Public Relations Strategies When Companies Hire Controversial Leaders

Doug Downs (00:09):

Leadership is a tough gig, but hiring the right leader can also be a tough gig. Back in 2017, Uber had a problem leader and founder. Travis Kalanick was a growth at all costs kind of guy. And hey, that helped Uber become a global ride sharing giant. But it also led to a series of scandals including a toxic workplace culture, allegations of sexual harassment, legal battles over driver classification and regulatory issues around the world, even evading government regulations through a program known as Gray Ball Investors pressured, colonic to resign as the company began losing market share to competitors like Lyft, Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Expedia was hired to replace colonic, and while many saw the positive in that Khosrowshahi could begin to repair Uber's troubled image, there were also concerns. He was too conservative, too corporate. He might stifle the innovative spirit that had driven Uber's growth.

(01:11):

But Khosrowshahi got to work. He implemented new guidelines, emphasizing respect, accountability and ethical behavior within the company. He made significant changes to the leadership team itself. He worked to settle longstanding disputes. He introduced enhanced background checks for drivers new safety features in the app, and made a commitment to reducing Uber's environmental impact. These steps helped rebuild trust with customers, drivers and regulators. Andy prepared Uber for its initial public offering or IPO, which was a smashing success. Choosing the right leader is challenging and often controversial, but it takes strong leadership to select the right leader. As comms pros, it's often our job to sell the new leader both internally and externally today on stories and strategies. That's our job, changing controversy into conversation, spinning skepticism into support, and transforming tension into trust.

(02:28):

My name is Doug Downs. Hey, we want to give you $50 for five minutes of your time, other than the oldest profession. Where are you going to find an offer like that? No, I'm kidding. We're doing listener feedback sessions. I want to meet with you by Zoom for all of five minutes and just ask you how you found the podcast, stuff like that. Before recording this episode, I was on with someone on a Zoom call just talking about the podcast Through this, there's a link to my email in the show notes. My guest this week is Dean Heuman joining today from Edmonton, Alberta. Hey Dean. Hey, how you doing, Doug? Good. We're heading toward October here. No snow up in Edmonton? Not yet, but the day is coming.

Dean Heuman (03:10):

The temperatures have cooled a little bit, but as little as a week ago we were at 30, so that's, yeah, 30 Celsius is a lot for us in September. We don't really think about

Doug Downs (03:20):

That, and that's like 85 or so Fahrenheit and it's a grab bag. You could get that in October. You don't know what you're going to get in October in Alberta.

Dean Heuman (03:29):

No, absolutely. I was saying it's 10 degrees at night and 30 degrees in the daytime in Edmonton. I don't know anywhere in the world where you get a 20 degree split between 4:00 AM and four in the afternoon.

Doug Downs (03:45):

Absolutely.

Dean Heuman (03:45):

But that's the way we live here. We get four seasons for real.

Doug Downs (03:49):

Dean, you're a principal at Focus Communications in Edmonton along with your wife Sue, who's also been a great guest on the podcast. You have over two decades experience in finding and delivering unique and memorable messages for various organizations and audiences who specialize in marketing, new media, social networking, and public and stakeholder consultation. Sometimes the companies we work for, they make decisions that we don't fully understand, at least in the moment or understand it all. But it is our job to help the company make the announcement and manage the decision. I think the old technical term used to be put lipstick on a pig that's probably offensive in some circles, so I'll call it rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. What are some of the ways that we can go about doing that?

Dean Heuman (04:43):

Well, honestly, lately it's began coming around in leadership areas, so they make a decision in leadership. There are lots of ways this can happen in your organization. As an external person, we get brought in a lot of these times in these situations because they start to reel out of control. But when you're in the organization, a lot of times it's around leadership. Who are you bringing in as a leader? How are they going to affect change in the organization? And everybody literally tightens up when they hear there's going to be a change. What does it mean to me, especially inside the organization, but think about all the outside organization, the suppliers, your sponsors. If you have sponsors and you're in that kind of an environment where your brand is tied to their brand, how great or how chaotic was the last leader? If you're going from a very chaotic situation, and even though there might be some great things, there's a lot of chaos around and you think you're bringing in someone a little more stable who can manage the thing and bring it in, you may have a sort of a series of confidence or a relief, but there's still going to be people that say, what does this mean to me?

(05:51):

Does this mean cuts? Does this mean we're going in a different direction? Is the growth not going to be as good or is my bonus not going to be as good? And so as a communicator, you have to start to establish I believe in an understanding of what the risks or what the feeling of the people and the stakeholders are and start to address those situations. Now in the political world, and I don't like the political world and I don't play in the political world, but they have a first 100 days deal. And I think that really works to the communicator and to the leader's advantage. If you can use that honeymoon period, if you will, or at least state that in the first a hundred days, there are some things that are going to happen and we're going to communicate well with you. And so I always think first of all, communicate as transparently as possible and as often as possible are the basic ground rules. And I think because I think in a void, we know in avoid gossip rules and rumor and innuendo, whether it's in the industry or whether it's inside your own organization, if you don't fill it with some information and you don't help feed the information and clear up your own message, the message is gone. It's a wildfire, and then you're really going to have a

Doug Downs (07:11):

Control problem. Leadership changes are challenging and sensitive at the top, but also not just the CEO or the board chair. The layer just beneath that is sensitive to. And the impetus for this episode was something that happened with the Edmonton Oilers NHL Hockey Club. They made a change, not at the very top, not Connor McDavid. He's staying so far as we know, but they made a change to, they had an addition to one of their senior leaders and hockey in Edmonton is kind of like football in Green Bay. This is a religion, this is not a sport. This is a religious endeavor. Tell me about that change, the sensitivity to it and how you think the Oilers have managed it or could have managed

Dean Heuman (07:59):

It. S o you're right. This was the episode for the episode because I was so surprised. And then this brought up a lot of questions as a communicator. So they were one game away from winning the Stanley Cup, and as soon as the Stanley Cup playoffs were over, they made it known that they were going to not renew their general manager. Their general manager didn't have a contract into next year, and they were not going to renew their general manager. That in and of itself, not necessarily controversial. You could see that's a big deal.

Doug Downs (08:31):

That's

Dean Heuman (08:31):

A big deal. We're running in a particular direction and we were one game away from a championship and we're going to release one of the key functional leaders in the player and operations of the team, not the organization, not all the media stuff and all that stuff, but we're going to walk away from a leader in the player operation side. Lo and behold, they announced hiring a controversial character. So his name is Stan Bowman. He used to be the general manager for the Chicago Blackhawks. He did not commit any crimes. However, there were things that were happening in his organization that he knew about that he did not convey in the proper way and deal with organization over transparency and truth.

Doug Downs (09:21):

He ignored some things in a boys will be boys kind of culture, which has got to stop

Dean Heuman (09:27):

A hundred percent, a hundred percent. And he was punished and he was suspended for a period of time, but they come back and they immediately announce that. Now here's the part that's confusing to a communications person. The first thing I asked myself is as a candidate, was he so much better than any other possible candidate that it was worth the controversy to the fans who reacted? Not all for sure. Some said, Hey, he paid his price and he's a smart guy and everything else. It is what it's lots of people said, that's insane. Why are we condoning this by immediately? Like he just got off suspension June 1st in the middle of July. We have now hired to a fairly significant long-term contract. It wasn't for a buck and a half, I can assure you. And so the fans weren't happy if you were an employee in the organization and you had been subject to this, this was an issue for you. The issue and the issue was around sexual assault and those kinds of things. If that was an issue to you, you didn't have any notice and you certainly don't have any say, but you would definitely have some feelings about that. It certainly could bring up emotions to a fairly significant level.

Doug Downs (10:43):

As a female staff member, how would you feel knowing a very senior leader has been hired who in his past very recent past has allowed a boys will be boys culture that resulted in sexual assaults, correct. Right, correct. How are you supposed to be comfortable in that workplace environment?

Dean Heuman (11:02):

And so as a communications person, you have to realize that the staff would have a comfort or discomfort level for sure, that in fact, the suppliers that supply that company, the sponsors who sponsor that organization

Doug Downs (11:15):

That's right,

Dean Heuman (11:16):

May also have, our brand is tied to your brand and now what are you doing? Why are you putting our brand in jeopardy? They also have community ties. So they do, a lot of the orders have a community foundation, so they do a lot of charitable work in the community that obviously there's some tie in name and brand as well, and that has some consequences. And so the first question is that I had was why would you do this? Why would you invite that? Now I'm going to be honest, they had a news, there was an acknowledgement of the controversy or of hiring him. It wasn't in depth, but it said basically we've learned our lesson and the proof will be in the pudding. And that was pretty much the end of the news conference. There was not a lot of open room for questions around that. It did not go into any depth. And they certainly haven't had any kind of in-person, one-on-one conversations with even other media people to try and draw that out and maybe have a longer conversation. So as a communications person, then I think about, okay, what's the process that goes around this? And if you were the communications person and they have many and they're very talented, they do a lot of things every day that we don't,

Doug Downs (12:42):

The brand is solid. The brand is solid, that's for

Dean Heuman (12:45):

Sure. And so how do you deal with this? Well, the first thing I would do, and I don't know internally what happened internally inside the organization. We don't know what they did for employees or had what kind of a conversation they had. But if it was me, it would be, I would follow my process is EFA emotion fact action. And the first thing you have to do in any situation is deal with the emotion of the situation. You may be feeling things like, and you need to let them out. You need to tell me what you're feeling, which takes a lot of courage from the person who's standing there. They might be a clerk, they might be a ticket seller, or they might be someone very low in the organization in terms of the organizational chart, but they're just as important as everybody else. You have to remember that each one of them is a human being and people know that they work. This is a brand, this is probably the biggest brand in northern Alberta

(13:43):

In terms of the kind of media attention it gets, and especially even around the world. I mean, Connor McDavid, you say the words Connor McDavid, it resonates in a lot of places in the hockey world around the world. So they go home to their spouses and partners and they have a barbecue and their neighbors know they work there and their friends know, and their friends may know they have a history. There's a lot of external conversations and you can say, well, that's not really the oil's problem. But in fact, those are Oilers employees. And I think in any organization you have to say, my employees, if you believe that people are first in your organization, and a lot of organizations say it considerably less mean it, but I would say a lot of organizations say it. And a lot of organizations do feel that. They have to understand that there are role on consequences. So the first thing you have to do is deal with the emotions. And then, I mean would've been if I'm the sponsorship director or vice president of relations, I'm on the phone to every single one. Did they do that? I can't tell you.

Doug Downs (14:57):

Measuring the temperature kind of a

Dean Heuman (14:59):

Hundred percent.

Doug Downs (14:59):

Yeah. Right? Yeah.

Dean Heuman (15:01):

You got to know what they're thinking and feeling. They're alarmed. If their deal is we give you a million and a half a year or more, what are they feeling? Are they at risk? You didn't have that conversation before you announced it. That doesn't happen because you would've been under a situation that said, basically they get to decide who you hire. And I don't think there are lots of organizations who care what happens afterwards, but they're prepared to deal with it, but they don't ask beforehand. And then the facts, the facts are this was an opportunity for us to do this. We feel there's some things and the actions we have taken is there are boundaries within his responsibilities and he is going to earn our trust and continue to show us every day. And those are the kinds of things that you go through. But if you don't deal with the emotion first, the facts aren't going to matter.

Doug Downs (15:56):

EFA emotion, fact action. Measurement, that's the next step here. How do the Oilers, what are the KPIs for the Oilers to know that things are going okay, number one is the team is winning games in sports. If the team is winning, it's like in business, if the shareholders have seen shares go up 30% management is doing a cracker jack job and it's all good.

Dean Heuman (16:21):

Yeah, I mean, sure, the measurements are pretty, actually, they can be very transparent. Did you get a high turnover? Were there four or five people who just said, I can't work in an organization? Who thinks this is a leader? And did they walk out the door? And whether they're key people or not shouldn't matter to the organization. That should be a signal that this was fairly significant. Whether it's a mistake or not, you have to put all the factors together. You had a major sponsor walk away. Did they say our brand cannot be associated with that brand? I mean, there are definitely people out there and definitely things that have happened in the world where brands have said, there is no way we're done. We're out the door today, not tomorrow. Today. The third thing would've been, were there players who said, I can't play under this regime?

(17:07):

You have to remember, there are players. And what is a player going to say? You have a multimillion dollar opportunity with an organization. You may have a history in your family yourself with sexual assault. It may have been a huge problem for you, but what are you going to say? I'm not going to play for you. I'm not going to play for this organization. I mean, this organization is a successful B, they pay as good as anybody else, but you now have to negotiate your contracts with this individual. This is the person who holds the purse strings for the operations and contracts for all of those players.

Doug Downs (17:42):

Love this. And in that perspective, the timing is good because the team right now is winning and is a championship contender. So this is the point in time when stocks are up 30% and there's a great chance that stocks will be up another 20% in the next year or two. So the timing that way is perfect because that's such a weighty part of the measurement here.

Dean Heuman (18:06):

Yeah, I would actually counter that and say there's also that thing that says, if it ain't broke, why fix it? I get it. When organizations are in absolute chaos, in a critical situation,

Doug Downs (18:19):

Why are you letting go of your CEO of stocks are up 30%,

Dean Heuman (18:22):

Right? I mean,

Doug Downs (18:23):

If

Dean Heuman (18:23):

Everything is, and it wasn't a decision, like I'm going to retire. I mentioned this yesterday when we had a quick chat. I was around working for our agency, was working for Ford of Canada in the Alan Muli years. Alan Muli is a person who came from Boeing. He went to Ford International, and literally it's a business case you can read all over the place. He literally borrowed against the brand, the circle, the little Ford deckle, everything. He put everything, every piece of property on the line to turn that company around. He was an industry leader. He was without doubt tied to the brand. In fact, leading the brand through, he saved thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs right down to the people putting cars together and those kinds of things, and rebuilt the brand. But one day he actually was a senior statesman. He just said, I got to retire.

(19:25):

I'm done. I mean, rebuilding this corporation pretty much took the last bit of it out. I'm done. And so there you have a situation where you've certainly taken the company up to a better level, but he's beloved and he walks away. Now you have, how do you be that rebound, CEO, what does the communications department say after you've had what's probably arguably one of the best leaders in the automotive industry in the last 25 years? How do you put that? How do you reframe that for the next person that comes in, man or woman? You're in a very, very vulnerable position when somebody who's very successful and is beloved walks away.

Doug Downs (20:12):

Awesome. Dean, in our previous episode, our guest, Akeem Anderson of H Advisors, Abernathy left a question for you. Here it is.

Akeem Anderson (20:23):

Well, the question that I would have for the next guest is to take a look into your crystal ball and think about what scares you the most about where we're headed on social media. There's been a lot of news coverage about bots. There's been a lot of hammering about negative engagement. How responsible can we be with the misinformation campaigns happening in public policy and politics? But which of these things scares you the most and is there a solve? Is there a way out

Dean Heuman (20:54):

Thoughts? I think what scares me the most is that we're going to continue down the rabbit hole we're going down, is that we are propagating through algorithms more and more emotion and anger and those kinds of things. It's turning people away, which is not necessarily a bad thing if you, I'm not sure that it's, it's certainly not as valuable as it was in terms of an information source, but I think that more and more if people get turned off from this things and you only listen to what you want to hear, I think it's going to start to bring down the ability for people to have critical thinking. And so my greatest fear is that something's not going to come along and we're going to continue down the road. I think it's only escalating. I think money and power are behind these things, and they're going to continue to push the envelope as much as they possibly can. So my concern is it's going to go and scares me, is it's going to go just faster and faster and faster.

Doug Downs (21:56):

Amen. Amen. Dean, your turn. What question would you like to leave behind for our next guest?

Dean Heuman (22:03):

I have a question that I always sort of have in my mind, and it comes from being around a lot of new media and social content and those kinds of things. And I always hear, Hey, this Beyonce commercial was shot on an iPhone or a Pixel or a Galaxy, or whatever your latest, greatest thing is. And I wonder that if it's not a bit of a disqualification of the quality, and here's my problem, it may have been shot on an iPhone, but the sound wasn't recorded, the voices aren't recorded. The sound is something that I believe brings credibility and I want to know if anyone has an opinion on what level of engagement you get by providing better sound and video, combining the right really sort of level of media, including those both components, does it exponentially affect the quality of engagement and the amount of response that you get?

Doug Downs (23:09):

Fantastic. I love that. Thanks so much, and thanks for your time today, Dean. It's great to get together. Thanks, Doug. If you'd like to send a message to my guest, Dean Heuman, we've got his contact information in the show notes, $50 for five minutes of your time, send me an email to participate in our listener feedback sessions. The link is at the top of the show notes, stories and Strategies is a co-production of JGR Communications and Stories and Strategies podcasts. If you like this episode, please leave a rating, possibly a review that helps the algorithm. Thank you to our producer Emily Page. And lastly, do us a favor forward this episode to one friend. Thanks for listening.