Trust vs. Reputational Management, Part II
May 23rd, 2007 by Sterling Hager
Rarely have a had the pleasure of reading a better argument in favor of good behavior versus 'good' PR to disguise bad behavior or otherwise repair a reputation. This item, by Charles H. Green on the TrustedAdvisor associates blog should be required reading for anyone who thinks spin can fix bad management and ethical bankruptcy. Here's the essence of Mr. Green's position, using the pharmaceutical industry as an example:
You can’t talk your way out of a problem you behaved your way into—ask Imus. You can't market your way out of structural conflicts of interest—ask Arthur Andersen. You don't become trustworthy—worthy of trust—via marketing or advertising or PR agencies. That's throwing water on a grease fire.
Pharma needs a fundamental recontracting with two critical constituencies—patients and physicians. It’s a business thirsting for trust—but trust based on values and behaviors. Not on spin, ads, press releases, awareness improvement and “education.”
A post here earlier this week was about the very same issue. Good companies don't decide if they are doing the right thing or the wrong thing after the fact and based on some reading of their reputational standing. Good companies do the right thing in the first place. Their reputation evolves from that, not the other way around.
It seems so obvious to me and yet, lots of companies or industries with bad reputations still prefer to say we don't get it… we're not educated… we haven't been appropriately informed. This is PR's cue to spend time and money trying to get us to unknow what we know and to replace it with something we don't believe. Odd that few ever seem to suggest that if the bad behavior stops, the problem will right itself.
That organizations continue trying this spin strategy and that PR people continue trying to serve it up is one of the most disappointing aspects of this profession in which I find myself. Have so many lost the ability to know right from wrong, especially when it involves things and activities that are not very subtle; not borderline? Is this spin strategy driven by greed or stupidity? Is it attempted because people think they can get away with it? Has it ever really worked for any appreciable period of time? Has it not been proved that honest, well-run companies are rewarded in the long run? Well, maybe the spinners are right… I just don't get it.
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May 23rd, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Sterling, thanks for the kind mention. I completely agree with your framing of the issue. I particularly like your comment,"Odd that few ever seem to suggest that if the bad behavior stops, the problem will right itself."
I don’t have the answer for the PR industry–it’s not easy to dig yourself out of a hole everyone keeps putting you into–but a thought would be for PR firms to challenge their clients with exactly your idea.
What if PR firms said to their clients,
"Look, if I were a doctor, I’d tell you to lose 40 pounds, quit smoking, start exercising, and cut back to a pint of scotch a day; instead, you come in here asking me to find some miracle drug to prevent your second heart attack. Well, I am a doctor of sorts–a doctor of public opinion–and you’re doing the same thing to me here.
"Instead of calling me in after the fact, or to spray perfume on a cowpie, why don’t we sit down ahead of time, figure out exactly what it is that people don’t trust about you–and stop doing that! And if you really believe that what you’re doing is exactly right and proper, then let’s go for full disclosure, not distraction.
"In other words, let us actually help you do something fundamental about how the market perceives you, rather than tweaking about the edges. We’re ready if you are."
I have faith that some PR people would be excited by such a message; and that they have the standing to get their clients excited by it too. And that would also be the way for the PR profession to become truly trusted as professionals, rather than be denigrated as industry’s poodles.
Or so it seems to me.