Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States has been called the accidental president.  President Nixon called on him to fill the position of vice president after Spiro Agnew pleaded no contest to tax evasion charges and resigned from office and when Nixon’s own Watergate scandal drove him from office Ford took the reins and made history as the first president to take office without being elected.

Ford passed away last week and as the nation prepares to bid him a final farewell, we are reminded that his leadership capabilities were no accident. 

In marked contrast to the Nixon years and what Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. called the “imperial presidency,” Ford cultivated a culture of openness and candor. He welcomed competing points of view and opened the White House doors to the press, members of Congress, and other public officials.

Although some people never forgave him for ultimately pardoning Richard Nixon, Nixon’s response to the pardon is highly instructive:

I can see clearly now . . . that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy.

While Nixon’s insight may have been too little too late, it does nonetheless highlight the importance of openness and honesty as highly effective legal risk management tools. 

A culture of candor is a culture of compliance.  It encourages employees to raise issues sooner rather than later.  It keeps problems manageable and from growing into bet the company litigation or a front page scandal. It helps keep long term costs down.