Flogging

I was speaking with the CEO, President of a huge manufacturing company. He was preparing to talk to dealers and apologize for his company's terrible performance in a particular area. He was very heartfelt in his embarrassment and said he was going to let the dealers know how bad they've been, and hopefully they'd accept his apology.

As I listened, it occurred to me that it is great to take responsibility, that's a sign of leadership. But, it's critical to have perspective, to be accurate. The shortcoming his company had was a commonplace problem in the industry, all the competitors fell short in that area, too. While it was not okay to dismiss their performance, it was also a potentially big mistake for him to publicly flog his company. Why?

Because by taking the position that his company failed, he would give the dealers positioning that was unwarranted, that might allow them to take advantage of his company and in the long run, hurt business both for the dealers and the manufacturer.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com