No Guarantees in Life

We often remind clients that crisis communications is an art, not a science. Even with the benefit of experience, we never know exactly how choosing one course of action over another will work out. The Hewlett-Packard/Mark Hurd soap opera underscores the point.

The H-P board of directors fired former CEO Hurd on Aug. 6 for…well, the ambiguity in the explanation of Hurd’s firing is part of the story. In any case, he was fired over events having to do with a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Jodie Fisher, a former actress who had been contracted by H-P to schmooze with executives at company parties.

The New York Times on Aug. 10 implied that the H-P board of directors had followed the advice of an APCO Worldwide consultant when it decided to fire Hurd. That seemed odd, and when we reviewed some of the coverage online before writing this blog, we saw that the Times had issued a correction making clear that APCO had not recommended the firing.

But the consultant did write a faux news story to show what ongoing coverage of a sexual harassment investigation of Hurd might look like, and apparently that was influential in the board’s decision. Writing this kind of story is a common technique to help a client see how its situation might be perceived by journalists. It can bring focus to the decisions that must be made, and we have used it several times to good effect.

Whether the board made the best decision in firing Hurd is beyond our scope. The point is that, as bad as things have gone for H-P since its decision, we cannot know if they would have been just as bad or worse had the board taken the alternative course and endured the drumbeat of negative coverage predicted by APCO.

Where the H-P strategy fell apart was in its execution. In a crisis, decisive action clearly articulated is required to get people to believe you and believe in you.

Even though we cannot know in advance the outcome of a particular course of action, once a decision is made, it’s important to commit to the strategy. It is essential to speak with one voice and tell a consistent story during a crisis. Talking to the news media should not be a democratic pursuit.

The H-P board failed in this regard. A series of anonymous and amorphous tales emphasizing different reasons for Hurd’s firing made the board’s decision-making process appear muddled and opened the door to criticism from Hurd’s supporters.

In what the New York Times called “a stream of leaks from both sides,” Hurd and H-P have dragged out the corporate melodrama to their mutual detriment. Story after story has offered anonymous quotes from “a person familiar with the situation,” “people with knowledge of the board’s thinking” and “a person close to Mr. Hurd.”

Neither side can lay claim to the high ground or to much credibility.

The H-P board may have been given excellent advice, and the directors may have made a reasonable decision. But because they failed to follow through on the strategy, we’ll never know.

After all, it’s an art, not a science.