John MacDonald
Principal, Helena

John MacDonald
Principal, Helena
June 15, 2010

Harry Truman made famous “The Buck Stops Here.” The words on a small sign on his desk in the Oval Office came to symbolize what Americans expected of anyone in position of authority: Accountability.

Today, too often, it seems, “The buck stops … short.”

Corporations fearing litigation, bad publicity and damage to their reputations – all legitimate concerns, of course – have concluded that saying the buck stops with them means they “assume liability.” For many, it is a statement they will avoid at almost any cost.

We see the examples far too often. “On advice of counsel, we cannot discuss this.” Or “Our investigation will determine who is really to blame.” Or, a personal favorite: “While it was our (insert product here) that (collapsed, sank, broke, blew up), the root cause was the (tiny widget made by someone else) that failed. Had it not been for that defective part, this would have never happened … to us.”

Too often, a corporation will only take responsibility under excruciating public pressure, and usually long after the damage to its reputation is done.

The advice we give clients is still best summed up by Truman’s sign.

The Buck is not liability. The Buck is leadership. It means stepping to the plate, taking charge and telling the public – the media, your customers, lawmakers and regulators – “it is my job to fix this.”

It can be an incredibly powerful statement: “I don’t have all the details on how this tragedy occurred, but it occurred on my watch, at my company, and that is not acceptable. I will fix this. I will tell you exactly what went wrong. And I will tell you how
I’m going to make sure it never happens again.”

Companies that have prepared themselves through thoughtful crisis planning and crisis communication “get” the importance of this. It is part of a plan that they practice, refine and update regularly.

The importance of having a detailed, rehearsed and up-to-date crisis plan cannot be overstated. As detailed in The Associated Press story below, the results of not having such a plan can be troubling.

BP severely underestimated potential spill in response plan