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[Newsletter] 9.17.24 | “Now is not the time to panic,” wrote Wedbush Securities

September 13, 2024

This month offers plenty of valuable lessons. For instance, take the CenterPoint Energy story, particularly the optics of the CEO’s photo. There’s also a communication misstep involving a lawyer’s portrayal of her client, a Sonoma wine country investor. These examples all highlight the importance of word choice. For example, avoid saying “stuck” around NASA, and note the Denver Post sports columnist who got banned after a war of words with Coach Deion Sanders. In Russia, certain words can even land you in jail.

Two examples involving statistics: one illustrates how not to use them, while the other shows how to make a number “verbally visual.” Lastly, there’s a brilliant opening lede from Wall Street Journal columnist James MacIntosh.

 

THE WINNING COMMUNICATIONS BLUNDER

“Now is not the time to panic,” wrote Wedbush Securities on Monday, August 5th, as the stock market plummeted with the Dow Jones losing 1,100 points and the Nasdaq and S&P also taking sharp losses. Interestingly, the Friday before, the firm issued a research paper calling the environment “the perfect storm” adding that “the Fed is now too late in its cutting cycle with tech stocks in the center of this Category 5 storm sell-off.” We’re reminded of the Harry Potter movie where Harry tells Ron Weasley, “Don’t panic,” then the monster appears and Ron asks, “Can we panic now?”

The Hill, “What’s behind the massive sell-off in tech stocks?” August 5, 2024

 

THE RUNNERS-UP

“Our system did not fail,” said Houston-based CenterPoint Energy to KPRC TV after two million people lost power for days after Hurricane Beryl. While we sympathize with the company, the interview here demonstrates the importance of media training and the risk of being perceived as ignoring the question. The reporter asks a long question ending with, “Are they (customers) going to pay for this (repairs)?” Brad Tutunjian, VP-Regulatory Affairs, responded, “Traditionally, when you go and get our storm response, we work with our state, local officials to recover those costs.” He should have done what we call acknowledged the question by saying, “It’s not that simple.” The reporter asks again if customers are going to pay. Tutunjian responded, “To be honest, our focus is to get the lights back on.” We know he was speaking from the heart, but we recommend against “to be honest” lest it imply that the speaker hasn’t been honest before. See the picture below of company president Jason Wells. Can you make out the thermostat on the wall? An enterprising reader sent it to us and says it’s set to 70 degrees.

KPRC2, “’Our system did not fail’ CenterPoint VP claims to KPRC2 Investigates” July 15, 2024

 

Coming off Hurricane Beryl, during which 2.26 million CenterPoint customers were knocked offline, and only 1.1 million of those had been restored four days later, CEO Jason Wells is in the eye of a storm.

 

“We make no excuses or apologies for trying to protect our margins,” said Kellanova’s CEO Steve Cahillane, about the food industry’s response to accusations of price gouging from VP Kamala Harris who suggested that high food prices are caused by price gouging – for which the solution is FTC investigations, government regulations and price controls. There has been almost complete pushback from economists, but the industry is going to have to get a lot savvier and more empathetic than Cahillane’s quote. He should have said, “Our goal is to provide a wide selection of food produced at competitive prices, and we hope consumers will become very familiar with all the parts of our business model which includes providing jobs for hundreds of thousands of people and attractive opportunities for investors. We need all these to serve America’s consumers.”

WSJ, “Food Industry Pushes Back Against Kamala Harris’s ‘Price Gouging’ Plan” August 20, 2024

 

“Mr. Mattson has not stolen money from anyone,” said Micheline Fairbanks, attorney for Mr. Mattson. The story is about a businessman and partnership buying land – lots of land, 100 properties at least – in snobbish Sonoma, California−wine country. It looks like Mattson may have gotten overextended in his purchases, although an investor in previous deals is quoted saying they were profitable and he delivered, but his real crime is involvement with a think tank, the Capital Resource Institute, which seeks to “advance Christian values” which we remind skeptics include treating your neighbor as yourself and dealing honestly with others. Whatever combination of issues are behind the debate, it’s another example of the lawyer committing a communication misdemeanor.

MSN, “The Rise and Fall of a Mysterious Real-Estate Empire in California Wine Country” August 16, 2024

 

THE POWER OF WORDS

Don’t use the words “stranded” or “stuck.” Two of NASA’s astronauts, Suni Williams and ‘Butch’ Wilmore, can’t get back to earth because the Boeing Starliner has some problems, so instead of being there for eight days, they must wait around on the International Space Station until Elon Musk’s Space X rocket can get them back – in January or February 2025. NASA made such a big deal of avoiding the two words that it generated stories about the vocabulary – and lots of semi-humorous quotes. Meanwhile, one of Suni’s quotes, “I’m not complaining,” also qualifies as the wrong thing to say. What should they have said? As with so many examples, some of the quotes were great: “It’s like coming home again.” What else? We’re not sure. Probably something about it being a bonus opportunity to conduct experiments while they’re…oops…stuck.

The New York Times, “Stranded in Space? NASA Doesn’t See the Starliner Astronauts That Way” August 18, 2024

“False prophet,” “Deposition Deion,” “Planet Prime,” “Bruce Lee of B.S.,” “the Deion Kool-Aid,” “circus,” and “Harold Hill in designer shades” have become such controversial terms that the University of Colorado has announced Coach Deion Sanders and the entire football program will not respond to any questions from Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler, who used these phrases to criticize and ridicule the coach over his claim earlier this year that he could make a run at the playoffs. Whew! As a company that advises on the power and use of words, we admit to feeling both distress and a reluctant sense of admiration. Keeler seems to take pride in being singled out, even acknowledging that he “had it coming.” This suggests that Keeler is seeking clicks and attention, transitioning from the role of sports journalist to that of an entertainer and provocateur. Unfortunately, this shift doesn’t benefit any of the parties involved. We worked with Coach Sanders years ago on a program called Stand Together and found him genuinely committed to making a positive impact on young people’s lives. We hope Keeler rethinks his current trajectory of relying on insults.

USA Today, “Colorado won’t take questions from journalist who was critical of Deion Sanders,” August 23, 2024

“War,” just saying the word in Russia about what’s going on with Ukraine can get you thrown in jail. Serge Schmemann’s piece is a concise exploration of how Putin uses language as an attempted control mechanism. Ukraine is a “special military operation.” Ukraine’s surprise and successful whatever into the Kursk region is not an incursion, invasion or surprise, it’s an “armed provocation,” a “situation,” a “terrorist attack” or “events.”  Interestingly, despite Putin’s effort to pretend nothing is happening, Schmemann notes rumblings in social media and writes Putin seems “rattled.” Worth reading. Also note that Putin criticizes Ukraine for the “indiscriminate” act totally missing what Schmemann calls the “rich irony of his words.”

The New York Times, “Putin is Getting Rattled” August 23, 2024

 

STATISTICS

“Isolated” was what law enforcement authorities in Aurora, Colorado called activity by a Venezuelan gang despite terrifying video of gang members breaking down doors in an apartment building and bullet holes in residents’ cars. We call this ‘the law of exceptions,’ that is, saying something is ‘isolated’ or ‘happens rarely’ only confirms its existence.

ABC Denver, “Tren de Aragua ‘components’ operating in Aurora but ‘reports of TdA influence’ are isolated, city says,”August 28, 2024

 

GREAT WORDS

“Financial markets are supposed to capture the wisdom of the crowd, but on Monday the crowd ran in all directions, waving its hands in the air and screaming,” wrote Wall Street Journal reporter James Mackintosh about the August 5th meltdown in virtually every financial market. We love great writing particularly great ledes, the first paragraph. Not only did this give wonderful shape to Mackintosh’s own column, Streetwise, it summed up the multiple reports and opinion pieces trying to make sense – and largely failing – of the day.

WSJ, “Is This 1987 All Over Again? What’s Driving the Market Meltdown?” August 5, 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.