2010 CEO Hall of Shame

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Monday, June 14

Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said, "Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst."

The CEOs who have committed public relations blunders so far in 2010 need to bone up on the Roman philosophy.

The list -- like the BP oil spill -- is staggering.

As we near the mid point of the year, here's our list of nominees for the CEO PR Hall of Shame.

Grand Prize: Tony Hayward

He singlehandely has disproved one of the cardinal rules of crisis communications – always have the CEO (or top person in the company) be the spokesperson in times of trouble.

Key constituencies and the public want to hear that the person in charge of the company is in charge of the crisis. That universally held true … until the world got introduced to Hayward.

Every sound bite that comes out of his mouth puts another tear in BP’s tattered reputation. And those sound bites are getting replayed a million times. Which one was worse? Early on he called what has become the United States' largest oil spill ever “relatively tiny." Shortly thereafter, it was “we are not to blame.” His “I’d like to get my life back” comment understandably did not play well with all the people BP has put out of business or any of the rest of us in the U.S.

Somebody has finally gotten the hook and dragged him off stage. Why did it take 45 days?

First-Runner-Up: Don Blankenship

Then there was Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Co. Don who? Rather than being available to comfort grieving families and provide information to the community and media during the West Virginia coal mine explosion, he was in hiding. Maybe he was a Tony Hayward and in the end the company was best served by his absence. But the only story the media had to tell was through the reports of the sad faces and angry voices of families who had felt abandoned by Massey. It was not a story the company would have written.

Second-Runner-Up: Akio Toyoda

It only took Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota worldwide, 12 days after a recall to come forth and apologize about defective accelerator pedals. By that time customers were furious with how they handled the recall, and Congress was investigating. But at least he cried.

Honorable Mention: Lloyd Blankfein

The Goldman Sach's annual report listed journalists as one of the risks it faces moving forward. Journalists? Really? The company's point was the ongoing negative publicity about the financial industry and the company would be troublesome. And who caused the trouble in the first place? And then there's the issue of Greece. Never mind.

Unfortunately, we don't think this list to be final.

If you are interested, I've collected some of best practices in Anatomy of Crisis Management, an e-book about planning for, responding to, and surviving a crisis. The e-book is premium content, so you have to log in/register for a free account to access the PDF file.