The Law of Crisis PR Predicts: Smart People Will Do Stupid Things

The AIG executives who decided on a $400K retreat after their firm was in the process of being bailed-out by the US government (American taxpayers) for $85B may have:

1) Taken a calculated risk that no one would notice.

2) Figured they needed time to regroup and the retreat expense was a reasonable business expense.

3) Selfishly decided they deserved a break from an incredibly high-stress time in their business and/or professional lives.

4) Lived in such an insulated C-suite/rich guy’s bubble disconnected from mainstream society that they golden-parachuted into a PR mess that would hurt them professionally and further damage their business’ reputation.

Whatever the truth is about the decision to hold the retreat you would think those executives would have better common sense and business acumen to dictate corporate and fiscal conservatism in the face of theirs and the nation’s financial crisis. We have, however, seen this mentality before of not-living-in-the-real-world famously manifest itself many times in crisis situations and play out away from the public spotlight.

Remember, the media and public outcry when Martha Stewart went to court for insider trading carrying an extravagant handbag worth thousands of dollars? Or when presidential hopeful Senator John McCain while campaigning under the aegis of economic prudence and a populist banner couldn’t even count how many mansions he owned? Or potential First Lady Michelle Obama who said the first time she was proud to be an American was when her husband decided to run for the presidency?

All of the above gaffes were perpetrated by smart folks who should have thought out better answers or taken other commonsensical actions given their situations. Of course, those kinds of faux pas keep PR crisis counselors in business. That said, a responsible PR counselor should also be in the business of creating preventative PR plans or teaching clients to predict what kinds of actions will hurt reputations, increase legal liability or decrease brand value.

So what are the lessons learned? How can people of power understand what their reactions will trigger from the common man or the mainstream news media – the surrogate of the common man?

Lesson 1. When you are open to high-profile public scrutiny list all possible perception outcomes on a matrix.

Lesson 2. If the stakes are high enough, role play in front of outside PR counsel who is not afraid of telling the boss they are pulling a bonehead move.

Lesson 3. Put yourself in an enemies’ or critic’s position and decide what their reaction would be before you act.

Lesson 4. Don’t forget details or common sense. If you are going to be seen in public or comment upon a sensitive issue make sure you speak appropriately, dress appropriately, act appropriately for the given context; i.e. don’t wear expensive jewelry if you are raising money for the poor or speak before a Mothers Against Drunk Driving audience when you have DUI tickets unless you are talking about changing your life because when you are under the public magnifying glass nothing is secret.

Lesson 5. Don’t surround yourself with “yes men” and expect to break the Law of Crisis PR and survive.