Thanks for commenting.

dh

Here is what James said:

“True Confession but I am in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say “I would die if I had to live here!”

So what?

I grew up in San Diego. I grew up hating Los Angeles. Seven years ago I took a job in Los Angeles but chose to move 70 miles south east of LA because I hate everything about it. I told my boss I hated LA in my interview. I tell just about every customer who will listen that I hate LA including all of my customers in LA. I have told people at the LA convention center and visitor’s bureau that I hate LA and I have done business with them.

I don’t actually hate LA but I simply prefer not to live there and avoid it whenever possible.

So what.

If a multi-billion dollar company makes its business decisions based on a supplier hating their home city I would say that is a very dumb company that has probably forgotten how they got so big.

Or maybe the rule is if you work for a PR company you can’t ever speak the truth or offer an opinion?

Maybe I have misconstrued your point?

Just one other point on this case that I ruminated over this morning….where is the business contingency plan for Fed Ex? As I pondered this thought it occurred to me that the plan along with many others could be collecting dust on a shelf. Plans need to be embraced by leaders in the company and training needs to occur on an annual if not semi-annual basis. There may have been some shifting over the years in leadership and this is tantamount in keeping consistent key messaging within the ranks.

A former client had many senior executives who all hailed from Fed Ex. They could not say enough great things about the company (and their city LOL).

Lisa-Marie

Well said! Very well said.

David

Four key principles to good crisis communications:

Admit
Acknowledge
Apologize
Act

LM

I research and write about the dynamic and qualities of leadership communications. And, I must say that your perspective has “true leader” written all over it. Thank you for providing such a solid and constructive opinion.

David

I find your accounting of this case scenario to be solid. True there are some big PR agencies out there riding the coattails of the new media. And there seems to be a lack of accountability and responsibility when it comes to owning the problem. But size has nothing to do with it. After all, any practitioner is only as good as their mentor(s).

Offering employees the proper training with regard for the appropriate new media protocols and timing of pro-active communications, accountability and professionalism seems to lag behind feeding egos with enlarged titles beyond the years of experience it takes to truly service a savvy, global client such as Fed Ex.

Sounds to me like this is a great opportunity for Ketchum and FedEx to create a solution that prevents this situation from occurring again.

Whether you fault James for lack of context or not, it’s pretty simple – he got trashed by a racist and tweeted about it. Not Memphis, not FedEx. The racial incident.

Let’s listen and learn here. Interesting that it appears most of us aren’t getting it.