Tag: truth

Damage Control: Mamma Said Never Tell a Lie
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How do you know the appropriate time to tell the truth, keep quiet or lie? I remember as a child my mother saying, “Now tell the truth and you won’t get into any trouble.” I always thought that was a trick statement. I also remember my mother telling me that, “Not telling something is almost as good as a lie.”

Paula Deen is a great example of this. I’ve been watching Paula Deen for years. I would just salivate watching her make all that fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, cakes, cookies, pies – heavily saturated with sugar and fat. All the while, she would proclaim, “This is just delicious Y’all!”

So…what is so wrong with that? Well, she had diabetes. She never told anyone until one of the drug manufacturers wanted her to be a spokesperson. Only then did she disclose her disease. Was she being honest with her audience? I don’t think so. Should she have disclosed the fact that she had diabetes and encouraged others to eat healthy? Absolutely.

Fast forward to the most recent news. Deen is sued for derogatory, racist statements. When she got on the witness stand, she answered truthfully this time. She didn’t tell a lie. She stated that yes, indeed, she had used that language. The statement, “tell the truth and it will set you free” didn’t exactly work in her favor. It opened up a whirlwind of gossip, ill will, threats, hatred, pulled endorsements and much more. All of the companies that had backed her suddenly dropped her like one of the boiling potatoes she was once seen cooking.

Paula Deen is a person… but Paula Deen is also a brand. What she said personally has just about destroyed her brand. How will she recover from this? Only time will tell. The one thing I do know is that before you decide to be honest and tell the truth – you’d better be aware of the consequences that may follow. If not, you will be boiling in the pot with a bunch of potatoes just like Paula Deen.

Crisis Management from a Three-Year-Old
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This is the second blog in a 3-part series. Didn’t see the first one? Click here…
Check out the second one here….

After taking a class in crisis management, the first thing I learned was the same thing my mother taught me.

Remember when your parents told you not to do something, and you did it anyway? Then, something happened that you were hoping wouldn’t? The first words out of my mother’s mouth after she asked what happened was, “Tell the truth.” After I hesitated, she would then say, “If you tell the truth, you won’t get in trouble. I want to hear the truth about what happened.”

Isn’t it interesting that the same applies in adulthood. Many public relations blunders happen when the truth is not told immediately. Can you say, Bill Clinton and Anthony Weiner?

The second thing I learned happened after I learned to tell the truth. Although in the instance of public relations, you actually do this first, tell it first. If you know that a company accident happened and several people were hurt…YOU be the first to get the information out to the public. YOU take control of the media. Do not let false information leak.

Lastly, make sure you take responsibility and correct the problem. For me, I had to either apologize, pay money or suffer the consequences. In the cases of Clinton and Weiner, they both suffered the consequences of their actions. Would it have been different if they had told the truth first? Probably.

The art of public relations is knowing how to handle the public. As mentioned in the previous blog, you have to know your audience and act accordingly. You audience may be stakeholders, employees, parents, senior citizens…you name it. Each responds differently to the same situation.

Did I learn my lesson about telling the truth? I think so. At least it’s the first thing I said to my children when they did something they weren’t supposed to. “Tell the truth.”