2/25/2021 Bartleby - When executives misspeak | Business | The Economist

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Business Feb 27th 2021 edition

Bartleby

When executives misspeak

The modern boss is a cheerleader, not a sergeant-major

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Feb 27th 2021

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M any people, including this columnist, complain that chief executives make bla
statements that are full of corporate jargon. It becomes easy to understand
why managers are addicted to wa e when a boss foolishly decides to give his
employees a piece of his mind.

The latest culprit was Bill Michael, the British chairman of kpmg, a big
consultancy. In a virtual meeting Mr Michael dismissed sta concerns about the
pandemic, saying that “you can’t play the role of victim unless you’re sick. I hope
you’re not sick and you’re not ill and if you’re not take control of your life. Don’t sit
there and moan about it, quite frankly.” Then he waded into the issues of racism
and sexism by adding, “There is no such thing as unconscious bias. I don’t buy it.
Because after every single unconscious-bias training that’s ever been done,
nothing’s ever improved.”

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It is possible to put a charitable interpretation on Mr Michael’s remarks. He was

hospitalised with covid-19 himself and his de nition of sickness may have
included mental illness and depression. Those kpmg employees who have been
spared illness are probably in a much better position than many other groups of
workers. And he may have been arguing that examples of “unconscious bias” are
really cases of very conscious prejudice. He followed up by saying: “Unless you
care you actually won’t change ”
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care, you actually won t change.

But if he was going to make those points, he needed to do so in a more thoughtful

and sophisticated manner. He resigned within days, as details of the call were
leaked to the media.

Statements to outsiders can be as damaging as those to insiders. Perhaps the most

calamitous in recent corporate history were Tony Hayward’s. Then chief executive
of bp, an oil giant, he spoke on television in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon
tragedy, when 11 workers died and much pollution spread in the Gulf of Mexico.
“There is no one who wants this thing over more than I do. You know, I’d like my
life back,” he said. The insensitive tone worsened bp’s deteriorating reputation and
Mr Hayward was soon gone.

Executives who depart from blandness to express an opinion put their careers at
risk. They enjoy little upside and risk plenty of downside. If the executive is the
founder, or the business is well-run, they may be spared. It helps if you apologise
quickly. John Mackey, chief executive of Whole Foods, an American grocer, dubbed
Barack Obama’s health-care reforms “fascist” in 2013 but quickly said he regretted
his remarks. He is still in his job.

For Mr Michael, the real killer was the way that his views appeared to insult his
sta . Given that kpmg is, above all, a people business, this was a fatal mistake. The
modern ceo has to behave more like a cheerleader than a sergeant-major, bucking
up their troops rather than berating them. Corporate culture is a slippery concept
but if the boss addresses the sta as if they are idiots, the rm is unlikely to
prosper.

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B the same token e ecuti es should be careful about the stands the take on
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2/25/2021 Bartleby - When executives misspeak | Business | The Economist
By the same token, executives should be careful about the stands they take on
political issues. When they cause o ence, the rami cations can be widespread.
Employees want to be proud of the companies they work for, and do not want to
struggle to defend their job to their spouses, children or people they meet at Zoom
drinks. Some will dub this “political correctness”. In reality it is common sense.
Most modern businesses will have many female employees and sta from a variety
of ethnic origins. The same is true of their customers. Upsetting the sensibilities of
either group is not a sensible strategy.

One thing that the utterances of Messrs Michael and Hayward had in common was
that they seemed to be o -the-cu . Arguably, Mr Hayward had more excuse for
misspeaking; he was dealing with wall-to-wall media coverage in the middle of a
stressful crisis. Mr Michael appeared to be extemporising in the middle of a long
speech. The reverse of Nike’s slogan ought to apply here: just don’t do it. The
danger is that top executives are often treated with such reverence by colleagues
that they get an in ated view of their own wisdom. Their opinion on non-business
matters is worth no more than anyone else’s.

That does not mean executives have to speak entirely in platitudes. There is
nothing wrong with having strong opinions about things that are relevant to the
business. Warren Bu ett’s annual letter to shareholders shows how to combine
shrewd observations with humour. But managers should leave the philosophical
and political musings to people who stand for election.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "Foot-in-mouth disease"

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