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Here's an interesting commentary on gaffes:
He writes about businessmen but it equally applies to politicians or other prominent figures. For instance there was a case in Belgium not so long ago about a secretary of state who was discovered to have spread incorrect information about her degrees. Her reaction to this "revelation" was deemed insufficient, a firestorm ensued in the media and she resigned after losing support of her party's leader. She had been in the job for only a couple of days. She hadn't broken the law, the "truth" did not made her unqualified, yet her position was deemed to be untenable. "Lack of credibility" they call that stuff.
Watch Your Mouth -- Gaffes Are Fatal in Business: Matthew Lynn
Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- About to make a speech at a conference? Doing a presentation? Or maybe just sending an e- mail to your secretary? Then watch your mouth. Because right now one misplaced, unfortunate phrase could end your career.
The ``gaffe'' has migrated from politics to business. That's a shame. A ruthless, censorious hunt for gaffes has already restricted the number of talented people who want to go into politics. It may be about to do the same to the corporate world. In the end, we'll all suffer from that.
Gaffes are proliferating on the business pages. This month, Neil French, a creative director at U.K. advertising company WPP Group Plc resigned after he allegedly made remarks deemed offensive to women in advertising. Women executives will ``just wimp out and go suckle something,'' the Times of London quoted him as saying. French denied the remark, though he added that ``people who have babies to look after'' can't give the full commitment needed to be a creative director.
``Neil resigned of his own accord,'' WPP spokeswoman Feona McEwan said in an e-mailed reply to questions.
In June, Richard Phillips, a senior associate at the law firm Baker & McKenzie in London, quit after U.K. newspapers quoted an e-mail from his secretary, Jenny Amner. In the message, she responded to his demand for prompt payment of 4 pounds ($7) for dry cleaning to remove ketchup she had spilled on his trousers. Even though the secretary's mother had just died, Phillips was determined to get his 4 pounds back.
`Too Expensive'
In 2003, Matthew Barrett, then chief executive officer of Barclays Plc, got into hot water after telling a parliamentary committee that he didn't borrow on credit cards because they were ``too expensive.'' It was hardly a tactful remark for the man running one of the U.K.'s biggest credit-card issuers.
There are numerous other examples. In the early 1990s, U.K. retailer Gerald Ratner lost his job as head of jewelry company Ratners Group after describing his products as ``total crap.'' Merrill Lynch & Co. Internet analysts including Henry Blodget got into trouble after describing stocks as ``pieces of junk'' while having positive recommendations on them.
Plenty of politicians will have some sympathy for French, Phillips and Barrett. Government leaders are used to having every word recorded, scrutinized for any possible offense, then played up by hostile opponents.
Sexist Dinosaur
Business leaders will now have to get used to the same treatment.
The classic political gaffe has some interesting characteristics. It is usually an unplanned, off-the-cuff remark. It offends somebody. And yet it often expresses what a person really thinks, though isn't allowed to say.
Most importantly, the gaffe is deemed to make a person unfit to hold a particular office, even though it doesn't really have anything to do with whether they can do the job.
The latest business gaffes certainly fit that description.
French sounds like a sexist dinosaur, with a low opinion of women. You wouldn't want to be married to him. Or, if you were female, you wouldn't want to work for him. Then again, how does that disqualify him from writing advertising copy?
You only need to flick through some magazines or go through the television schedules to remind yourself that advertisers have always had an unrefined attitude to women. Indeed, at this very moment, there are probably some car manufacturers wondering if French might be available for some freelance work.
Man for the Job
How about Phillips? Certainly the ketchup e-mail revealed him as a stingy, peevish individual, with little regard for other people's feelings. Then again, how does that disqualify him from being a lawyer? If you had a tax case to argue, Phillips sounds like the kind of guy you'd want on your team. He wouldn't shrug his shoulders and say: ``Heck, it's only money. We don't want to hurt their feelings.''
Or Barrett? He may well be hypocritical, too covetous of other people's money, and overcautious with his own. Then again, perhaps that is what makes him the right person to run a bank. It would be more worrying if Barrett was so stupid with money that he blithely stacked up debts on the plastic.
In politics, standards have been set so high that the number of people who can become political leaders has shrunk to a tiny pool. Neither former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, nor former U.K. Prime Minister David Lloyd George would have lasted long today. Their financial and sexual indiscretions would have been their downfall.
Heads Roll
Right now, the growth of blogs and the Internet is doing the same thing in business. Every word uttered at a conference, and every e-mail sent through the office, can be recorded. It can be transmitted around the world in a flash. It is held up to scrutiny. Any gaffes are relentlessly exposed and criticized. Heads have to roll. Action is demanded.
Nobody pays any attention to whether it means the person is qualified to do their job or not.
We shouldn't look to businessmen (and certainly not advertising copy writers) for moral leadership any more than we look to politicians. It really doesn't matter if they are horrible human beings or not. It only matters if they can get the job done.
We'll all be the losers from the gaffe hunt. After all, when companies are run by the most able people, regardless of character, everyone benefits.
Meanwhile, if the urge arises to curse your colleagues, your products or your customers, go and wash your mouth out. It may well be a richly deserved description of them all -- but it will only leave you out of work.
To contact the writer of this column:
Matthew Lynn in London at matthewlynn@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: October 30, 2005 17:15 EST
Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- About to make a speech at a conference? Doing a presentation? Or maybe just sending an e- mail to your secretary? Then watch your mouth. Because right now one misplaced, unfortunate phrase could end your career.
The ``gaffe'' has migrated from politics to business. That's a shame. A ruthless, censorious hunt for gaffes has already restricted the number of talented people who want to go into politics. It may be about to do the same to the corporate world. In the end, we'll all suffer from that.
Gaffes are proliferating on the business pages. This month, Neil French, a creative director at U.K. advertising company WPP Group Plc resigned after he allegedly made remarks deemed offensive to women in advertising. Women executives will ``just wimp out and go suckle something,'' the Times of London quoted him as saying. French denied the remark, though he added that ``people who have babies to look after'' can't give the full commitment needed to be a creative director.
``Neil resigned of his own accord,'' WPP spokeswoman Feona McEwan said in an e-mailed reply to questions.
In June, Richard Phillips, a senior associate at the law firm Baker & McKenzie in London, quit after U.K. newspapers quoted an e-mail from his secretary, Jenny Amner. In the message, she responded to his demand for prompt payment of 4 pounds ($7) for dry cleaning to remove ketchup she had spilled on his trousers. Even though the secretary's mother had just died, Phillips was determined to get his 4 pounds back.
`Too Expensive'
In 2003, Matthew Barrett, then chief executive officer of Barclays Plc, got into hot water after telling a parliamentary committee that he didn't borrow on credit cards because they were ``too expensive.'' It was hardly a tactful remark for the man running one of the U.K.'s biggest credit-card issuers.
There are numerous other examples. In the early 1990s, U.K. retailer Gerald Ratner lost his job as head of jewelry company Ratners Group after describing his products as ``total crap.'' Merrill Lynch & Co. Internet analysts including Henry Blodget got into trouble after describing stocks as ``pieces of junk'' while having positive recommendations on them.
Plenty of politicians will have some sympathy for French, Phillips and Barrett. Government leaders are used to having every word recorded, scrutinized for any possible offense, then played up by hostile opponents.
Sexist Dinosaur
Business leaders will now have to get used to the same treatment.
The classic political gaffe has some interesting characteristics. It is usually an unplanned, off-the-cuff remark. It offends somebody. And yet it often expresses what a person really thinks, though isn't allowed to say.
Most importantly, the gaffe is deemed to make a person unfit to hold a particular office, even though it doesn't really have anything to do with whether they can do the job.
The latest business gaffes certainly fit that description.
French sounds like a sexist dinosaur, with a low opinion of women. You wouldn't want to be married to him. Or, if you were female, you wouldn't want to work for him. Then again, how does that disqualify him from writing advertising copy?
You only need to flick through some magazines or go through the television schedules to remind yourself that advertisers have always had an unrefined attitude to women. Indeed, at this very moment, there are probably some car manufacturers wondering if French might be available for some freelance work.
Man for the Job
How about Phillips? Certainly the ketchup e-mail revealed him as a stingy, peevish individual, with little regard for other people's feelings. Then again, how does that disqualify him from being a lawyer? If you had a tax case to argue, Phillips sounds like the kind of guy you'd want on your team. He wouldn't shrug his shoulders and say: ``Heck, it's only money. We don't want to hurt their feelings.''
Or Barrett? He may well be hypocritical, too covetous of other people's money, and overcautious with his own. Then again, perhaps that is what makes him the right person to run a bank. It would be more worrying if Barrett was so stupid with money that he blithely stacked up debts on the plastic.
In politics, standards have been set so high that the number of people who can become political leaders has shrunk to a tiny pool. Neither former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, nor former U.K. Prime Minister David Lloyd George would have lasted long today. Their financial and sexual indiscretions would have been their downfall.
Heads Roll
Right now, the growth of blogs and the Internet is doing the same thing in business. Every word uttered at a conference, and every e-mail sent through the office, can be recorded. It can be transmitted around the world in a flash. It is held up to scrutiny. Any gaffes are relentlessly exposed and criticized. Heads have to roll. Action is demanded.
Nobody pays any attention to whether it means the person is qualified to do their job or not.
We shouldn't look to businessmen (and certainly not advertising copy writers) for moral leadership any more than we look to politicians. It really doesn't matter if they are horrible human beings or not. It only matters if they can get the job done.
We'll all be the losers from the gaffe hunt. After all, when companies are run by the most able people, regardless of character, everyone benefits.
Meanwhile, if the urge arises to curse your colleagues, your products or your customers, go and wash your mouth out. It may well be a richly deserved description of them all -- but it will only leave you out of work.
To contact the writer of this column:
Matthew Lynn in London at matthewlynn@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: October 30, 2005 17:15 EST
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