Wes Pedersen (6/23):
It was clear from the start that the president had to replace the too-candid-to-strangers general. Civilian and military command roles demanded nothing less. To his credit, Obama let McChrystal go with a compliment for service rendered on the field if not in personal or political relations. This time, unlike so often in the recent past, the president acted immediately and forcefully. High marks to him for handling this emergency with exceptional professionalism.
Ron Levy (6/23):
A lesson of this is that error by a PR advisor can mean ouster of a chief. It was General McChrystal's PR advisor who made the error of giving a journalist access to McChrystal aides without cautioning the aides not to say what they would not want to see in print.
"Don't worry about telling your true feelings" is awful yet common PR advice that may cause the unhorsing of corporate chiefs. This is especially true of advice--sometimes given by PR people who should know better--that when there is an accusation, you should tell whatever you know and tell it right away. "The truth will come out," advise some in PR who should recognize that maybe it will and maybe it won't. "Tell it all right away" may get an "A" on a PR test but it's lousy PR advice that may cause unnecessary grief for whole organizations and their leaders.
A corporte leader works for the corporation, not the press. So it makes sense for the leader to not "tell whatever you know and right away" but to first find out the facts so you know what you are talking about when you talk. And find out extenuating circumstnces so you can tell not just the truth but "the whole truth" including those circumstances that the organization needs for the public to know. And perhaps have the telling done not by a CEO or a plant manager but by a medical or engineering exec who can present the truth in a context that the public deserves to know about and the company deserves to make known. And next to a media relations pro who can step in to emphasize some truths.
McChrystal takes the hit for the error of his PR advisor in giving the journalist access to aides apparently without warning them or--phrased more politely--giving them media training. "The evil men do lives after them," Shakespeare had Marc Antony say, but the evil they do can also cause the demise of the boss so that the good is interred with the bones. Sometimes PR execs are criticized for earning a lot or "too much."
A brilliant lawyer-journalist named Dick Tofel is criticized--in a different piece in today's newsletter--for earning under $300,000 a year 25 years after getting a law degree from Harvard over 25 year ago (law grads this year get a starting salary over $150K) and after rising to I think Assistant Managing Editor, then Assistant Publisher of The Wall Street Journal. But the McChristal situation helps show that a "bargain" information exec can cost a boss and an organization vastly more than a great one.
Perhaps better than "tell whatever you know right away" and "don't be afrid to express your honest opinion" is the counsel: "Watch what you say."
Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (6/29):
Ron, the general did not take the hit because a civilian flack was working in a war zone. He got the hook for his lousy judgment, for violating regulations and more than a dose of arrogance in sensitive areas. What I find more distressing is how many people seem to think it's acceptable for military elites to go around as if they ran the country. Where such things do occur, you have much less democracy. No doubt McChrystal is a regular guy, but given the confused state of affairs where he was operating, he only made policy matters worse. No doubt he will have an excellent book deal in a matter of weeks or months.
Ron Levy (6/30):
You NEED a certain amount of arrogance to be a general, a surgeon or head of a major PR team, and arrogance that is earned may be admirable and no disgrace. A great general, surgeon or even a great PR leader may be far from great at working with the press, which is one reason that to Jack O'Dwyer's often-expressed frustration, many PR leaders avoid press contact.
Since we employ generals to general, surgeons to cut and sew, and PR leaders to lead, perhaps we should not be unduly hard on these people for not having more of OTHER skills they don't have just as there are plenty of skills most of US don't have. Any of the great PR firms might have counseled General McChrystal to say, after the fuss, that he is blessed with an EXCELLENT staff, they are excellent at helping to protect our country, all staffers are entitled to have opinions but not to express them to the media, and the general regrets and apologizes that aides thought--perhaps their fault and perhaps because the journalist led them on--that they were speaking off the record. Do any of us believe the aides would have made fun of the bosses if the aides had not been led to believe that they were off the record? Further, the general could probaby point out correctly, aides may have made fun of the bosses the way college students make fun of faculty members even at great colleges--yet deeply respect the bosses just as college students deeply respect their faculties.
Perhaps even better than a book deal, I hope General McChrystal will gake a senior job at a defense supplier so that the supplier has, in the office, wisdom General McChrystal learned while risking his life, then sending subordinates to risk theirs, to protect America. General McChrystal may have earned less than Joe Honick and most of us, and risked more, and been away more from people he cared about--and this American hero should not be condemned for "lousy judgement" without clearly saying that the judgment complained of is judgment about media relations, not about defending our country and the lives of Americans. Joe refers again to a "civilian flack" but many consider "flack" to be a derogatory term and I don't see why General McChrystal's PR advisor deserves derogation more than the rest of us. I feel no shame at all--zero--at doing PR.
I would not be surprised if General McChrystal's PR advisor and other aides worked in a war zone for love of country, not because it wouldn't be easier to do as Joe and many of us are doing and work in the safety of our country that the general and his aides are protecting. Joe is an exceptionally bright and good man but attacking America's defenders for "lousy judgment" and being a "flack" is not a good example of Joe's intellect and goodness. Attack ME. If being "a flack" seems bad, that's me. If having had "lousy judgment" about something not quite job-related is bad, that's me also. It's probably most of us. Thank God for General Stanley McChristal and his aides who for little reward risked their lives and spent years of their lives in war zones to protect us.
Joe Honick, Gma International Ltd (6/23):
Again and emphatically: what the hell was a civilian flack doing in a war zone working for a general and on the taxpayer dole? This should also be investigated and rightr away!
Bill Huey, Strategic Communications, Atlanta (6/24):
So, there was infighting. There's always infighting. The real question is what are we accomplishing in Afghanistan, not which beribboned general is putatively in charge. Obama takes the hit for that, because what we are accomplishing is exactly nothing. A desolate land (though rich in valuable minerals) and a drugged up population that goes with whomever seems to be winning.
Fed Up In NYC! (6/24):
This is truly a shame. I do think, by a slight margin, that BHO had to let him go. But what a travesty it is. It does not negate the FACT that his comments are TRUE and represent serious issues in the BHO White House as well as his execution of policy.
But what a hero Petreaus is! A demotion to help his country? Can't beat that.
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