Westwood, NJ

Thursday, June 16, 2011

 Lessons For Everyone From Anthony Weiner's Debacle

By Ron Karr

Anthony Weiner's resignation is just another example of how people screw up and don't know how to handle it. Let's call the screw up the "event". Often most of us may not know in advance if we will have to face an event either because of our own negligence or having someone accuse us of something we may never have done.

In crisis management, the issue often is not the event, but rather how one handles the event.

Anthony Weiner's actions on the Internet were no doubt despicable to most. However the jury is out on whether he would have been forced to resign if he just owned up to the issue immediately versus lie about it, alienate the press in the process and force a young lady to be dragged through the media firestorm as a victim being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

History has shown us over and over that one can screw up and still survive if they handle the aftermath correctly. The number one rule in crisis management is to never allow your enemies or competition the opportunity to blow the event up into a bigger issue than it needs to be. Lying about it helps your detractors and causes one to lose all credibility and trust. As influencers in the world we will make mistakes. How we handle those mistakes will often impact the outcome as much or more than the original mistake. If we handle it wrong and lose the trust of the people we serve, we have lost our ability to influence others and lead.

John F. Kennedy knew this and so did the Johnson and Johnson (J&J), the makers of Tylenol. When the Bay of Pigs happened, President Kennedy masterfully stood in front of the TV cameras and proclaimed the buck stops here and I take full responsibility. His assassination prevented us from knowing whether or not he would have been re-elected. But his response certainly helped quell the furor over the debacle. When 5 people died from taking the number one painkiller endorsed by doctors, J&J immediately pulled Tylenol from the shelves. Even though J&J claimed their product was safe and it was not a production issue, they knew their claim of being the safest product was no longer valid until the problem was solved. So they pulled the product and told the world they will only put it back on the shelves once the problem was identified, solved and in compliance with the claim of being the safest product in the market. While they lost sales initially, their market share immediately rebounded after the scare. They kept the trust of the public as being vital to their success.

Contrast that with Richard Nixon, Exxon and Bill Clinton. Richard Nixon claimed he never knew about Watergate. Once he decided to come clean, he not only had to deal with the original crime but all of the rumors his detractors put forth during his period of denial. If he came clean, would he have been forced to resign? No one knows for sure. But we all know he was forced to resign after the public lost faith in him because of his strong denials. Exxon took three months before it acknowledged culpability in the Valdez disaster. How many credit cards were cut into shreds and how much good will did it lose in its denial? Bill Clinton told us he never had sex with his intern. Many people today believe he would never have been impeached if he just came clean when the episode became public.

So if we know that owning up to the truth is most often the best way to go, why do we not do it when the crisis happens? It is because we are not prepared to handle the crisis. Once the disaster hits, emotion boils over and our ability to think is clouded and our judgment is impaired. We are forced to act and make immediate comments. And often our emotion wins out and does not necessarily do us justice.

Just like companies have disaster recovery plans in place of how to rebuild in times of disaster, individuals should have a thought out plan on how they will react in case they are called to the carpet on a certain issue. As part of this plan, they need to evaluate their values and what's important to them and the people they serve. They need to identify the best strategy on how to respond and if necessary, train on the response under fire. They have to adept themselves in checking the emotion and responding with as much of a clear head as possible.

My question to you is this. As an influencer, do you have a personal disaster recovery plan in place? Please don't you think you don't need one because you haven't done anything wrong! We can all be accused by anyone at anytime and we must be prepared to respond----respond in a way in which we do not lose the trust of the people we serve. We can lose our money, our business, our house or our jobs and we can always bounce back. Lose our word and we will forever find it difficult to get people to believe in us and support us in our comeback.

Ron Karr is President and CEO of Karr Associates, Inc., a firm dedicated to helping organizations and individuals maximize their market share. He is a popular speaker on leadership, sales and negotiations. His recent book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way is a CEO Bestseller. CEO's, politicians, coaches and other people of influence frequently seek out Ron Karr for advice on how to respond to competitive threats, increase market share and achieve their next level of success. For more information please visit http://www.ronkarr.com

Mr. Karr's cell phone is: 201-914-3895

Ronald Karr

President

Karr Associates, Inc.

Westwood, NJ

201.666.7599