Month: March 2015

Even “private” and “temporary” messages can come back to haunt you

Everyone knows Snapchat images are supposed to vanish after a set time period, but since the app’s release many have found out (through painful experience) that isn’t always the case.

Well, you can add newly appointed Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Rory Cullinan to that list. Cullinan sent some Snapchats to his daughter during a busy day of work, and they wound up costing him big time. The Telegraph’s Peter Spence has more details:

Rory Cullinan used photo-sharing app Snapchat to send images featuring captions that read: “Not a fan of board meetings xx”, “Boring meeting xx” and “Another friggin meeting”.

The pictures then ended up being posted on Instagram around Father’s Day last year by the investment banker’s daughter, but only revealed in a national newspaper early this month. Mr Cullinan’s daughter had uploaded the photos with the message: “Happy Father’s Day to the indisputable king of Snapchat.”

Cullinan, who had been with the bank for six years, came under heavy fire from critics immediately. The bank’s official statement effectively said nothing, with no reason for departure stated at all, but considering Cullinan was on his way out mere weeks after the Snapchats were posted the connection is hard to ignore.

For crisis management and reputation protection purposes we like to tell people it’s OK to be a little paranoid when it comes to your personal messages. No matter how private you think they are, no matter how thoroughly you think they were destroyed, there’s a very real possibility that they could be made public. Remember that fact and act accordingly.

Crisis management lessons learned painfully by The Daily Show’s new host

Comedian Trevor Noah has some massive shoes to fill as Jon Stewart’s replacement on The Daily Show. Noah was bound to face criticism purely because Stewart was so beloved, but thanks to the Internet and social media in particular he’s being taken to task for his past as well.

Immediately after Comedy Central’s announcement of Noah as the new host people began poring through his online presence. E-detectives pulled up a number of old posts deemed by some as sexist or anti-Semitic and quickly began circulating them around the web, where they combined with debate on his merits as a host to create a PR problem.

“Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I’m sexy!” – fat chicks everywhere.

— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) October 14, 2011

Almost bumped a Jewish kid crossing the road. He didn’t look b4 crossing but I still would hav felt so bad in my german car!

— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) September 18, 2009

Both Noah and Comedy Central replied independently with what we thought were mediocre messages that didn’t directly address the bigoted nature of the slurs.

“To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian.”

— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 31, 2015

“Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included,” said the network in emailed statements. “To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair. Trevor is a talented comedian with a bright future at Comedy Central.”

We’re not here to debate the appropriateness of the jokes (if you’re interested a quick Google will return quite a few results for places you can do that), but there is a crisis management lesson to be learned. Whether you’re starting a new job search, heading to a new employer, or maybe just haven’t taken a look back on your posts from the past couple years, it’s critical to remember that your posts provide a chronicle of your past. And, despite however unfair you may feel it is, you WILL be judged on that past.

Whether you stand behind what you said and leave it posted or clear things out and start with a new slate is up to you, but you absolutely must be aware of the issues that may arise. It’s always important to remember who your audience is as well – in Noah’s case Comedy Central is standing behind him and dismissing the posts as a couple of jokes that missed the park, but if you work in, say, social services or investment banking you’ll have far less leeway.

Good crisis management means being aware of potential outcomes, and when we’re talking social media the world will be the jury that decides your fate.

Behaving as if you could be caught on tape at any moment is just good crisis management

You are ALWAYS on camera. Cornell University’s assistant dean for students found this out the hard way after becoming the latest figure to have shocking behavior exposed via YouTube.

An undercover reporter for Project Veritas, which operates under the tagline, “Investigating and exposing corruption in both public and private institutions” posed as a student interested in attending the university and captured a series of incredible responses from the dean on a hidden camera.

While the many cuts in the video have some feeling skeptical, it’s hard to deny its legitimacy when the dean is asked, “If you supported Hamas would that be a problem?”, and, in a direct response, states the university would not be opposed.

Whether this is a case of political correctness gone too far or a major American university telling potential students (aka customers) anything they want to hear we may never know, but what’s for certain is that it’s yet another reminder that you can safely assume cameras are rolling whether you can see them or not.

A reputation as trustworthy is a must for any organization

Edelman’s Trust Barometer is an annual report that seeks to measure trust in business and government. It analyzes both hard data and sentiment in a number of categories, and the results help guide the decision-making and priorities of intelligent organizations the world over.

This year’s report showed an even further erosion of trust across the board, and highlighted the significant issues this lack of trust creates. Here are a few key findings from the report:

• Government remains the least trusted institution for the fourth consecutive year, with trust levels below 50 percent in 19 of 27 countries, including the U.S. (41 percent), U.K. (43 percent) and Japan (40 percent).
• Media as an institution is distrusted by 60 percent of countries and for the first time, online search engines are now a more trusted source for general news and information (64 percent) than traditional media (62 percent).
• Trust in NGOs declined for only the second time but remained the most trusted institution. In 19 of 27 countries, trust in NGOs fell or remained at equal levels to the previous year and saw dramatic drops in the U.K. (16 points) and China (12 points).
• There is a tangible impact of trust. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of respondents refuse to buy products and services from a company they do not trust, while 58 percent will criticize them to a friend or colleague. Conversely, 80 percent chose to buy products from companies they trusted, with 68 percent recommending those companies to a friend.
• A majority of respondents (81 percent) believe a company can take specific actions that both increase profits and improve the economic and social conditions in the community where it operates, while three-quarters (75 percent) feel a company can be more profitable by finding ways to solve social and community problems.

Trust is a valuable commodity, yet organizations continue to throw it aside. One of Bernstein Crisis Management’s core tenets is the belief that reputation truly is your most valuable asset, and, as the study clearly shows, a reputation of being trustworthy is a must for success today.