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Written by Mike Paul
PR Week
Published on June 14 2004
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I saw an old cartoon from The New Yorker
published in the April 20, 1998, edition.
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The cartoon depicted a sinner at the Pearly
Gates speaking to St. Peter as he stands in judgment before entering
heaven. The kneeling sinner begs, "Wait, those weren't lies. That
was spin!" I guess he was an unethical PR consultant who slipped too
many times on the slippery slope or conveniently had selective
amnesia regarding the truth. A harsh depiction, but the sad truth is
there are many in our industry who choose lies over truth every day.
Spin is a lie; we all know the difference, but some choose to lie
anyway and eventually face the harsh consequences of their
actions.
Unfortunately, there are many PR firms out there
that cheat their own clients every day, hoping to never get caught.
Padding of client bills continues like a virus traveling across the
internet. For example, some senior executives, especially at large
firms, have a track record of doing this because of "a need" to be
at least 60% to 70% billable themselves. Although they spend most of
their time crisscrossing the country or globe to win business for
their agencies, they are still expected to be billable in a
never-ending race for more money. Sadly, some resort to writing down
hours they never worked. Others justify this lie by saying,
"Everybody does it." Well, let's make it perfectly clear: Some PR
firms are more ethical than others and walk the walk instead of just
talk the talk. Some choose truth over money and do not pad their
bills, but many are lying with their billings hourly.
The
lies and unethical behavior are not only alive within the heart of
many PR pros. Deceit is also rampant within the corporate
communications divisions of many national and global corporations.
For example, an Enron investor relations executive recently cut a
deal with the SEC "to settle charges for insider trading and
assisting in providing false and misleading information about the
fallen energy trader's units and earnings." How soon will it be
before we see various top corporate communications pros taking a
perp walk to jail due to their own lies and law-breaking activities?
Will a senior executive from a leading PR firm be far behind?
We are only fooling ourselves if we think our industry's
exempt from the scandals occurring in corporate America. Every major
corporation in crisis has a PR firm providing financial
communications and investor relations counsel. We are being naive if
we think some PR consultants who reviewed manipulated financial
numbers, and/or developed "spin" messages to lie about the inflated
or manipulated reports, don't also deserve to be in handcuffs and in
jail.
A few months ago, I had lunch at a leading university
club in midtown Manhattan with the CFO of a global corporation in
crisis. I am providing crisis-communications and litigation-support
PR counsel to the corporation's senior executives and board. I
recently had been asking him some very probing questions from a
worst-case-scenario perspective. In the middle of our lunch, the CFO
broke down and said he could not lie anymore. He asked me to take
him to a quieter place to talk. He then told me he had been "cooking
the books" at the company for the past six years. He also mentioned
his mentor and former CFO of the company had done the same thing for
five years before him. He said he lied and was deceitful for the
money, and he now regrets ever working for the company and making
such a stupid decision that he and his family will have to live with
for the rest of their lives.
Thankfully, my client is now
traveling on the path of truth and realizes that the truth will
truly set him free to rebuild a sound reputation in the long run. It
will not be easy, but with true honesty, humility, transparency, and
accountability, my client will be able to rebuild character,
integrity, and trust - the building blocks of an excellent and
truthful reputation.
If we are completely honest, we will
admit that we all have areas in our lives in which we struggle.
Because of my faith as a Christian, I turn to God to keep me on the
path to truth. My wife is also in the loop on everything related to
my business. I have relationships with several senior executives
with more than 40 years each in our business who are still mentors
and whom I have asked to be my accountability partners.
Some
individuals in our profession believe that they are supermen or
superwomen and can do it on their own without any accountability or
help of any kind. They've convinced themselves that they have no
struggles in any area. Their hubris and ego-centered lifestyle are
killing them and all those who care about and love them because they
are running from the truth.
How can we counsel any client
before we have a plan to help ourselves?
Before I enter the
Pearly Gates, I want to sleep soundly and live an honest life. Thank
God I have a plan that not only saved my life, but allows my PR
agency, which specializes in reputation management, to be very
fruitful.
Mike Paul is president and senior counselor of New York-based
MGP & Associates
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