領導不好當 CEO危機公關榜樣瑪麗•巴拉
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
“爲王者無安寧。”-William Shakespeare, Henry IV
——威廉•莎士比亞，《亨利四世》(Henry IV)It isn’t easy being the leader of anything. William Shakespeare knew it, and so do corporate CEOs. And there’s one time when being in charge is even more trying than usual: during a crisis.
領導不好當。莎士比亞早就說過了，公司CEO也深知箇中滋味。在某段時期，掌舵者的日子會比平時更加難熬：那就是危機期間。
General Motors is in the middle of a serious crisis right now. The ongoing scandal regarding faulty ignition switches has resulted in multiple rounds of congressional testimony, a lengthy internal report detailing just how badly the company screwed up, a compensation fund that could cost the company between $400 million and $600 million, and a fine from the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety administration of $35 million. An unconfirmed but widely speculated probe by the Department of Justice could yet result in criminal charges or a large fine. GM has already admitted that its mistakes led directly to the deaths of 13 people, and more could be coming.
此時此刻，通用汽車公司(General Motors)正處於一場嚴重的危機之中。這場由點火開關故障引發的醜聞還在持續發酵，通用汽車已經接受了多輪國會質詢，併發布了一份冗長的內部報告，詳細說明這次的錯誤有多嚴重。此外，一個專項賠償基金有可能讓通用汽車付出高達4億到6億美元的代價。美國交通部和國家公路交通安全管理局也發來了一份3,500萬美元的罰單。司法部或將啓動的調查有可能使通用汽車面臨刑事指控或鉅額罰款。通用汽車已經承認，這一錯誤直接導致13人死亡，這個數字還有可能繼續上升。And through it all, CEO Mary Barra has come out looking better than anyone could have expected.
經歷如此多負面新聞之後，通用汽車CEO瑪麗•巴拉依然收穫了許多褒獎，她的人氣不降反升，這種結果出乎所有人的預料。During her congressional testimony last month, Senators heaped praise on Barra seemingly every time they spoke.
上個月接受國會質詢期間，參議員們似乎每次發言，都免不了對巴拉大加讚賞一番。“God bless you, and you’re doing a good job,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
“願上帝保佑你，你做得很好，”加州民主黨參議員芭芭拉•博克瑟由衷地讚揚道。So why has Barra managed to escape the ire that so many have for her company, and that so many other leaders of companies in crisis have faced?
那麼，爲什麼巴拉沒有像她執掌的這家公司，或者其他許多深陷危機的公司領導人那樣，成爲千夫所指的對象呢？Mostly, it seems to be because she has portrayed herself as truly contrite, and as honest as possible, from the start, rather than showing any sort of scorn or hiding in the shadows and not speaking to the press and the public.
看起來最主要的原因是，她呈現出了一副真誠悔悟的形象，從一開始就誠意十足，而不是不屑一顧，或躲在暗處，不向媒體和公衆發聲。“GM is not only following best practices, they’re also effectively writing a new book by setting higher industry standards for future recalls by automakers,” said Philip Elwood, a vice-president at crisis management firm Levick.
“通用汽車不僅在踐行最佳做法，而且還爲汽車業未來的召回事件樹立了一個更高的行業標準，實際上，他們正在撰寫一部全新的危機應對手冊，”利維克危機管理公司(Levick)副總裁菲利普•埃爾伍德這樣說道。Elwood noted that GM has been proactive in working to eliminate the institutional issues that led to the ignition switch issues — firing 15 people, reorganizing the litigation practice and creating the “Speaking Up for Safety” program, which he calls “a sort of internal whistleblower protection act.”
埃爾伍德指出，通用汽車一直在積極致力於清除導致點火開關故障的體制問題——解僱了15位員工，重組訴訟業務流程，並開創了一個名爲“爲安全發聲(Speaking Up for Safety)”的項目。他認爲後者相當於“一種內部舉報人保護法”。Barra has been at the center of all of these actions. They weren’t handed off to other executives. They weren’t announced in press releases on a Friday afternoon. Barra got on stage in front of the press and the public and explained exactly how she believes the company failed, and what it was going to do to get better. Her actions never seemed fake, and it was difficult to say she wasn’t legitimately upset that the automaker she has worked at for several decades allowed this to happen.
巴拉一直處於所有這些行動的中心。它們並沒有移交給其他高管來處理，也不是在某個週五下午通過新聞通稿對外發布的。巴拉站在舞臺上，對媒體和公衆詳細解釋她認爲通用汽車是如何失敗的，該公司將採取哪些改進措施等問題。她的行動看上去毫無矯飾，也顯示出她爲此感到痛心：這家她供職了幾十年的公司竟然允許這種事情發生。Compare that to one of the other big public relations crises of the past decade: the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Then-CEO Tony Hayward started by minimizing the incident, saying it wasn’t a big deal. Of course, his most famous gaffe was saying to a reporter that he would like his “life back.” Hayward was massively criticized, and was out of the company within a matter of months.
讓我們比照一下過去十年中另一場重大的公關危機：2010年英國石油公司(BP)墨西哥灣漏油事件。該公司時任CEO唐熙華最初打算降低這起事件的嚴重程度，聲稱這不是什麼大不了的事。當然，他最著名的失態之舉是對一位記者說，他想“重回過去的生活”。海沃德隨後遭受鋪天蓋地的指責聲，沒過幾個月就黯然辭職。Elwood also said that the popularity Barra had before the crisis hit has probably helped her.
埃爾伍德還表示，巴拉在這場危機襲來之前已經積聚的高人氣，可能對她也很有助益。“The announcement of Mary Barra as the new CEO on Jan. 15 of this year was done in spectacular fashion,” he said. “The unspoken shattering of the glass ceiling, as the first female CEO of a U.S. auto giant, surely gave GM some preemptive inoculation.”
“瑪麗•巴拉在今年1月15日被任命爲新任CEO的消息的確令人振奮，”他說。“她由此成爲一家美國汽車巨頭的首位女性首席執行官，懸掛在女性高管頭頂的玻璃天花板被悄然粉碎。毫無疑問，此舉給通用汽車打了一劑防疫針。”The crisis at GM is far from over. But if Barra keeps playing her cards the way she has so far, she could be held up for years as a textbook example of how a CEO should handle a potentially fatal crisis.
通用汽車的危機還遠遠沒有結束。但如果巴拉延續她的應對策略，她就很有可能被載入史冊，成爲一位CEO如何挽狂瀾於既倒，扶大廈之將傾的典型例證。
