[Newsletter] 1.16.25 | “It’s embarrassing though not criminal,”
January 13, 2025
Many examples this month: one of our “not a crook” runners-up illustrated the perils of “hedged” speech. A kind of communication we hadn’t thought of, ending with “no reason to panic” which should make you want to read up. Honda and Nissan certainly need to be introduced to our “good word/bad word” drill. The Pope learned to start with a joke. An apology of sorts from ABC and George Stephanopoulos. GM showed how not to handle layoff communications. And two articles of interest – one about Gen Z language (which I didn’t need to tell me I’m ‘cooked’) and one reinforcing the need for ‘positive gossip’. (Memo: send to the Hollywood folks at “It Ends with Us”.)
“I AM NOT A CROOK”
“It’s embarrassing though not criminal,” said former Congressman Matt Gaetz as the House Ethics Committee released a report of a lengthy investigation. The headline sums it up: “House Ethics Report Says Matt Gaetz Regularly Paid Women for Sex.” Gaetz tried to put the report behind him, saying, “I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life.” The perfect candidate for “I am Not a Crook”, and like his namesake ‘not a crook’ speaker, Mr. Gaetz is also no longer an elected official.
WSJ, “House Ethics Report Says Matt Gaetz Regularly Paid Women for Sex” December 23, 2024
THE RUNNERS-UP
“There is no known malicious activity occurring,” said White House spokesman John Kirby. The government has tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to tell the public what the alleged drone sightings aren’t. It has only spurred speculation – which they’ve also tried to shoot down. More denials from Pentagon spokesperson, Sabrina Singh,“There is no Iranian ship off the coast and there is no so-called mother ship launching drones toward the United States.” The lack of affirmative information takes us right into the rapid hole of speculation, like Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s (R-NJ) claim of “high sources” about the Iranian “mother ship.” President Biden contributed to the kerfuffle by saying there was “nothing nefarious apparently,” and made it worse by adding “So far, no sense of danger.” So far? We can’t help thinking about the Chinese spy balloon which drifted over the whole U.S. Is this a case of Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush who talked about “Known unknowns and unknown unknowns?”
WSJ, “Inside the Monthlong White House Effort to Quell New Jersey Drone Frenzy” December 22, 2024
“Please don’t assume this is a plan to kill you,” said Paul Bracken, now a Yale professor but the man assigned to watch and write up a 1983 secret war game, Proud Prophet, meant to test whether – or how – confrontation between nations might escalate to involve nuclear weapons. The opening line got my attention: “Nuclear confrontation is fundamentally a form of communication.” That’s my business! I think of myself as a savvy person interested in the major policy questions we face, but I don’t recall hearing any debates during the presidential campaign about our nuclear capabilities, only on the need for increased defense spending. In summary: it recounts how and why Proud Prophet was organized, how it played out and, most important, the risks and lessons today, especially with Russia on the move and thoroughly unconvinced of America’s willingness to risk our cities for any allies’ infrastructure and “the huge strategic complication of China’s arrival as a major power” and one which may believe a nuclear confrontation can be ‘won’ with an acceptable level of casualties. The author’s conclusion, which anyone can recognize, is that “nonproliferation has failed.” Further, Bracken argues persuasively that “the Pentagon is applying high levels of skills to the wrong problem.” The final advice, “There is no reason to panic.” Maybe not, but for anyone who cares about the country and our way of life, there’s every reason to read up.
NY Times, “The Secret Pentagon War Game That Offers a Stark Warning for Our Times” December 2, 2024
“troubled” company. This is an example to learn from because it has all the earmarks of a response to a question where a word in the question contradicts or messes up the message. In other words, a reporter or analyst asked, “Is it a rescue?” and the CEO fell into the trap of repeating and denying the word. The “not a rescue” became the headline. We think it’s a response to a question because in the announcement and earlier in the month, the message is that the two companies will be the third largest in their field, which brings competitive advantages. Our exercise of “good” and “bad” words could have prevented this mishap.
WSJ, “Honda, Nissan Plan to Create World’s No. 3 Automaker in 2026 Merger” December 23, 2024
APOLOGIES
“Regret” is the word, a sort of grudging apology, from ABC News and star anchor, George Stephanopoulos. They paid $15 million (plus another estimated $1 million in legal fees) to President Trump to settle a defamation suit. Background – and pay attention to word use. Stephanopoulos had reported that Trump had “raped” writer E. Jean Carroll. He was actually found to have “sexually abused” her. It’s a big difference legally. Anyway, internal emails showed Stephanopoulos was advised not to use the actual word “rape” and ignored the directive. ABC and its star didn’t apologize but said in a statement they “regret” the situation. Since we frequently criticize lawyers, this is one story for them to file away as a client teaching moment.
NY Times, “ABC to Pay $15 Million to Settle a Defamation Suit Brought by Trump” December 14, 2024
HUMOR
Even the Pope has apparently been advised to lead with a joke – and that a joke defines humor. We’re glad to learn His Holiness takes communication seriously, particularly self-deprecating humor. His guest column in the New York Times recounts several jokes.
One, in particular, stands out and concerns him directly: As soon as he arrives at the airport in New York for his apostolic journey in the United States, Pope Francis finds an enormous limousine waiting for him. He is rather embarrassed by that magnificent splendor, but then thinks that it has been ages since he last drove, and never a vehicle of that kind, and he thinks to himself: OK, when will I get another chance? He looks at the limousine and says to the driver, “You couldn’t let me try it out, could you?” “Look, I’m really sorry, Your Holiness,” replies the driver, “but I really can’t, you know, there are rules and regulations.”
But you know what they say, how the Pope is when he gets something into his head — in short, he insists and insists, until the driver gives in. Pope Francis gets behind the steering wheel, on one of those enormous highways, and he begins to enjoy it, presses down on the accelerator, going 50 miles per hour, 80, 120 … until he hears a siren, and a police car pulls up beside him and stops him. A young policeman comes up to the darkened window. The pope rather nervously lowers it, and the policeman turns white. “Excuse me a moment,” he says, and goes back to his vehicle to call headquarters.
“Boss, I think I have a problem.”
“What problem?” asks the chief.
“Well, I’ve stopped a car for speeding, but there’s a guy in there who’s really important.”
“How important? Is he the mayor?”
“No, no, boss … more than the mayor.”
“And more than the mayor, who is there? The governor?”
“No, no, more.”
“But he can’t be the president?”
“More, I reckon.”
“And who can be more important than the president?”
“Look, boss, I don’t know exactly who he is, all I can tell you is that it’s the pope who is driving him!”
We chuckled at that, and we quaver at criticizing Pope Francis, but humor is much more than jokes. Yes, it’s a way of poking fun at yourself to indicate you may take an issue seriously, but you can laugh at yourself. That’s a leadership skill. It’s also a key tool to choreograph a speech or presentation. Humor helps vary tone and pacing and that helps keep people involved and paying attention. Humor as a leadership tool is one of the seminars I occasionally teach at SMU’s Cox School of Business through the leadership center. It’s the hardest seminar to teach. “Communication as a Strategic Business Tool,” our main offering, provides a guaranteed methodology, but humor – well, that’s more subjective. I can put tools in people’s hands (like props – great examples in this category) but humor is intensely personal and has to be authentic. Finally, the best humor ties back to the subject and helps reinforce the message. While I think the story about driving the limo is funny, I don’t see any connection to a broader message. The Pope could have used it as a set-up to say that people may wonder just where he is driving the church, and is he bending the speed limit of change?
NY Times, “Pope Francis: There Is Faith in Humor” December 17, 2024
HOW NOT TO…
There has to be a better way…GM let go more than 1000 employees by email. Although many companies have been downsizing this year, this action got viral attention because it was personalized in one employee, Adam Bernard, who had been at the company for 38 years. GM sent an email statement to the Detroit Free Press, presumably as the hometown paper: “In order to win in this competitive market, we need to optimize for speed and excellence. This includes operating with efficiency, ensuring we have the right team structure, and focusing on our top priorities as a business.”
This was clearly aimed at investors. By contrast, a few years ago, GM had a TV commercial with the tagline, “Earn a Living. Make a Life.” The commercial stated: “There are jobs where you earn a living. Then there are GM jobs that help you make a life.” Apparently not a whole life.
What should they have done? First, the company did provide severance packages, so the statement should have thanked employees for their contribution and emphasized that the company was committed to treating people fairly and with respect and providing severance and counseling. We have worked for companies which took action affecting large numbers of employees. We employed an all-hands-on-deck starting with top management and managed to make personal contact with each employee. For one plant closing, we had gotten a video of an employee affected by a previous line-of-business shut down who described her own experience of having to retool her credentials and expectations. She closed saying, “I won’t say I would have chosen to do it, but I found I could, and it’s worked out. And it can for you, too.”
GM’s actions, and other companies which behave like this, are damaging their own reputation, but also blackening business in general and our capitalist economic system.
USA Today, “How a GM layoff email sent to employees triggered a storm on TikTok” December 13, 2024
LAWYERS’ CORNER
“‘We Can Bury Anyone’ Inside a Hollywood Smear Campaign,” read the headline in a public battle between actor-director Justin Baldoni and co-star Blake Lively over their film “It Ends with Us,” apparently only beginning with them. Dueling communications and legal teams are hurling accusations at each other. The articles are sad reading. We’ve been asked if this is a true characterization of public relations since the two sides’ “publicists” get a lot of attention. The term “public relations” is a very broad term covering a wide range of communication with every audience or constituency an enterprise or person needs to deal with. Here at Sunwest, our standards of ethics promulgated by CEO Crayton Webb is that we bring experience, creativity and expertise to add value to our clients’ endeavors and act with integrity, observe confidentiality and exercise good judgment. When I was director of public affairs at the FTC, our General Counsel, Jack Carley, used to say, “Do you want to see it in the Washington Post?” If not, re-think it. One lesson from the spat involving Baldoni and Lively, pay attention to Jack’s advice before you hit the ‘send’ button on that email or a text. It will see the light of day.
NY Times, “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” December 21, 2024
ITEMS AND ARTICLES OF INTEREST
Do you have aura? The word means ‘cool,’ something I apparently am not. However, I was delighted to see this 16-year-old essay writer featured and lauded. The article is worth reading, not really because of the topic – Gen Z slang – but for the fact that the teenager wrote a coherent essay and displayed a nice touch of humor. I guess by praising the written word, I’m ‘cooked.’ (Old. Still means the same thing as when I was a teen.)
A sample:
Aura: a transcendental sense of cool
Bro: short for brother, sometimes used as a pronoun
Clapback: a well-placed quip in response to an insult
Cooked: doomed
Fit check: the act of appreciating one’s outfit
For real: relatable, true
High-key: intense, undisguised
Mid: average, unsatisfying
Real: true, relatable
Rizz: short for charisma
Salty: upset, in a jealous way
The Free Press, “Do You Have Aura—or Are You Mid? A Gen-Z Slang Dictionary,” December 18, 2024
“Cherish Every Moment and Spread Positive Gossip,” read the headline of Elizabeth Bernstein’s column in the Wall Street Journal with a section called “positive gossip.” The author is mainly stressing having a positive attitude and focusing on what goes right from a personal during-the-day perspective, and it’s an important leadership lesson for our business clients. It’s incumbent on leaders – of a company, a division or just the small pod or team most of us work in – to regularly talk about the goals, standards, progress and yes, the mission. Too frequently we find attention gets paid to the problems and challenges and not regularly to the “positive gossip.”
WSJ, “The Best Advice Our Relationship Columnist Has Heard All Year” December 24, 2024
“You Don’t Say” is a reminder not to repeat and deny a negative word because of how the listener hears words. When you repeat and deny a negative word, the listener is likely to overlook the denial and hear the opposite of what the speaker is trying to say.