How to make a successful comeback after a personal PR crisis
Add “Subway Guy” Jared Fogle to the growing list of celebrities, government officials, and business leaders caught, or alleged to have done something illegal or improper. Like Bill Cosby before him, Fogle’s alleged deed has to do with sex, but in Jared’s case it is reportedly paying $100 for sex with a 16-year old.
Whenever one of these stories surface, I receive emails and texts from friends and colleagues all asking the same question: “This guy is ‘toast” reputation-wise, right?” My reply is usually the same: “Probably, but it doesn’t have to be.”
The fact is, Americans are an extremely forgiving public (see Bill Clinton), but most high-profile individuals make fundamental errors when they find themselves in a proverbial “crap-storm” (again see Bill Clinton). Denials, dances (with language), and departures (from addressing the issue) are the strategy employed by personalities in crisis. The media loves this approach because it assures them a long lasting storyline. It also pretty much assures the individual involved of being relegated to “toast.”
My advice to a well-known person in reputation crisis is to do the exact opposite of what your instincts tell you. Instead of denials, dances and departures, you should 1) own up; 2) open up; and 3) offer a new story.
Own up. Deniers are rarely believed in today’s “guilty until proven innocent” court of public opinion. Today’s skeptical public expects to hear denials when bad new surfaces. To begin the process of reputation re-building, do the unexpected.
If you did wrong, admit it, FULLY…and apologize, SINCERELY. The truth will always get out. Years ago the famous had to fear investigative reporters.Today, it is anyone with a social media account and a smartphone with a camera. Either way, the story will get out, so it is best coming from YOU. Tell your story, tell it all, and give a sincere, honest apology. And do one more thing that seems to evade high-powered leaders and celebrities: show genuine compassion for anyone who may have been hurt, offended, or affected.
Open up. Don’t go into hiding. You may not have to go on a month-long “Mea-Culpa” Tour, but don’t think a reputation can be rebuilt with a one-and-done event. Your issue will need to be addressed openly and honestly, several times. People need to hear a message at least three times before they process it and begin to accept it. But don’t look at this process as a debate. Reporters, bloggers and individuals will challenge your arguments and your sincerity. Don’t take the bait. Reporters and challengers want to get you into an argument and see you lose your cool. That keeps the story alive, and adds gasoline to the fire. Stay cool under pressure; show genuine remorse and empathy for what has happened. You may have to repeat this process over and over again, until public sentiment believes and accepts your contrition. Only then can you…
Offer a new story. In this age of digital information, bad news about you never goes away. It is always just one click away on any popular online search engine. While you can’t eliminate bad news stories and blog posts, you CAN work to replace those stories with a better one.
Many considered American financier Michael Milken the poster-boy for Wall Street greed in the 1980’s. Charged with racketeering and securities fraud, Milken served two years of a ten-year federal prison sentence. Upon release from jail, Milken began rebuilding his trashed reputation. It took years, but Milken built himself a new story as philanthropist and social activist. When you Google Michael Milken today, the dark story is still there, but it is now overshadowed by the work he has accomplished since prison.
A reputation cannot be rebuilt overnight or without hard work, but Americans love a comeback story. The key is to fight the conventional wisdom of hiding behind a team of lawyers and deny, deny, deny. The only way to repair a severely damaged reputation is to own up and genuinely apologize for improper conduct, open up and respond to criticism with honesty and compassion, and then craft a new story based on lessons learned from a humiliating experience. Are you listening Jared? Coz?
Bill Jasso is a professor of public relations and is designing a course for Communications@Syracuse, the online Master of Science in communications from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Previously, he was vice president of communications at Time Warner Cable in Akron, Ohio.