Tag Archive for: Leadership

Court-Martialed by Public Opinion: When the Navy Steered Wrong

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Written by: Maida K. Zheng and Raleigh Mayer

When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.

– Winston Churchill

I salute the United States Navy.

The Navy – and the other branches of the U.S. military – serve the nation every day, protecting every American’s right to freedom, a privilege we often take for granted.

But right now, the Navy is undergoing a reputational nightmare, and it’s one that could have been avoided.

Capt. Brett Crozier, the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was fired after an email he authored regarding COVID-19 expressing his concerns about the potential – and very likely – harm it posed to his ship and its sailors.

The Acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly, spoke to reporters about his decision to fire Crozier at the Pentagon in a press conference April 2, 2020. Modly stated the reason Capt. Crozier was fired was the Navy’s loss of confidence in Crozier’s ability to lead as well as the disclosure of an internal memo to the media. Modley suggested that the leak occurred because of Crozier’s carelessness in copying too many people on an email that should have been classified, demonstrating poor risk management and poor judgement.

Navy Brass Felt Blindsided by Fired Carrier Captain's Emailed Appeal

Modly would not tell reporters who was copied on the correspondence, stating “I will not comment on that,” during his Pentagon press conference. That may have been one of his first mistakes. When communicating an issue, a “no comment” response will always be met with suspicion and conveys defensiveness, and the refusal may be interpreted as guilt.

To be clear, the reputational damage to the Navy was not necessarily because of the firing itself, which may or may not have been warranted.  The outrage is due to the manner in which Modly communicated that decision.

Effective communicators know that the framework for guiding the choice, style, and timing of a message should always start with the following question: “What would reasonable people appropriately expect a responsible organization to do in this situation?”

By focusing on damaging hypotheticals such as “[the leak] unnecessarily raised alarms with the families of our Sailors and Marines with no plan to address those concerns” Modly accidentally communicated a lack of empathy toward the seriousness of the situation and what the families were likely already feeling (anxiety).

Modly questioned the professionalism of Crozier, who at that point was literally seen as a hero by service members for risking his career for their safety.  “I could reach no other conclusion than that Captain Crozier had allowed the complexity of his challenge with COVID breakout on the ship to overwhelm his ability to act professionally,” Modly said.

Had Modly employed the best-practiced principle of crisis communication and asked himself “what would reasonable people expect a responsible organization to do in this situation” he likely would have realized how critical (for the sake of the Navy’s reputation) it was for him to publicly state that this was an unprecedented situation, and support Crozier because reasonable people expect the Navy to care. Showing you care does not mean you have to give up on good order and discipline. Reasonable people understand that if a policy or order was broken, there will be consequences.

In every crisis there is opportunity, and when this story broke, the Navy had an opportunity to back Capt. Crozier and explain the actions that had been taken and planned to be taken to ensure the service members would be safe and that the mission would not be abandoned. After all – those plans were already in motion according to Modly. Instead, they punished the person the public had already fallen in love with and thus appeared callous in doing so.

With all that said, below are some tips for success in a situation such as this.

  1. Reasonable people expect an organization to care, first and foremost.  The single biggest predictor of loss of trust in a crisis is the perception that you don’t care.
  2. First mover advantage matters. Whoever is first to define the crisis, motives, and actions is the one who controls the interpretation of the event.
  3. A well-structured stand-by statement, prepared ahead of time for adaptation, is key in ensuring you are communicating effectively during a crisis.

Logos Consulting Group provides the following template for the best possible outcome in tough, touchy, sensitive situations:

  1. Acknowledgement. Open by stating awareness of the event or issue. Do not use euphemisms, which are confusing to audiences, especially those under stress.
  2. Empathy. If there are victims or potential victims, express empathy.
  3. Values. Describe the organization’s values that will give context to the response to the crisis.
  4. Approach. Describe ways the organization is handling the response to the crisis, including what has been done or what is under way.
  5. Commitment. Outline the substantive or procedural commitments you can make now.

On Sunday, April 5, several media outlets confirmed that Capt. Crozier tested positive for COVID-19; the Navy declined to comment.

On Monday, April 6, reports of a leaked speech of Modly speaking to Sailors in Guam was released via several media outlets.

“If he didn’t think, in my opinion, that this information wasn’t going to get out into the public, in this day and information age that we live in, then he was either a) too naive, or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this,” Modly said to the USS Theodore Roosevelt crew.

The speech continues in this manner with Sailors audibly yelling “what the F***” in the background.

Additionally on April 6, Modly wrote a response to a New York Times op-ed where Theodore Roosevelt’s great-grandson (Tweed Roosevelt) called Capt. Crozier a hero. In his response, Modly said he has the utmost respect for the Roosevelt family, but that Tweed is wrong — “he simply doe not have access to the relevant facts that led to the captains dismissal.” The letter was deleted shortly after it went live.

The Golden Hour of Crisis Response for communicators and medical professionals describes the urgency to “stop the bleeding.” Each day the Navy delays in effectively communicating and showing true empathy causes more and more reputational harm…and bleeding.

We truly hope Capt. Crozier and his crew recover. Fair winds and following seas.

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Maida Kalic Zheng is a fellow at the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership, where she helps corporate leaders maximize their presence, enhance communication, and become more sophisticated at managing their relationships and reputations.

 

Raleigh Mayer, the Gravitas Guru and principal of Raleigh Mayer of Consulting and Senior Fellow at the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership, helps leaders elevate presence, enhance communication, and become more sophisticated at managing their relationships and reputations. She is an advisor, coach, educator, and speaker, serving large corporations, private firms, and individual executives.

 

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PRESS RELEASE: The Seven Dimensions of COVID-19: What Leaders Need to Know

NEW YORK, NY (March 25, 2020) – As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic worsens, the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership advises clients to be prepared and vigilant in the seven dimensions of COVID-19.

The unprecedented scope of this crisis makes it difficult to predict what will happen next, and is unlike all others: COVID-19 unlike prior pandemics, natural disasters, and corporate implosions, is a situation that is constantly changing, and fundamentally reshaping the management of response.

“We have reviewed thousands of communications by CEOs, university presidents, NGO executive directors, secretaries general, and public officials,” said Helio Fred Garcia, president of Logos Consulting. “We identified patterns that help leaders and their organizations make smart choices and avoid unnecessary reputational damage and inadvertent self-inflicted harm.”

The unique challenge of COVID-19, Garcia explains, is that “It incorporates seven crises in one,” and he advises leaders across all industries to “be aware of every category that they must address”.

“There’s a danger that a leader might be so focused on any one of the dimensions that he or she will miss the need to address the others,” explained Garcia.

 

The Seven Dimensions of the COVID-19 Crisis Are:
  • Public Health
  • Business
  • Economic
  • Information
  • Competence of Government
  • Social
  • Mental Health

Media personnel should contact: Maida K. Zheng, [email protected] or 646-338-0422

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PRESS RELEASE: New Book Details the Dangerous Effect of Trump’s Language

WORDS ON FIRE:    

The Power of Incendiary Language and How to Confront It

 

Author and leadership communication professor Helio Fred Garcia documents President Donald Trump’s increasingly dangerous rhetoric, from his campaign through the first 2 ½ years in office, and how some lone wolves were motivated by that rhetoric to commit violence, in his new book, WORDS ON FIRE: The Power of Incendiary Language and How to Confront It. Published by Radius Book Group, Words on Fire is scheduled for release on June 30, 2020.

WORDS ON FIRE is about the power of communication to do great harm, and how civic leaders and engaged citizens can hold leaders accountable to prevent such harm. Garcia focuses on the language President Trump uses that conditions an audience to accept, condone, and commit violence against a targeted group, rival, or critic. The book includes a history of such rhetoric and identifies a playbook of twelve forms of communication that typically precede acts of mass violence up to and including genocide. The Nazis used all twelve; the Rwandan Hutu used ten. Trump uses all twelve. Garcia also introduces a new, more accessible name for rhetoric that provokes violence: lone-wolf whistle violence, on the model of “dog whistle” politics, where politicians use coded language that conveys one meaning, usually benign, to most people, but a different meaning to members of a certain group or followers of a certain ideology.

“In my teaching and research, I study patterns: patterns that help leaders enhance competitive advantage, build trust and loyalty, and change the world for the better. I also note patterns that predictably, even if unintentionally, lead to hurt, to harm, and to violence,” said Garcia. “In reflecting on the President’s language, I noticed a pattern: He was using the very same rhetorical techniques that had preceded previous mass murders, including genocides. I worried that, left unchecked, he would continue, with increasingly dire consequences.”

WORDS ON FIRE describes the changes in the nation’s political culture and media that led to Trump’s nomination and presidency. It profiles leaders who dialed back their rhetoric when it was shown to put people’s lives at risk. The book closes with a call to action: We can learn the lessons of today to prepare for tomorrow, to help civic leaders, engaged citizens, journalists, and public officials recognize the phenomenon and take steps to hold other leaders accountable in the future when they use such language.

 

Advance Praise for Words on Fire

“Language is power, and powerful. It can uplift, or harm. Helio Fred Garcia is an astute student of language and communication. This book offers historic examples, keen insights and valuable advice on recognizing patterns of language that can harm or lead to violence.”

—  Former Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security spokesman, Col. David Lapan, USMC (Ret)

“Words on Fire serves as a guiding light during this dark moment in our history. Every American should read this timely, imperative book if we are to save our democracy.”

—  Gold Star Parent and Immigrant American Khizr Khan

“Words On Fire should be mandatory reading and a guide book for every journalist, business school, religious leader, and elected official. Important institutions in our society and culture have the affirmative responsibility to stand up and speak out against the users and use of dangerous language.”

—  James E. Lukaszewski, America’s Crisis Guru®

“This is a highly readable guide to how we can call out and combat Trump’s toxic language and malignant agenda, and push back against the corrosive forces that enable Trumpism and put our country in peril.”

—  Evan Wolfson, Founder, Freedom to Marry

“Garcia, a proven scholar on communication, identifies rhetoric that breeds violence, affirms autocracy, and prompts terrorism as well as critical responses to those developments that serve as antidotes to trouble and strategies for building a more equitable, united world.”

— Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President Emeritus, Interfaith Alliance

 

About the Author

For nearly 40 years Helio Fred Garcia has helped leaders build trust, inspire loyalty, and lead effectively. Garcia is a coach, counselor, teacher, writer, and speaker whose clients include some of the largest and best-known companies and organizations in the world including. He has worked and taught in dozens of countries on six continents.

Since 1988 Garcia has been an adjunct professor of management at the New York University Stern School of Business executive MBA program, where he teaches crisis management and was named Executive MBA Great Professor in 2016. He is an adjunct associate professor of management and communication at NYU School of professional studies where he teaches communication strategy, communication ethics and law, and crisis communication.

Garcia is also an adjunct associate professor of professional development and leadership at Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where he teaches ethics, crisis, and leadership.

He is a senior fellow at the Institute of Corporate Communication at Communication University of China. He is a contract lecturer at the Defense Information School and at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

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Media Contact:

Johanna Ramos-Boyer

JRB Communications, LLC

703-646-5137

[email protected]

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PRESS RELEASE: Logos Institute Presents 2019 Outstanding Leader Award to Dr. Guanpeng (Steven) Dong

New York, NY (May 7, 2019) – On Friday May 3, 2019, the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership honored Dr. Guanpeng (Steven) Dong with the 2019 Logos Institute Outstanding Leader Award. The award reception was held in the evening at the Logos Institute, where dozens of guests came to honor Dr. Dong.

Dr. Dong is an accomplished strategic communicator, crisis advisor, educator, and philanthropist with a multinational presence. He is the Chair and Professor of Media and Public Affairs for the Faculty of Professional Studies and Executive Education of Communication University of China in Beijing, the leading school that prepares journalists and PR practitioners. He also serves as Vice Chair of the China Public Relations Association and is a public relations advisor to the senior-most government officials in the Chinese government.

Logos president Helio Fred Garcia presenting the Logos Institute Outstanding Leader Award to Dr. Steven Guanpeng Dong, May, 2019

 

“I’m excited to accept this honor and to reunite with my friend Fred. I also look forward to potential opportunities to collaborate with Logos in the future in terms of joint book publishing and teaching,” said Dr. Dong.

Logos Institute president Helio Fred Garcia and Dr. Dong have been friends since 2011. In 2015, Dr. Dong invited Garcia to teach strategic communication in Tsinghua University through its Institute for Strategic Communication and Public Relations, of which Dr. Dong was a founding director. Garcia has been a Senior Fellow of Communication University of China since 2015.

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PRESS RELEASE: Agony of Decision Now Available as Audiobook

New York, NY (Sep. 30, 2018) – The Agony of Decision: Mental Readiness and Leadership in a Crisis by Helio Fred Garcia is now available as an audio book, narrated by Andy Waits. Earlier this year, The Agony of Decision was named # 2 on the list of the “51 Best Crisis Management Books of All Time” by Book Authority, the leading resource for nonfiction book recommendations.

“I’m pleased that The Agony of Decision is now available as an audiobook,” said Garcia. “I hope that, through this new format, more readers will be inspired to develop the mental readiness required to think clearly, make smart choices, and execute those choices effectively during a crisis.”

The Agony of Decision was published in 2017, the first book published under the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership Press imprint. It is also the first book in the Logos Institute Best Practices Series.

The audiobook edition of The Agony of Decision is available on all the leading audiobook platforms. You can find it on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

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GUEST COLUMN: The Dangers Of Dishonesty

The following is a guest column by Helio Fred Garcia, originally published on Forbes on March 27, 2018.

“You can’t handle the truth!”

So said Jack Nicholson as Col. Nathan Jessup in Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men. He thus offered one of the many justifications leaders often give for lying. This is sometimes also called the Santa Claus defense: It’s OK to tell children that Santa is real because it has a very positive outcome, and kids are not sophisticated enough to appreciate the truth.

The idea that some lies are OK recently became the subject of public discussion when former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, in a closed hearing of the House Intelligence Committee, was asked whether she lied for the President. According to news accounts, she conferred with her lawyers and then admitted she had told “white lies” – inconsequential lies – for the president.

Of course, one of the dangers of justifying dishonesty by saying the lies are inconsequential is that people then question whether those lies really are inconsequential. Is that statement itself further dishonesty? Like with cockroaches, when we see one, we may assume that there are many others around too.

For 30 years, I have taught ethics in graduate business and communication programs and in schools run by the U.S. military. And one of the stickiest problems leaders in business and other disciplines face is handling the truth and its opposite. How much should leaders share with their teams? Do leaders need to tell all they know? Is withholding the truth the same as a lie? Leaders can, in good faith, grapple with these questions while avoiding dishonesty.

What Is A Lie?

Dishonesty is toxic. And there are many forms of dishonesty. For example, for publicly traded corporations, failure to disclose a material fact that a reasonable investor would consider important in making an investment decision can be a violation of the securities laws.

But what is a lie? In general, a lie has four parts:

• It is a statement of fact.

• It is false.

• It is known by the speaker to be false.

• It is said with the intent to deceive.

It’s this last element that distinguishes an ordinary false statement from a lie: the intent to deceive. It is also this last element that helps us understand the power of a material omission. If the information is withheld in order to deceive, it is dishonest.

Defenses Of Dishonesty

Leaders often resort to lies and other forms of dishonesty in the hope they can get away with it. But even when they are caught, they tend to justify their dishonesty — sometimes with the Santa Claus defense, sometimes with the “white lies” defense.

There are other justifications. Some claim the lie was just an innocent factual error, without the intent to deceive. Some justify lying to prevent a greater harm. Some justify the lie when there are conflicting duties, such as when the truth would violate confidentiality.

All too often, these justifications are not the actual reasons for the lies; they’re the rationale for the lies once the leaders have been caught in dishonesty.

But however compelling a justification may be in the moment, even if the leader isn’t caught, there is a fundamental problem with justifying dishonesty in some circumstances. And that is because repeated behaviors can become habitual.

Ethics As Habits

The very word ethics comes from an ancient Greek word that means habits. The Greek philosopher Aristotle noted that we are what we habitually do.

So the danger for leaders is that once you justify dishonesty in some circumstances, lying becomes easier and easier and can become habitual. Then there’s a real risk: The circumstances in which it’s OK to lie become more and more expansive, and pretty soon, lying becomes normalized. But the people the leader communicates with need to rely on what the leader says. And if the leader lies in some circumstances, those who matter to the leader may question whether to believe the leader at all.

And that can cause trust to plummet.

Warren Buffett, whose entire business arguably rests on the trust his investors have in him to manage their money responsibly, said “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” In today’s world, where a tweet can reach millions in under 30 seconds, it’s even more important to consider that. Because once trust is lost, it is very hard, and sometimes impossible, to restore.

While the short-term impulse of a leader under stress may be to tell a lie or to defend dishonesty to guard against embarrassment or harm, there’s a real risk that leaders will lose the trust of those who matter most. And then what?

The leadership discipline is this: Don’t deceive. The cover-up is always worse than the original problem. And the consequences aren’t worth it.

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PRESS RELEASE: Logos Institute Presents the Inaugural Outstanding Leader Award to James E. Lukaszewski

New York, NY (Nov. 17, 2017) – On Thursday, November 16, 2017, the Logos Institute for Crisis Management & Executive Leadership honored America’s Crisis Guru ®, James E. Lukaszewski with the inaugural Outstanding Leader Award. That evening, nearly 50 communication industry professionals came together to celebrate Lukaszewski’s storied career and contributions to the field.

The Outstanding Leader Award recognizes established industry professionals for their consequential professional achievements that set the aspirational standard for others, and the recipient’s excellence in the use of strategic communication to achieve professional or business objectives with substantial and positive results. Recipients also possess the impressive ability to inspire and empower others through their status as role models, trusted advisors, and visionaries.

 

“When considering who to honor with our inaugural Outstanding Leader Award, Jim was our immediate first thought,” said Helio Fred Garcia, president of Logos Consulting Group. “Jim has not only set a high standard through his decades of leadership as America’s Crisis Guru, but his scholarship and mentorship of others, including myself, has made a lasting impact on field.”

For more than four decades, Lukaszewski has helped senior leaders facing crisis get through challenges with focus, ethics, and decisive action. President and Chairman of the Board of The Lukaszewski Group Inc., Lukaszewski is a highly regarded leader in crisis management and strategic communication. In addition to advising to those “at the top,” Lukaszewski has also dedicated much of his career to sharing his wisdom and time with students and young professionals only starting their careers. With 13 books and hundreds of articles and monographs authored, his mentorship and leadership influence have easily touched thousands.

“I want to have an important, constructive impact on the lives of people and organizations I help. My ultimate goal in working with other PR professionals or staff members is to help them learn to have happier, successful, and more important and influential lives,” said Lukaszewski. “I’m honored these efforts are recognized by Logos.”

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LOGOS IN THE NEWS: Logos President Quoted by Bloomberg on Abusive Bosses

Logos Consulting Group president Helio Fred Garcia was quoted in a Bloomberg View article on whether it’s ever a good idea for leaders to publicly shame or humiliate their employees.

The article, by Hofstra University professor Kara Alaimo, focused on recent public statements by president Donald J. Trump, including his criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

(Kara Alaimo)

She also focused on Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, who publicly blamed his employees for the misconduct that occurred on his watch, and also Volkswagen America CEO Michael Horn, who blamed the company’s software cheating scandal on “a couple of software engineers.”

She said,

“Attacking employees also tends to backfire internally, according to Helio Fred Garcia, president of Logos Consulting Group. ‘Ineffective leaders publicly call out or humiliate their people, either in the workplace or in more public settings,’ he says. ‘This predictably causes all employees to lose confidence and trust in the boss. Especially when the public criticism seems arbitrary, petty or ad hominem, other employees will cringe and feel personally at risk.’”

She continued,

“As a result, he says, employees will be less loyal. This can hurt their productivity and lead them to act out — for example, by leaking information to the press. Overall, Garcia says, attacking employees creates a ‘culture of backstabbing and chaos.’ We’ve seen such chaos in the White House, with the abrupt departures of press secretary Sean Spicer, chief of staff Reince Priebus and communications director Anthony Scaramucci — all in a 10-day period.

Kara Alaimo is an assistant professor of public relations at Hofstra University and also teaches in the PR and Corporate Communication graduate program at New York University. She previously was a spokesperson for international affairs in the U.S. Department of Treasury and also held senior communication positions at the United Nations. She is the author of Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication.

Helio Fred Garcia is the author of The Agony of Decision: Mental Readiness and Leadership in a Crisis. In that book he discusses the need for leaders to exhibit humility:

“Emotional discipline requires humility – so that the leader can understand what matters to others. A dollop of humility tempers other attributes, and makes a leader even stronger. Humility helps a leader to recognize that maybe – just maybe – he or she might be wrong; that there may be other valid perspectives; that he or she doesn’t have to be the smartest person in every room, at every meeting.” This kind of humility would prevent a leader from publicly shaming an employee.

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PRESS RELEASE: Logos Institute Presents Inaugural Rising Leader Award

New York, NY (May 22nd, 2017) – On Thursday, May 18, 2017, the Logos Institute for Crisis Management & Executive Leadership presented the inaugural Rising Leader Award to Carolina Perez Sanz.

The Rising Leader Award honors new professionals, recent graduates, and students for their extraordinary leadership potential and demonstration of excellence in their work that offers meaningful contributions to the strategic communication profession.

“I’m very proud of this accomplishment,” said Sanz, “I thank Logos for giving me this honor. And I thank Fred; my capstone would have not turned this good without his help.”

Sanz is a recent graduate from the M.S. program in public relations and corporate communication at New York University, where she wrote her final capstone, advised by Logos Institute president Helio Fred Garcia, on how women in male-dominated professions can become leaders and inspire trust more effectively.

Sanz also completed a PhD in applied linguistics at Instituto Universitario de Investigación Ortega y Gasset in Spain. For her PhD, she did extensive research into how female broadcasters use their voices when performing on the air. She is also a certified speech therapist, and writes her own blog, Power at Speech, on how voice and speech influence the perception of public figures’ personalities. Carolina is currently an adjunct assistant professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, where she teaches public speaking.

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Worth Reading, Apr 9, 2012

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  • Women and Leadership: Since 2007, McKinsey has produced an annual report on the state of women and leadership, and the latest report came out last week. This year’s “Women Matter” found, “Today, women remain underrepresented on corporate boards and executive committees.” The report details the business case for gender diversity in senior executive positions, how top companies are achieving greater gender diversity, and how others can implement programs to continue to advance the role of women in senior management.
  • Viral Videos: Interesting research on what makes “ads go viral” and more likely for people to watch, from Harvard Business Review. (Full article via registration or subscription, but the embedded video in the article is equally worth watching.)
  • Invisible Children/Kony 2012 Sequel: Speaking of viral, Invisible Children last week released a follow-up video to the original Kony 2012 video, which since its release became the most viral video to date. The sequel addresses many of the criticisms leveled at the organization and the campaign.
  • Remembering Mike Wallace: Many reflections about legendary reporter Mike Wallace, who died this weekend at the age of 93, including from CBS News & Morley Safer, and the New York Times.
  • Facebook: When we last left off, there was significant discussion of employers asking for access to employees’ Facebook pages. The House rejected proposed legislation there that would have taken up the matter, but other measures are still underway.
  • McDonald’s and Social Media: The director of social media at McDonald’s, Rick Wion, did an interview recently and talked about how they’ve responded to critics hijacking their hashtags on Twitter, and their broader strategy for various kinds of engagement on the network.

 

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