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Should your CEO be a spokesperson in a crisis?

February 26, 2015

By Quentin Langley

The tempting approach to this question is simply to say not if it is Tony Hayward but yes if it is Richard Branson. That's absolutely part of it. Who among your senior leadership has the skills for this demanding role? But there are other key considerations.

Sometimes the right answer is to say that the CEO is engaged on dealing with the operations and you have another key figure leading the communications. While there is something to be said for putting the top guy up front, getting the skills match right is more important.

Also, what if you put up your CEO and he makes Hayward-style cock up, or two? Who steps in. At least if a COO or Vice-President is leading the communications, you can sideline her or him later and have the CEO step in if the situation deteriorates. The only solution if the CEO screws up is to fire her or him.

You may also need spokespeople who are technical experts – the proverbial man or woman in a white coat. When Johnson & Johnson was under fire over allegations of carcinogens in baby shampoo the company made the bad call of using the VP Communications as spokesperson on Facebook while the VP Toxicology and Product Stewardship was sending letters to campaign groups. Using the expert as the spokesperson on Facebook – albeit with messaging support from the PR team – would have been a much better call.

[Despite the PR misstep, please not this blog is not responsible for the content at the linked blog, Jezebel, and this author does not actually believe the case she makes].

For an alternative discussion on this issue, see PR Daily.

Posted in Uncategorized

5 responses to “Should your CEO be a spokesperson in a crisis?”

Oliver S. Schmidt

February 26, 2015

The scope and potential / actual impact of the issue or crisis at hand has to match the seniority of the manager who functions as the spokesperson. There is no reason to have the CEO speak on a matter that has little (potential) impact on company performance. In fact, deploying the CEO may raise suspicion and lead to substantially more media / stakeholder attention and scrutiny.
While many CEOs are experienced public speakers who have successfully represented their company in front of the media in good times, functioning as a spokesperson in times of crisis is a different animal. Therefore, recurring scenario-based crisis communication and media training are critical when it comes to preparing CEOs and other senior leaders to address the media in times of crisis.

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Reece Emmitt

February 26, 2015

Would have to repeat what Oliver says in the first comment. Important to make sure that the seniority and the position of the spokesperson is thought through as much as the messaging. Keep senior people’s powder dry in case of the big crisis or escalation.
Equally, have found it productive to have a variety of spokespeople for different audiences and different mediums – as Johnson and Johnson did but better!

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Lilli Haicken

February 26, 2015

Who speaks for the company or organization in a crisis can alleviate or worsen the situation. Too many companies seem to just push someone forward to speak without figuring out if that person is a) qualified to speak on behalf or b) able to speak coherently and succinctly on camera. This is why any response to a crisis needs someone behind the scenes to figure out who needs to be a credible spokesperson.

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Paula

February 28, 2015

If it’s a real crisis which has drawn broader media attention – then not having the CEO act as spokesperson could weaken them, both in the public’s and employees’ eyes.

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Jim Holtje

March 1, 2015

I agree with Oliver. Crises should be considered “sliding scale”—dependent on the gravity of the situation. The more impact the crisis has on the overall company’s brand an reputation, the stronger the case for bringing in the CEO. On the other hand, small kerfuffles clearly don’t warrant C-Suite appearances and may actually make matters worse by escalating an issue. Bringing in the top person for an issue that’s less-than-CEO-worthy could possibly elicit the following reaction from journalists/bloggers: “Wow, if the CEO is talking about this, maybe there’s something bigger to this than I originally thought; I better look into this further.” And yes, in industries where there are technical issues involved, there should definitely be an expert present at press conferences, etc. Political officials in the U.S. do that well in press conferences, delegating answers as appropriate.

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