Crisis Communications and Apologies - A Professional Approach

In my research of everything B-M I came across a very interesting Blog posting “Apology PR: Asia’s Latest Export to the World?” (http://bobpickard.com/category/blog/crisis-communications/) by Bob Pickard, B-M’s new CEO for Asia Pacific. A longtime PR professional who worked for many years with Edelman Communications and just recently moved to B-M (February 2010), Pickard wrote about the importance of apologies, the timing for these apologies and the impact on crisis communications. In our QU PR Seminar we have been recently discussing Chapter 8 of “Crisis Management in the New Strategy Landscape,” dealing specifically with Crisis Communications. After reading Pickard’s blog on the Western and Eastern differences of perception about apologies, I went back to Chapter 8 and re-read it for any mention of “apologies” and guess what? There was none.

Pickard’s main point, that comes from many years of living in Asia and acclimating to their culture, is that it is essential to the eastern cultures to apologize and that this apology is not misconstrued as acceptance of guilt, but it is considered as compassion to the crisis situation. He also mentions how Western culture has been programmed to believe that an apology = guilt. As he stated “the generous Asian approach to apology ensures more harmonious and friendly relationships between people, contributing to civility in society and helping prevent angry public outbursts…”

For the US public, a mega consumer of reality TV (especially if it involves a crisis of some sort), teary apologies and acceptance of guilt have become a spectacle of “Coliseum” proportions. Teary apologies by politicians, entertainment personalities, and sports “heroes” are usually gobbled up by the public and make for media heaven. But notice that these are individuals accepting GUILT. One barely sees a corporation or organization apologizing during a crisis. Can it be possible that “apologies” will be included in the future as part of crisis management and the strategic plan of a corporation? Should executives learn the “right” way to apologize without seeming guilty? Could it be possible that we as a public could slowly change our empathetic thermometer to include accepting apologies as mere acts of humanity? I think Pickard is definitely on to something and the Asian culture too!

You can see more on Bob Pickard on Twitter at BobPickard or read his blog at BobPickard.com