設(shè)想一下，你剛剛被任命為一家頂級公司的CEO，這肯定是你人生中最激動人心的一刻。不過幾周后，你就發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個掩藏10多年的秘密：一件產(chǎn)品有致命缺陷，但公司一直對此秘而不宣?，F(xiàn)在產(chǎn)品的缺陷造成了13人死亡，而你不得不召回上百萬件產(chǎn)品。通用汽車的首席執(zhí)行官瑪麗·巴拉（Mary Barra）不必設(shè)想如此戲劇性的一幕，因為這已經(jīng)真實發(fā)生在她身上。大多數(shù)最后當(dāng)上高管的人都沒有經(jīng)過任何危機公關(guān)的訓(xùn)練，也沒有在公眾面前處理危機的經(jīng)歷。因此，編寫一本危機公關(guān)指南或許對企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者有所幫助，每一個人都應(yīng)該準備一本，以防不時之需。

Imagine that you were just named to a CEO position at a top corporation. This has to be one of the most thrilling adventures of your life.? But after only a few weeks on the job, you learn that the company has been hiding information for over a decade about a product defect that cost the lives of 13 people, and you will need to recall millions of units from consumers.? Mary Barra, CEO of GM, doesn’t have to imagine the situation; she is living it.? Most of the people who end up in top jobs have never had any training for or experience in dealing with communicating in a crisis on the big stage. I thought it might be useful to put together a playbook that every leader should have ready for when it hits the fan.

首先，你要知道盡管發(fā)現(xiàn)和解決問題至關(guān)重要，但處理危機的方法更加重要。約翰·肯尼迪1959年發(fā)表了一篇重要的講話，他在其中提到“Crisis”在中文中是“危機”兩字，“?！敝浮拔ｋU”，“機”指“機遇”。雖然專家認為從語言學(xué)角度這樣分析并不完全正確，不過危機中暗含機遇的想法倒是正確的。巴拉女士似乎深諳此道，她在3月4日給員工的信中寫道：“我們公司的聲譽會不會受損不是由召回事件所決定，而是取決于我們?nèi)绾翁幚泶舜问录??！?/p>

First, you need to realize that defining and solving the problem is critical, but equally important is how you handle the situation.? John F. Kennedy famously stated in a 1959 speech that the word?crisis?in Chinese is comprised of two brush strokes.? One represents the word “danger” the other “opportunity.” While experts have since noted that the linguistic point isn’t quite right, the bigger idea is still valid. Ms. Barra seems to understand this because in her letter to employees on March 4th, she stated: “Our company’s reputation won’t be determined by the recall itself, but how we address the problem going forward.”

截至目前為止，她似乎并沒有采納自己的建議。雖然新聞報道說她責(zé)令致歉，卻不清楚讓誰致歉。危機公關(guān)指南第一條就是企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者應(yīng)公開承認錯誤。雖然這會讓你的律師相當(dāng)惱火，卻能給公眾留下極好的印象。

So far, however, she doesn’t seem to be heeding her own advice.? While news reports say she?ordered an apology, it’s not clear whom she was ordering to apologize.? The first rule of crisis communication is to?admit your mistakes publicly.? While this may drive your lawyers crazy, it will build tremendous goodwill in the court of public opinion.

此外，巴拉一直保持沉默，拒絕接受任何采訪。危機公關(guān)指南第二條要求企業(yè)盡早并盡可能多跟外界進行溝通：盡快公布所有的情況。至少在接下來的幾周，巴拉不得不接受政府官員的質(zhì)詢。在她發(fā)信后的第二天，美國國家公路交通安全局(NHTSA) 針對引發(fā)召回的事件提出了100多個問題，要求通用公司做出回應(yīng)。根據(jù)我對危機公關(guān)的研究，我發(fā)現(xiàn)企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的聲音是制定危機公關(guān)戰(zhàn)略最重要的元素之一。

In addition, she has remained silent and refused to do any interviews. My second rule is to?communicate early and often: tell it all and tell it fast. At the very least, in the weeks ahead, she will have to answer questions from government officials.? The day after her letter to employees, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered the company to answer over a 100 questions about events leading up to the recall. In?my own research?on crisis communication I have found that the leader’s voice is one of the most critical components in developing a strategy for communicating during a crisis.

除了聽企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的敘述外，媒體更想講一個包含受害者和反派的戲劇化故事來吸引眼球。盡管巴拉不希望信息外流，可《紐約時報》仍能從企業(yè)內(nèi)部拿到消息，寫出商業(yè)版的頭條。我想告訴學(xué)生和客戶的是，信息傳播就像傳染性疾病。因此，我的第三條忠告是：企業(yè)高管需要通過媒體或其他渠道，盡可能有效得體地從自己的立場敘述整件事情。

Besides hearing from the leader, however, the media wants to tell a good story with victims, villains, and visuals. Despite Ms. Barra’s wishes to keep information private, the?New York Times?was able to write a front page business section article using its inside sources. I like to tell my students and clients that communication is like a communicable disease. ?As a result, my third rule is that you need to be able to?tell your side of the story most efficiently and most eloquently through the media?or someone else will do it for you.

企業(yè)要盡早并盡可能多地跟外界溝通，這件事說起來容易做起來難。企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者通常要在了解危機的全部細節(jié)和具體情況之前，把類似關(guān)心顧客安全這樣的企業(yè)價值告訴公眾，表現(xiàn)出補償受損者的決心。巴拉的確在信中提到了這點：“首先，我們所做的每一件事情都應(yīng)遵循一條不可動搖的原則：為客戶提供最好的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)?？蛻舻陌踩蜐M意是我們每一個決定的核心出發(fā)點。”

Communicating early and often, however, is easier said than done.? Usually you have to communicate before all of the facts are in.? As a result, companies need to communicate values, such as concern for their customers’ safety, and to show a commitment to coming to the aid of people affected by the crisis, even if you do not have all of the details yet. Barra did address this?in her letter?to employees when she said: “First and foremost, everything we are doing is guided by one unwavering principle: do what is best for our customer. Customer safety and satisfaction are at the heart of every decision we make.”

不過，公司在應(yīng)對危機時最大的問題是，事實往往和它們宣揚的理念不符。如果通用公司真的奉行顧客至上的話，為什么早在10年前就已浮出水面的問題，像巴拉一樣的高管們竟然不知道？是不是管理層太無能，以至于10年來沒有一個高管聽說過產(chǎn)品有缺陷？這就引出危機公關(guān)第四條——企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)需要解釋公司在將來會做出怎樣的改變。人們想知道的是，巴拉將怎樣幫助通用公司修正此次召回的160萬輛汽車的缺陷，更重要的是怎樣改變這樣一種把問題瞞而不報長達十余年的管理體制。

The problem companies face in a crisis, however, is that often the evidence doesn’t seem to back up the rhetoric.? Why didn’t senior executives like Ms. Barra know about the problem given that it had surfaced over a decade ago if the customer comes first at GM? And is the bureaucracy so debilitating that no senior executive in the company heard anything about the defect in question for over a decade?? This leads to my fourth rule, which is that?you need to explain why things will be different in the future.? What everyone will want to know is how she is going to help GM fix the actual defect on the 1.6 million cars, but more importantly, how she is going to change a bureaucracy that can hide that problem for over a decade.

最后，雖然我很欣賞巴拉自己處理危機的決心，但這和我的第五條以及最后一條忠告相悖。我認為，深陷危機的高管不能一門心思只關(guān)注解決危機，還需要保證企業(yè)日常業(yè)務(wù)正常運行。我們知道，通用公司在未來的幾周內(nèi)將面臨諸多的挑戰(zhàn)：死者家屬聘請的律師會糾纏不休；議員們會為了在下一次選舉中拉票而死咬住這家曾經(jīng)的國有企業(yè)不放；媒體會對巴拉的沉默失去耐心；雇員會猜測企業(yè)能否度過下一場風(fēng)波。我們通過媒體獲悉，巴拉任命了幾名高管專門負責(zé)此次召回事件?？墒钦l來負責(zé)公司仍能繼續(xù)發(fā)展，不至于完全陷入危機呢？幾年前跟我合作過的一家企業(yè)就曾明確指派首席執(zhí)行官負責(zé)處理危機，首席運營官和董事則負責(zé)讓企業(yè)在度過危機后更加成功。

Finally, while I admire Ms. Barra’s commitment to handling the problem herself, this may prevent her from following my fifth and final rule for executives who find themselves in this predicament, which is that?you need to keep the business running.? We can expect weeks of challenges from lawyers representing those who died as a result of GM’s negligence, from congressmen hoping to score points in an election year by beating up on the company the US government once owned, from the media which will lose patience with her silence, and from employees, who must be wondering if the company can weather yet another storm. What we have heard from sources the media has spoken with is that Barra named several key executives to oversee the recall.? Who is going to make sure that the company remains vibrant and doesn’t get sucked into the crisis full time? At one company I worked with a few years ago, the CEO focused on managing the crisis while the COO and president focused how to make the business more successful after the storm had passed.

假設(shè)巴拉和通用公司安然度過了這場風(fēng)波，他們最好還是記住尼克松總統(tǒng)說過的一句話。雖然尼克松在1960年大選中落敗于肯尼迪，但他在1952年著名的“跳棋”演講中一句話便點出了危機公關(guān)的實質(zhì)。他說：“在一場危機中，最輕松的時刻是處理危機本身，最艱難的是決定到底應(yīng)該迎戰(zhàn)還是放棄。而最危險的時候則出現(xiàn)在危機過后。這時你一定要萬分小心，因為你已經(jīng)耗盡了所有的資源，同時也解除了防備?！?/p>

Assuming Ms. Barra and GM do weather the storm, they would do well to remember the words of president Kennedy’s rival in the 1960 election, president Nixon.? In his famous?Checkers speech?of 1952, Nixon said, “The easiest period in a crisis situation is actually the battle itself. The most difficult is the period of indecision—whether to fight or run away. And the most dangerous period is the aftermath.? It is then, with all his resources spent and his guard down, that an individual must watch out.”

(柴茁/譯 安健/編校)

保羅·阿爾真蒂（Paul Argenti）是達特茅斯大學(xué)塔克商學(xué)院企業(yè)傳播學(xué)專業(yè)的教授。