In May 1987, former Secretary of Labor, Raymond J. Donovan, who had been indicted by a New York grand jury of larceny and fraud, but later acquitted, stood on the courthouse steps and famously asked, “Which office do I go to get my reputation back?” As Mr. Donovan learned, the indictment charges are always on page one, the verdict of innocence will be found on page four. In the age of internet speed, guilt is always assumed before innocence. Sadly, it’s just the world we live in.
One of the many life lessons I learned at an early age stemmed from a quotation that appeared in Robert A. Heinlein‘s 1941 short story “Logic of Empire.” The quote: ‘You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity’ has often been re-quoted as “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”
Within the past week, two companies, Amazon and Dominos Pizza, have come under scrutiny (maybe attack is a better word) for failing what I lovingly call Business Perceptions 101. What, might you ask is Business Perception 101? BP 101, for short, is when a company’s individual employees do something so stupid, it draws negative attention and press to the business, thus tarnishing the image of the company. This forces the company to expend an extraordinary amount of capital and goodwill to correct or minimize the damage done to the company’s image. Sometimes, the resultant damage is so great that the company can’t recover and the brand is destroyed such as what happened to Blackwater Worldwide (now called Xe).
This past week, both Amazon and Dominos Pizza came under fire, but not because of what was actual corporate policy; but rather, in the case of Amazon, because of the perception by some on various social networks that capitalism and moral judgment are bedmates; and in the case of Dominos, supreme employee stupidity. Amazon’s story is best told here. Domino’s story is here. In both cases, the “internet” initially assumed malice rather than stupidity and screamed for corporate heads to roll.
What I find interesting is that Dominos may actually weather this storm better than Amazon because of the way and speed in which they responded. Within hours of being alerted of the situation, Dominos was on various internet sites and print media getting its message out of reassurance relative to the quality of their food products. They announced that they were pursuing criminal charges against the amazing stupid former employees who posted the video. In short, they were going to do everything possible to protect their brand. I expect them to run a limited promotion offering free food in the future to rebuild brand loyalty. But I also expect their competition to run ads showing smiling employees taking food order over the phone and carefully preparing the delivery.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s approach was flawed because it took them too long to get the truth out relative to what actually happened. The delay fed into the beliefs of those who weren’t going to believe the retailer anyway. Me? I believe them because this is a company that moved from being just a bookseller years ago. Don’t believe me? Go to the site and search for “gay sex toys” or “bondage toys” or any other kink you have. Amazon wants your money and will find a way to sell you what you’re looking for without casting a moral judgment on why you want it.
Both Amazon and Dominos were guilty of stupidity this week, but not malice. But they both have joined Secretary Donovan in looking for the office to get their reputations back. Good luck with that.
Bill