Saving Patricia Dunn

Could Patricia Dunn, the former chairman of Hewlett-Packard have saved her job? The simple answer is “Yes.” And the same is true for some of the other senior executives who have been sacked recently.

How? By doing something that’s difficult for anyone in a very visible and senior position: admitting to the problem, taking responsibility for fixing it, and assuring key audiences and the public that the company will put new procedures in place to ensure that that the misstep will not likely recur.

Those are the simple rules about communicating during any crisis. Remember this equation: you’ve found it, you’ve fixed it, and you’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. Almost everyone learns in childhood that if you broke the window, it’s best to own up to it. If you told Dad even before he found out himself, the punishment would likely be less severe. Basic standards of behavior do not change simply because someone grows up to become a C-level executive.

Instead, Ms. Dunn and HP were the subject of the “death by a thousand cuts.” News broke day after day with more details about spying on other board members and on journalists. Ms. Dunn was first under fire, then the board began raising questions, then she was “resigning” by the end of the year; and, finally, she was out immediately – under criminal investigation.

Unfortunately, the command-and-control atmosphere in large organizations is not one that makes it easy to admit mistakes. And those inside the company responsible for advising senior managers have learned the lesson that pointing out a manager’s mistake can often be a bad career move.

More important, the large organization is often not a place that’s attuned to the changing mores and standards of the unruly body politic. Those companies that are more successful at managing such situations typically have a better understanding of the changing expectations of society in any given instance.

So let’s imagine an alternative scenario. Picture a Patricia Dunn who very early on announces that a serious mistake was made and that she has asked a noted independent law firm to review the procedures taken and to make recommendations on future conduct. Imagine what might have happened if she had immediately announced the error and publicly and sincerely apologized to those who had been wronged. Had she made such a move early on, she may well have retained her position, all other things being equal.

The lesson is that leaders need to act quickly and decisively in such situations. Although facts are often murky at the outset, complicating the ability to follow a business school approach to making judgments, decisions must be made quickly and communicated clearly to all parties who have been apprised of and exposed to the problem. Lee Iacocca did it effectively when Chrysler was found to have faked odometer readings on cars that were used by managers, then sold to customers. He admitted the problem, halted the practice, and told customers how he was going to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

What leaders and their organizations lack at such times are trusted counselors who have experience handling similar situations and understand the basic dynamics of the organization’s business. Acting quickly, using all the communication tools available to the modern organization, reaching out to key stakeholders in an orderly fashion, and answering the communication needs of those stakeholders as they arise – these steps can often substantially lower the impact of the bad news.

The time to identify that advisor is now, because the leader will need to asses that individual’s ability to assess risk and make the right recommendations in the future.

Donald Kennedy, in an editorial in the prestigious magazine Science wrote: “Had HP put the whole story out right away, expressed regret, and fixed matters, it could have spared the company, its family, and its friends much discomfort.”

What do you think?

Be part of the conversation. For ideas on how to identify and participate in the discussion, e-mail lkettleson@kettlesongroup.com or phone at 978-463-7952