It’s a given that most PR people can’t resist the opportunity to “take advantage” of the news by acting completely asshole-ish (real word, look it up, bub). If there’s a death in the news, or some other tragedy, somewhere there’s a PRbot thinking it’s time to dust off some old pitch.
The lucky winner this week is Dave Overton who sent the following in the wake of zombie robber-baron Ken Lay’s assumption of room temperature the other day:
One of the top reasons why CEOs get fired is “Denying Reality.” In milder cases, a CEO will quit rather than let a horrible truth puncture their fantastical views. Or they’ll blame their workers or board. They’ll craft all sorts of psychological defense mechanisms to avoid shouldering culpability.
One could argue in Lay’s case that the truth he would be forced to confront (bankrupt company, displaced workers, destroyed nest eggs, prison, etc.) was so horrible, and so unavoidable, that his body simply shut down rather than confront a terrible reality.
Lay’s death may be the equivalent of a child sticking their fingers in their ears to avoid hearing something bad. But a lot more final.
Mark Murphy is CEO of Leadership IQ, a Washington, D.C. based management consulting firm.
Mark has some interesting thoughts on the demise of Ken Lay and how others can avoid his fate.
Please let me know if you would like to speak with him.
Thanks for your time.
Why Dave, why do you have to reinforce the stereotype? Couldn’t you just have written a white paper or proposed a survey? Not only is this tastesless, it’s just bad.
Jeeze.. why do I even try?
Story via MediaBistro
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