By Pat Sartory

Earlier this month, two black men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia, after the store’s manager called police to say the men were trespassing. A video of police arresting the men, who hadn’t purchased anything and were quietly talking amongst themselves, went viral and sparked instant outrage. A firestorm erupted on social media, consumers called for a ban of Starbucks, and protesters gathered at the store.

In today’s climate, this incident could have dominated headlines for days and caused significant damage to Starbucks’ brand. But Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson’s actions following the incident show how a proper public response can help mitigate damage, repair strained relationships with employees and customers, and restore public trust.

Private businesses have the right to remove people from their property, and there is no evidence that the manager violated any company policies. Yet Johnson delivered a full-throated and personal apology that struck the right tone and sent a clear message of contrition. In a public letter, video message and subsequent media interviews, Johnson apologized personally to the two men arrested, calling their treatment “reprehensible,” and apologized to his customers and partners. Johnson took full responsibility, and avoided carefully-crafted corporate speak that can make executive statements seem contrived and inauthentic. “These two gentlemen did not deserve what happened to them. And we are accountable. I am accountable,” Johnson said.

Importantly, Johnson also rejected calls to dismiss the manager who made the call to police, saying, “I believe that blame is misplaced. …I own it. This is a management issue, and I am accountable.” Rather than scapegoating an employee, Johnson took responsibility to address the issue and laid out his plans to fix the problem – ordering a review of company policies, vowing to meet with outside experts and community leaders to understand and adopt best practices, and offering additional store manager and training to recognize unconscious biases Johnson also called a company-wide meeting the following week to hear from employees, share learnings and discuss immediate next steps.

Johnson’s comprehensive and timely response is particularly informative, from a CEO communications standpoint, when compared to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s response following the public outcry over his company’s handling of customer privacy and personal data. Instead of offering a prompt apology, Facebook initially deflected blame to Cambridge Analytica, offered confusing explanations around the timing of changes to their privacy policies, and allowed Zuckerberg’s deputies to address the issue publicly – all while Zuckerberg remained deafeningly silent. As the story continued to gain momentum in the media, Zuckerberg was finally forced to offer an authentic apology. This was an example of poor CEO communications and has since been dubbed a PR disaster (although Zuckerberg’s subsequent performance in front of Congress was quite successful).

We asked two of our 2017 Ruder Finn Leadership Academy participants, Carmen Lee (Hong Kong) and Emilie Hayhoe (New York), to reflect on their experiences at this year’s RF Academy which took place in Kuala Lumpur.

Did the RF Academy meet your expectations?  Carmen It was what I expected in terms of the opportunity to network with colleagues and experts from other offices. But the experience of creating a crisis management plan with colleagues from other offices, and presenting the plan to the guest judges of senior management, was really beyond my expectations. I enjoyed this process a lot! The group discussion on digital storytelling and analytics also exceeded my expectations.

Emilie It was difficult to know what to expect heading into the Academy. I knew it would be a chance to connect with global colleagues and learn about our crisis and digital capabilities in greater detail, but that was it. Now that I’m on the other side of the experience I can say the Academy exceeded my expectations – everything we did at the Academy was edifying to a degree and I came out of it with new friendships, a better understanding of the work we’re doing globally and inspiration to work more collaboratively with global offices.

 What did you enjoy most at the RF Academy? Carmen I enjoyed the analytics part the most. To me, our role as consultants never changes – we help clients understand their customers, and then formulate communications campaigns to drive business results. The advances in marketing technologies and visualisation tools are here to help us make more informed, real-time decisions. We should all learn how to utilise these tools better.  During the training, all of us agreed that data analytics needs to be a core element of our work, both internally and externally.

Emilie Hands-down, I enjoyed meeting and networking with the people at the Academy. I greatly enjoyed seeing Jean-Michel (Chairman of Ruder Finn Asia) lead the Academy with finesse, ensuring every participant was engaged; getting to know Charles Lancaster (Head of Crisis and Risk in Asia) and learn his POV on crisis communications leadership; hearing David Ko (Head of RFI in Asia) passionately present the creative, smart, inspiring work he’s leading in Hong Kong and his enthusiasm for digital and analytics. Connecting with the smart and motivated leaders of Ruder Finn’s global offices made the Academy exceptional.

What is your number one takeaway from the conference? Carmen How much business opportunity data analytics can bring to myself and my colleagues! 

Emilie We’re better together. It’s pretty cool that we have the ability to tap into a diverse pool of deep thinkers, industry experts, trend starters and thought leaders.

 How will your experience change the way you work moving forward? Carmen There are two things I am focused following the Academy. One, to be more collaborative and find ways to interact and engage with colleagues around the world. It helps now that I know the faces behind the names, and that I have people I can easily reach out to. Second, I will be more open to incorporate digital tools in developing and delivering our clients’ stories. I learned a lot about how to incorporate digital, even on a small level, to my work, and the impact it can have on the results.

Emilie  The Academy has inspired me to think differently – whether it’s bringing a creative lens to a new business brainstorm, leveraging analytics to drive deeper insights for existing clients, or tapping into Ruder Finn’s global team for expertise or inspiration.

If you could give advice to next year’s participants, what would it be?Carmen  Enjoy your conversations, discussions, and meetings with the colleagues, judges and trainers from all the different offices. Make the most of them during your experience. There is always more than one way to do things, and there are always better alternative solutions available. All you need to do is open yourselves up to the different possibilities, share your experiences, and learn from each other.

Emilie Be a sponge and have fun. The Academy is such a unique experience, the best thing is to go into it with a positive and open mind. Here are some additional considerations:

-          Connect with everyone at the Academy – presenters, senior executives and fellow participants

-          Be curious – gain an understanding of what we’re doing across our global offices, understand the key players and clients and swap key learnings

-          Ask questions – it’s a great way to demonstrate engagement and learn from others

This blog is part of a series on the RF Academy, a selective two-day training and networking program for our rising global stars across the agency. The Academy took place this year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and focused on specialized areas such as crisis and risk training, and new business presentations.

By: Kristina Breux

After 24 hours of flying, I walked into The Majestic Hotel in Kuala Lumpur delirious, but excited nonetheless. It was all a bit surreal – less than two weeks prior, I sat in a conference room in New York and booked my flight half way around the world with little to no planning, which for me, a type-A person who lives by her Google Docs, was atypical to say the least. But this is exactly what I was after – an opportunity to break my routine and challenge myself to think differently.

I applied to RF Academy for the chance to meet my global colleagues face-to-face and explore a new country. My expectations were high from the start, but somehow RF Academy managed to exceed them. From forging lasting, personal connections to learning about the ins and outs of crisis and digital, everything about RF Academy was truly amazing.

Here are a few key learnings from my experience:

Be in the room when you’re in the room: At the start of RF Academy we were told that the next few days would be cell phone and laptop free. I immediately started to panic. How could I possibly go the entire day without checking my email? Yes, Malaysia was 12 hours ahead of New York and both my teams and clients were asleep, but what if they needed me?! Despite this initial shock, my anxiety subsided, and I began to enjoy being disconnected and in the moment. All too often, we attend meetings or brainstorms without truly being present. Sure, we’re physically in the room, but we’re either multitasking or going over our to-do lists in our heads. It was freeing to set aside our devices and devote our undivided attention listening to each other and sharing ideas. We accomplished so much in a short amount of time, simply because we removed all distractions.

Share with purpose: From social media to blogs to podcasts, there are countless opportunities to share impactful stories and create emotional connections online. For some of our global colleagues, however, this is not always the case. In China, where social media initially provided a beacon of hope for the journalist community, we’re seeing accounts get shut down by the government left and right simply because they don’t like or agree with the content being posted. We’re incredibly lucky to have so many channels available to us in the United States to publish meaningful content, and should be taking full advantage of the powerful engine that the Internet provides for us by using it to tell stories that matter. As David Ko from Ruder Finn Hong Kong put it, “think of social as a magazine, not an advertising platform.” We need to create content tailored to the interests of readers and viewers that creates a real emotional connection. Otherwise, we’re just adding to the clutter.

To stay ahead of the curve, look beyond your four walls: It’s widely accepted that diverse teams produce more creative ideas, but on a day-to-day basis, most of us aren’t taking advantage of our counterparts across the world. The best part of RF Academy, by far, was the time we spent ideating and collaborating with colleagues and partners from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, and Malaysia. On the last day of the program, we were given two hours to develop a communications plan for a mock crisis scenario. It was incredible to see what we were able to accomplish together in such a short period of time by building off everyone’s unique expertise.