General McChrystal flunked the basics of public communication when, in an
article published in Rolling Stone magazine this past Friday, he and members of his staff made unflattering remarks about Vice President Biden and other administration officials. Shortly after, the General was called to the White House where he turned in his resignation and was quickly replaced.
The media has brought down powerful men before, but what stings with General McChrystal’s situation is that it could have easily been avoided.
What should the General have done differently?
First off, he allowed a reporter exclusive one-on-one access to him and his staff over a long period of time. The reporter perceived it was all on the record. The staff later tried to dissuade the reporter from printing all of his information. It is a reporter’s job to notice and report on significant revelations especially ones that conflict with official public information, whether they are an innocent comment or an off-handed joke.
The remarks General McChrsytal and his staff made were ill-advised and the President felt they undermined his control of the war situation and military discipline. If he had complaints about the leadership, the General should have taken them up the chain of command, not aired them to the media.
During my Air Force days I started a program in the Pentagon to provide a media and public communication awareness seminar and training to every newly promoted General officer -- just to prevent a situation like this. The lessons we learned in this training were simple and apply to all media interviews:
- Make sure you and your staff understands what you should be and not be saying in a public setting and especially in the presence of news media;
- Presume that everything you say is “on the record;” and
- Always remember that you speak for and represent your organization, whether it is a business, a non-profit or a U. S. government branch.
Lessons to be learned:
It’s not the media’s fault. Rolling Stone did their job and, obviously with today’s 24/7 interactive news cycle, it spread world-wide instantly. Treat the media with respect, but know when to keep quiet. Also, and most important, every person in charge of an organization needs to be aware and trained on today’s instant and comprehensive media environment. Prevention is the key in crisis management and a firm understanding of knowing when and what to say and, when to keep quiet is critical.