fine to the naked eye, until the collapse. We can learn something from a loss of integrity, so that as leaders we ourselves maintain it throughout our lives.
Integrity lies below the surface. When the Morandi Bridge was built, engineers said the concrete would maintain its strength for 100 or more years. But that simply wasn’t the case. They had not accounted for heavy traffic, factory pollution, and how the weather would affect the concrete. Perhaps their biggest error was having no means to check the integrity of the bridge below the surface—not knowing the depths of cracks that formed, or how the newly-formulated concrete would cure deep inside the structure. For the bridge-builders, integrity was no more than face-value.
A leader’s integrity is composed of all the facets of his life and work that are unseen. What does the leader think about? What influences does he pour into his mind? How are his relationships outside the office? And what of his health and wellbeing? Legendary college basketball coach John Wooden is attributed the common saying, “The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching.” Do you maintain your integrity below the surface, in the spaces that nobody else sees?
Integrity requires maintenance. The Morandi Bridge was touted as being maintenance free. The reality was that at construction, concrete used in this way was relatively new, and the engineers had no idea that maintenance would not only be required, but failure to do so would be catastrophic. Only a decade after construction, Morandi himself issued a report detailing a number of steps required to product the structure—but nothing was done. By 1992, the trademark concrete-covered cables of the bridge had become heavily corroded. Officials decided to add a few extra cables around the corroded ones, instead of retrofitting the weakened originals.
The key to having personal integrity is a maintenance plan. A leader must have a practice of self-reflection, consistently identifying areas that need improvement. He must be transparent, open to critique that leads to personal growth. And he must be accountable, standing behind his decisions, even when difficult or unpopular, but morally and ethically sound. Integrity is not a state that, once attained, continues indefinitely. If not maintained through intentional action, like the bridge, it will develop cracks and weaknesses that lead to failure.
Once lost, integrity cannot be recovered. Once the bridge lost its structural integrity and collapsed, it became a national scandal. Morandi’s legacy as an engineer was ruined. Italy’s reputation as a nation built on the mastery of concrete was in tatters. What was once s symbol of the nation’s rebirth after the war was gone. After the dead were mourned and inquiries and reports were made, the wreckage of the bridge was cleared. It would not be repaired or rebuilt. It would be completely replaced.
If you have integrity as a leader, consider what would happen if you lost it. You can rebuild a career, a relationship, a life, over time. But you will likely never fully regain your integrity once it has been lost. Consider names like Bernie Madhoff, Bill Cosby, Lance Armstrong, Kevin Spacey, Harvy Weinstein, Ellen DeGeneres—all once famous individuals with great reputations, but through their actions, lost their integrity. They’re no longer trustworthy names. All of them now relegated to the back page of history, quickly replaced by new names with fresh, untarnished reputations.
Today in Italy, you’ll find a brand new bridge where the Morandi Bridge once stood. The Geonia-Saint George Bridge cost $220 million. Add another $98 million on top of that for the cost of demolishing the old bridge. The reputation of engineer Riccardo Morandi, who died in 1989, did not survive him. His bridge designs, once considered innovative, have been revealed to contain numerous weaknesses and need constant maintenance to remain intact. Today his techniques are of no influence on modern engineering. A bridge he designed in Venezuela needed major repairs just 18 years after construction, when several of the cables snapped due to rapid corrosion. It’s a pointed reminder that there is no substitute for maintaining integrity, both in engineering and in life.
Integrity in a bridge structure is not unlike integrity in a leader. A leader of integrity is known for being honest, for having a strong moral foundation, and conducting himself ethically and in an upstanding manner.