CNN's Campbell Brown Departs With Class

In this era of finger-pointing, blame-storming, and circular firing squads, no one seems to be willing to admit mistakes and language is carefully parsed to avoid by lawyers, spin doctors, and executives to avoid taking personal blame or at least take as little responsibility as possible when the shit hits the fan.  One of my favorite vague terms is when executives or their spokespersons say "mistakes were made," but don't do say by whom  (they carefully omit terms like '"by me" or "my company). In contrast to this relentless stream of self-serving horseshit, CNN's Campbell Brown showed massive class and honesty in her announcement yesterday that she was stepping down. As the AP reported: 

Brown said it was her decision to leave. She said she could say she was leaving to spend more time with her two young children or pursue new opportunities, and both would be partly true.

"But I have never had much tolerance for others' spin, so I can't imagine trying to stomach my own," she said. "The simple fact is that not enough people want to watch my program, and I owe it to myself and to CNN to get out of the way so that CNN can try something else."

Huh? No excuses? No finger-pointing?   Perhaps the exceedingly lame BP officials could learn something Campbell Brown's authentic "no bias, no bull persona."  From what I can tell, bull, BS, distortion, and finger-pointing are their primary response to the oil spill in the Gulf.   The lawyers may rush in and complain that they must act like way because of liability, the interests of the shareholders, and so on -- but I think even the shareholders are losing patience with BP's bullshit and am willing to bet that these leaders lame responses will cost a lot of them their jobs.   For an interesting comparison, check out CEO Michael McCain's actions at Maple Leaf Foods, and how he responded when his company's tainted product was linked to at least 10 deaths -- he apologized and accepted responsibility, and never, once, made any statement meant to minimize perceptions of damage by his firm or made excessive claims about progress that was being made to reverse the problem. 

As for Campbell, thanks for all your great work over the years, and thanks for being such a breath air in an era where most public figures seem to have mastered the fine art of claiming the lions share of credit when things go well -- and ducking blame when things do not.  By the way, as I have discussed before, there is evidence that managers and CEOs who accept responsibility when things go wrong --- and propose ways to reverse the problems -- lead companies that are more effective over the long haul than companies were leaders refuse to accept blame (see my posts here and here).  And managers who use this tactic (accepting blame for setbacks and errors)  are seen as more competent and legitimate. So what Campbell Brown did not only shows class, it may help her career in the long haul.  I certainly hope so.

Comments

[Katelyn Mashburn]

Hi Bob,

Really enjoyed reading this post. With social media and the 24/7 news cycle, transparency is key to remain trustworthy.

I think it was interesting to observe how Tiger Woods and Letterman handled their affairs around the same time but in such different ways. http://bit.ly/6mgBBR

[RobertHalsey]

Bob ... thanks for the post. It is always good to find examples of leaders taking responsibility. Although it is the mantra of great organization, so few people follow it that when people do take responsibility, it deserves special comment. That seems backwards.

I always liked the example of Scott Waddell who took responsibility when his submarine surfaced under a Japanese vessel. Contrast that to many of the business leaders who spoke to us in graduate school and then took no responsibility for their actions.

http://cbdr.blogspot.com/2005/12/take-some-responsibility.html

[ltg]

Methinks you mean 'patience' in "the shareholders are losing patients". Unless only doctors can be shareholders... :->