When We've Messed Up
‘Messing up’ is par for the course.
Any time you take on an initiative or a project or a venture, there’s a strong chance that you’re going to mess up along the way.
The more visible the initiative (in whatever sphere of life you’re operating within), the more public that mess up will be - and the more prominent the impact on some stakeholder or constituent. In other words, someone’s going to get hurt, in some form or fashion.
Our response at these times can vary.
We might try and ignore the issue, hoping no one will notice, and, over time, it will get brushed aside. This will work sometimes, but if we’re found out, the impact is far worse - we didn’t do anything about it when we could.
We might try and minimize the impact, in that we keep telling anyone who will listen how this isn’t as bad as they think, how it will all be resolved without much effort. This might also work sometimes but again, the impact can be detrimental, in that we brushed aside those who were impacted, and downplayed their hardships, or played with their trust. Another no win situation.
The best approach, though, is to own up. To be clear about what’s happened, to share the facts of the situation, but then also express empathy for the impact that has resulted for those affected. And, of course, do something about it.
That’s lesson #1 of Crisis Management. Own the situation, take responsibility.
The most famous example of this is Johnson & Johnson’s handling of the Tylenol problem decades ago, but there are plenty of others.
For example, Amazon’s problematic handling of the illegal distribution of George Orwell’s 1984 (which Bezos fixed and said "Our 'solution' to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received.").
Or more recently, Peloton’s Tread+ crisis that resulted in a recall of their treadmills, after which CEO John Foley said, “Peloton made a mistake in our initial response to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s request that we recall the Tread+. We should have engaged more productively with them from the outset. For that, I apologize.”
The thing is, many times, we don’t want to own up. It’s hard, it puts us on the spot and it leaves us vulnerable.
Which is exactly why it’s important. Because it shows a willingness to take responsibility and own the situation.
Instead of weakness, it’s actually a show of strength. That, when the going gets tough, we’ll always be there to handle things, even when those things are hard, even when we may not be able to do everything that’s needed.
That matters. And, in the long run, that gets noticed.
The best way to build a following is to be honest with them, especially when it’s really hard, especially when we’ve messed up.
