The Power of Sorry

In the aftermath of the all the Australian Sorry Day business, I have been left thinking about how the corporate sector can learn a lot from the impact of the word 'sorry'.

All too often, corporations fail to take a magnanimous, humble or even apologetic demeanor to criticism. In particular, I am thinking of customer complaints that have gone public. I am working right now on a case where a customer's product has fallen over quite badly and will seriously de-rail their business. It is most likely that at some point, they are going to seek to deflect some of the flak they are going to face onto us. Fair enough.

But we, like most other corporations, are going to take one of two available positions: the 'flat-bat', say nothing approach such as "we don't comment on individual customer experiences"; or one of blame - "if the customer had used the product correctly they wouldn't be in this mess".

What about a bit of "sorry"? Why is it so hard for large organisations to just say "sorry". The impact of this week's "sorry" has been quite overwhelming and has done so much for the relationship between the government and its people and the 'crimes' of the past have been absolved. Afterall, if meant sincerely, that is what the power of the word represents - the power to absolve.

The reason why we don't say sorry is the same reason that the Australian Labour Party trod such a delicate path to the word. The Lawyers. To a lawyer this is a no -brainer: to say to sorry os to make yourself liable and vulnerable to suit - so you just don't do it.

When the Lawyers get involved and PR becomes shackled to the legal team, the personality of an organisation is smothered and the opportunity to bond with stakeholders is killed. If the lawyers had got their way this week, Kevin Rudd would have said either nothing, or - as Brendan Nelson slightly said - "it was their fault."

Applying PR principles to everyday life

It has been occurring to me recently that common PR principles could and should be applied to everyday life to make some of the challenges we face in the daily melee - challenges that often can be parallels of commercial or political challenges - easier to manage. Here are a couple of examples:

The Reactive Statement
I have been having some fun with a recently pregnant friend of mine around this. Close friends - particularly women - develop the rare ability of telepathy. So when one mother-friend tells another mother-friend that she isn't drinking alcohol, then it only takes a second for the second to guess that the first is pregnant.

Its a common scenario and one of the best examples of how PR can inform daily life. A new pregnancy is probably the most delicate public announcement a person will make. Once its out there, its out there. You face the jinx/hex old-wives-tale about announcing in the first 3 months; then the reality that pregnancies are vulnerable in the first 3 months.

Jokingly advising my newly pregnant friend then - as her pro-bono PR consultant you understand - I briefed her that she should prepare a 'reactive' statement or position that she could meet in-coming enquiries with. Afterall, no one wants to lie to a friend! Therefore, as long as she doesn't 'pro actively' take out the news in the first 3 months, she can feel safe that she hasn't broken the '3 month' rule. Thus unwanted enquiries can be 'managed' carefully and the news carefully restricted within a tight circle.

Thats how the corporate communications function carefully manages unwanted attention without compromising itself by lying or evasion.

Do not speculate...
Furthermore, a similar analogy exists in the issue of speculation - otherwise known as gossip. Another friend recently found herself in quite an uncomfortable position with her husband after passing comment on one of her husband's friends, leaving him quite unable to defend her and seriously jeopardising a friendship with one of his close friends. (Its very, very appropriate that - and you'd understand of course why - I can't decorate this example with more detail.)

Without much effort, we can always get ourselves into trouble in our personal relationships by being frivolous with 'news' or commentary. No one wants to be a gossip but we rarely think too carefully about what we are saying about people. Two commercial positions can be helpfully informative in how we manage news:

• "We do not comment on industry rumour or speculation..." Just as in business and politics, perhaps its often best not to pass comment on someone else's affairs (in the boradest sense of the word of course!) until a consensus has emerged and the event or issue has reached some sort of denouement. Too many turns of fate can occur to prove you wrong, harsh, naive or just nasty. Best to stay out of it until you think your opinion can sit comfortably on the record: "I really couldn't say, I don't know all the facts."

• "We don't discuss our customers without discussing it with them first..." Friends and loved ones are like customers - they make us who we are as customers make companies and members make parties. As in the Communications business, always take 'stakeholders' with you, make sure they are on board with your public statements. "Do so-and-so want children?" "I really don't know, you'd have to ask them."

Does this make us boring? Well it certainly makes PR sometimes a very, very boring business but the caution and the prudence it teaches you makes for a far less stressful life that you can sit easier with. I have been finding that watching some of life's scenarios unfold - seen partly through this PRism - I'm learning more about life and work.

Or perhaps I'm just thinking too much!

Oh well, as Radar used to say at the end of his announcements in M*A*S*H:

"That is all":)

Problogue: The big Blog-off

This is my first posting on this blog - so here goes...

I have blogged before, sadly it died when the incompetent hoster binned the server's contents by accident and without having backed it up. So I'm hoping - and assuming - that Google are a tad more reliable than that!

(That blog was designed to be entertaining, personal and humorous. This will be much drier I'm afraid and for that I apologise in advance.)

That was a personal blog. I haven't tried a professional blog. I'm trying to learn how to use blogging in my work - PR - and so thought if I was going to help clients/executives blog about their business or discipline, I ought to have a crack at it myself.

(My first lesson: I just changed the word 'maximise' to 'use'. That seemed a good start!)

Hopefully I'll have some fun along the way. Its even possible someone might read it - lets see...

Anyway, I thought I could use this to collect the random inspirations and musings about this rather bizarre and nebulous racket of ours. I used to think that if the entire PR industry was idnapped by aliens one day, no one would notice except for the world's lazier journalists who would suddenly wonder where they used to get their stories from. But that was when I was in denial that I would make a career from it. Now I've spent most of my working life working in this sometimes charlatan industry I'm desperate to believe it has more value than that. here's my now public effort to achieve that dream. Does PR really matter?