Stop the Presses

As a North Carolina judge suspended Mike Nifong, the disgraced prosecutor whose actions veritably define prosecutorial excess, I can’t help but think of another story–a story as tainted with elements of racism, sexism, and elitism as the Duke lacrosse scandal.

But the story I’m thinking of has ended on a radically different, and an even more profoundly disturbing note.

You may remember hearing about Lamar Owens, the African-American Naval Academy quarterback who was accused of raping a white female classmate. Recently Owens was court-martialed and subsequently found not guilty of the crime. The accuser recanted.

Even though the jury did not recommend any punishment, Naval Academy Superintendent Rodney Rempt, after initially recusing himself from the trial, somehow un-recused himself for the punishment phase, seemingly going out of his way to penalize Owens.

Simply by virtue of being innocent of rape, Owens was now guilty of consensual sex in the dormitory, a violation of Academy rules. Owens’ accuser was, of course, likewise guilty of the same infraction, yet she was allowed to graduate. Meanwhile, Superintendent Rempt succeeded in getting Navy Secretary Donald Winter to not only expel Owens, but also to demand that he repay the $90K cost of his education. Winters followed through, and Owens no longer attends the Academy.

Meanwhile, Owens’ mother is appealing to the NAACP and other organizations to advocate on behalf of her son. But, in what may be the fatal story twist, Rempt retired from his post. As a result, I doubt there’s much chance that Owens will be able to garner the media momentum needed to revivify his story nationally.

Why is that? Because every story needs a villain and a victim, and the villain should ideally be someone in a position of power. So Lamar Owens is stuck in his role because his Nifong has simply gone away.

In the Duke drama, Nifong provided a politically ambitious villain right out of Central Casting, and he gave the defense the foil it needed to shift the verdict full-circle in the court of public opinion. In the Navy sex case, an absentee villain can provide no such leverage whatsoever.

Duke’s Lacrosse team members can now begin to rebuild their lives while Lamar Owens’ life hangs in continuing suspended animation, all because of a missing piece in the media playbook. Make no mistake about it: the media’s input was decisive in both cases.

As Johnny Cochran once said, “Innocent until proven broke.“

Allen Weiss, President and CEO of NCH HealthCare System recently wrote a guest column in the Naples Daily News responding to an editorial that had been critical of the pay that he and other NCH executives received. The guest column itself is interesting, but even more interesting is the litany of comments his op-ed piece generated (scroll down past the article to read them). As of the time I’m writing this post, no representative of NCH–including Weiss–has responded to any of the comments.

Which brings us to our question–with blogs, commenting functionality on online newspapers and other ways of people interacting directly, is there a time when would behoove a CEO to hop into the proverbial trenches and communicate directly with the people? The answer is yes–and the sooner the better.

If you’re a CEO who has his/her own blog, or you have a long history of being active in forums, blogs and other communities prior to a crisis in your company occurring then addressing folks directly via these interactive mediums can go a long way toward ensuring that you can disseminate your message effectively. Why? Because you have history and credibility within the community you are attempting to influence.

If, however, your comment on a blog post or response to another commenter would be your first foray into the interactive world, you should do it anyway (the online world is too important today to ignore), but you should understand that you won’t have the immediate credibility you might want.

The lesson here is to take advantage of all of the touchpoints available to you–talking to media, analysts, customers, shareholders and others via blogs, forums, etc.–NOW before a crisis situation occurs. Take the time to build your credibility and relationships in these arenas. Use this “peace time” to build your brand and have people get to know you. Remember, your brand isn’t what you say about yourself, it is what others say about you when you’re not there. Having these mechanisms in place today will be invaluable if and when a crisis occurs in your company.

Another day, another headline about executive compensation. This time it’s DaimlerChrysler AG’s ex-CEO Juergen Schrempp who, according to reports, will make $134 million from the sale of Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management–this, after some critics argue that he was at the helm of the Chrysler deal from start to finish that ultimately lost $12.6 billion for investors.

With numbers like these, no matter how you feel about a particular executive or the job they have done, it’s no wonder that executive compensation is a hot button in corporate America. This is due to the fact that, with some notable exceptions, most CEOs are paid enormous sums of money. Most, however, don’t take the time to lay out the groundwork–with employees, stockholders, analysts, and the public–that they deserve that large salary.

Does that mean that all CEOs should make a $1 salary, or have their compensation awarded in stock to ‘prove’ their long-term commitment to the business? Certainly not. What it does mean, however, is that CEOs would be well-advised to detail their strategy and plan–to provide measurable metrics by which their performance can (and certainly will) be graded–prior to any question about their compensation being raised.

Think back to college; the syllabus you received on the first day of Business101 showed you that the three exams each counted as 25% of your grade, with your class project accounting for the remaining 25%. You knew the metrics by which you would be graded before you received the grade. CEOs who want to avoid tedious situations should put that Business101 lesson into practice shortly after accepting the job at the helm.

So what are appropriate metrics? For every company, they’ll be different. If you’re Ford, the measurement may be that you stop the company from losing any more money and solidify its position in the American market. For a retail business, it may be that you’ll open 50 new stores. For another public company, it may be to increase dividends by 25 percent.

No matter which metrics you choose, make sure that they are measurable–and that anyone measuring will be able to arrive at the same answer. You also have to make sure they’re publicized, so that stakeholders understand how seriously you’re taking the commitment to their business–issue a press release, post it to your web site, create a section for it in your annual report. Use this accountability and transparency to your advantage.

What happens if you didn’t lay the groundwork (can you say Bob Nardelli?) and stakeholders are starting to get a little hot under the collar. There are things that you need to do in that situation–things that you should do to diffuse some of the pressure–and that will be the fascinating subject for a blog post some time in the future.