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Greetings!
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Jerry Sandusky
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There's a sign in my office that says: "Nothing is often a good thing to do and always a good thing to say." The man at the center of the Penn State scandal, former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, might have benefited from that advice earlier this week when he agreed to be interviewed by Bob Costas this past Monday on NBC.
Sandusky's performance was a disaster on every count. He did nothing to mitigate the damage to his reputation, or begin the work of balancing the scales of public opinion - two things that should be the primary goals of an interview like this. (Hard to see how that could even be achieved here, given the circumstances.) For good measure, Sandusky acknowledged behavior that created legal openings that any prosecutor in America could drive a truck through. Doing the interview was just a bad idea all around.
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Bob Costas
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So why did he even talk to Costas? His communications counsel and attorney certainly advised against it. But Sandusky is not a guy who has heard the word "No" very often in his career, and his status at Penn State created an environment where (tragically) he could get away with anything and talk himself out of everything. The audience in his little world of Happy Valley was always willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, believe everything he said and look the other way.
In this regard, Sandusky reminds me of Roger Clemens, who insisted - contrary to a mountain of evidence - that he had not used steroids. Like Clemens, you can almost hear Sandusky overruling his advisors: "I'm Jerry Sandusky. I've been pulling it off for decades. Why should this be any different?" Clemens will stand trial in April for perjury. His first trial ended in a mistrial.
There's a lot more to be said about the situation at Penn State, and we'll talk about it in our blog, but for now, when it comes to the person at the center of the scandal, nothing would be a good thing to say.
Best,
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 | Big Papi: Communications Done Right |
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Big Papi
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While we're talking about communications in crisis, it makes sense to revisit one of our more popular blog entries - a discussion of how David Ortiz of the Red Sox handled a potentially damaging situation a few summers ago.
What's that you say? You don't even remember it? Exactly. Big Papi managed to achieve one of the key goals of crisis communications - having people decide that the episode isn't something they need to think about any more, or remember.
Click here to read about Crisis Communications: Big Papi Style.
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| 140 Tons of Food! |
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Doing a Good Turn
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Recently, thousands of Scouts from the local Narragansett Council, Boy Scouts of America, went on patrol throughout neighborhoods in three states to collect food for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. They came back with 140 tons of it!
Check out the coverage of the boys out an about, living the Scout Slogan - "Do a Good Turn Daily."
And by the way, you can still donate to the drive by visiting your local Rhode Island Walgreens store to drop-off donations by tomorrow, November 18.
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| | Nice Ink!
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In addition to the Scouts, some of our other clients have gotten some good ink lately.
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We worked with RIPEC to make the recent visit to Providence by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan a success. While he was here, the Secretary praised Rhode Island for its progress towards education reform, but also said there was a lot more to do. View coverage on WJAR, Providence Journal, WPRO and GoLocalProv.
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West Bay Residential - one of the best around when it comes to working with the developmentally disabled - celebrated their 30th anniversary this month. Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts, Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, Secretary of State Ralph Mollis and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo joined hundreds of West Bay supporters to celebrate. View coverage on Boston.com, Providence Journal and Warwick Beacon.
And we helped them with their spiffy new website, too.
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LISC - the Local Initiatives Support Corporation - recently welcomed their new Executive Director, Jeanne Cola. Jeanne laid out her agenda for the group's future in a "5 Questions" segment in the Providence Business News.
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Welcome to ... The Quonset Zone. In his monthly piece in the New England Real Estate Journal, QDC Managing Director Steven King, P.E. explains how a recent agreement with the host community of North Kingstown has made all the difference when it comes to bringing new companies and jobs to Rhode Island - in addition to the 8,800 jobs and 168 companies already there.
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Speaking of Quonset, they opened a new bridge this month, a key piece of infrastructure, on-time and under budget. WPRI-TV and the Providence Business News took note.
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