One of the most gratifying things about being president of SIOP is that I am in an excellent position to observe all of the many, many broad projects and specific activities in which SIOP committees and members are engaged. We have a remarkable proportion of our membership voluntarily engaged in promoting the science and practice of I-O psychology; providing useful and effective services to SIOP’s membership; and helping to make organizations, our nation, and world beyond better. We are small, as professional organizations go, but we are mighty in our impact!

On a related note, I want to acknowledge the dedicated efforts of the members of the SIOP Executive Board (EB) who have been conducting “business as usual” and working to implement my presidential agenda. I’m reflecting on this now (as I write this column in November 2015) because I will only lead one more EB meeting (in January 2016, about the time you will read this issue of TIP). I will preside over the SIOP conference (in sunny SoCal) in April and then, at the end of the conference, I will hand over SIOP leadership to your Incoming President Jim Outtz. Jim will lead the subsequent EB meeting that occurs immediately following the conference. Time flies when you are having fun!

This is going to be one of my shorter (probably the shortest) editorial columns.  I’ll most likely make up for it with the one in April, though, so please don’t feel cheated!  The truth is, what I have to say this month doesn’t require as much in the way of word-count.

One of the criticisms of digital TIP that I most fervently wish I could have addressed is that despite publishing in a purely digital format, we still function a lot like a print publication.  There are a lot of things digital publishing brings with it, but to me, one of the most important is interactivity.  With interactivity, you get community-building, as the conversation that begins in one issue can continue in the three months before the next issue is published.

The Past Begets the Future

No story of modern times has hit the public as hard as the Jerry Sandusky story. It was a big disappointment for football hopefuls, parents, employees at the school, and the world at large. Although the guilty party serves his time in prison, I am baffled by one thing: Why do employees witness wrong doings and turn a blind eye? The events at Penn State University are not unique. We all can attest to a time when had someone spoken up for truth, someone would have saved the day. It is this aspect of the organization's culture that I wish to explore. According to Ostroff, Kinicki, and Tamkins, as cited in Muchinsky (2011), the culture of an organization comprises of three layers: (1) observable artifacts, (2) endorsed values, and (3) basic assumptions.