JetBlue Valentine’s Day crisis—The case for Chief Reputation Officer (CRO).
 |
Free Download - Crisis intensifiers: From Mild to Radioactive—why crisis sometimes gets out of hand. By Emmanuel A. Smart |
JetBlue founder and CEO, David G. Neeleman, deserves an A+ in his crisis management efforts in the Valentine’s Day jetliners’ grounding. Underscoring his appreciation for the seriousness of the crisis and the danger of reputation damage, he has been front and center in the fight. He has appeared on every form of media to communicate with JetBlue’s stakeholders. Contrite, direct and to the point, Neeleman’s well-crafted messages have been: “We learned a huge lesson.” “We made a mistake, we take full responsibility.” “I am humiliated and mortified.” – A refreshing change, according to the editorial page of February 22 Houston Chronicle. Evasiveness, pontification, shifting the blame only exacerbates the crisis, increasing the chance for further reputational damage.
A damaged reputation has far reaching, long term negative ramifications on a company’s good name, operations and bottom line. ExxonMobil still bears the scars from its 1989 Valdez oil spill environmental crisis; Houston based Enron Corporation is no more. The cost of reputation neglect is simply too high to pay. Smart organizations, therefore, spare no expense and no efforts in their quest for survival when facing a threat to their reputation.
That’s the reason for announcing the $30 million dollars overhaul of procedures at JetBlue. That’s the reason for proposing a rather capitulating passengers’ bill of rights guaranteeing refunds and vouchers for delays caused by the airline in the future. It remains to be seen, however, how effective JetBlue’s efforts are long term, based on the number of return passengers.
Though nearly flawlessly executed by David G Neeleman, crisis response strategies, by themselves, have inherent flaws. Firstly, they are reactive, missing two very crucial elements: benchmarks and right timing to launch. Secondly, they depend on too many unknowns for success: possible new damning revelations, misquotes, unexpected lawsuits, and so on. Thirdly, cynics are more likely to question JetBlue’s motives for such generosity after a potentially devastating crisis. A proactive approach to crisis management, on the other hand, provides a better chance for survival. Imagine if the bulk of the same proposals from Neeleman were put forward before the crisis, by a duly appointed chief reputation officer of the company. Not only would the overhauling price tag be far less than $30 million, the proposed customer bill of rights would probably have been less conciliatory, yet be just as effective, possibly enhancing JetBlue’s already solid reputation. From a proactive stance, the chief reputation officer would have carefully monitored the situation for benchmarks and the all-important crisis “tipping point” to launch a planned response, saving the company precious time.
“What were they thinking?
The 2007 JetBlue’s Valentine’s Day crisis falls in the category: “what were they thinking?” Firstly, it was Valentine’s Day. Secondly, most of the travelers literally could not wait to get to their destinations to see their loved ones. Thirdly, and most importantly, any form of captivity for one, two, three, four, five, six, and in one case, nine hours on an airport runway was simply bad PR! Six to nine plane-loads of stranded, hungry, tired and angry executives, men, women and children, for however many hours, was the wrong image to project no matter JetBlue’s pre-crisis stellar reputation.
Chief reputation officer
Because JetBlue built its reputation as a low-cost carrier, financial considerations possibly dominated the company’s thinking during the crisis. More than its bank account, this debacle will dent JetBlue’s reputation, an even more valuable, and hard to replace asset to the company. Just as JetBlue has a chief financial officer in charge of financial matters, it needs a chief reputation officer or CRO to take charge of company reputation. His or her core mission will be to create, shape and fiercely protect the company’s hard earned reputation. The cost of reputation neglect is simply too high to pay.
Emmanuel A. Smart is founder of SMART EXPRESSIONS a strategic communication and public relations firm based in Houston, TX. Smart Expressions conducts in-house and monthly public seminar on building, managing and capitalizing on individuals’ and organizations’ good reputation. For more information, visit http://www.smartexpressions.com; call 443-824-0780 or email: esmart@smartexpressions.com.
JetBlue Valentines Day crisis The case for Chief Reputation Officer CRO - To learn more about this author, visit Emmanuel A. Smart's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
| Article Tags: |
 | |
 |
its design and contents are very good and usefull
Commented on JetBlue Valentines Day crisis The case for Chief Reputation Officer CRO. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. |
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Emmanuel's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 3 Deadly Traps Network More Effectively Press Advertising How To Get Media Attention Acronym Soup |
|
 | ||
 |
Guide To ERP Software
Business Management Software | |
 |
Write The PR
Press Release Builder | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
 | ||||
| ||||
|
|
 | ||||
| ||||
|
 | ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
 | ||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||