Deconstructing with Della: The Mucci Lessons
August 07, 2017 |
I was distressed the day after the Anthony Scaramucci interview with the New Yorker. How would I explain the pitfalls of such an interview to my media training clients when there did not seem to be any repercussions? Then, thankfully he got fired (or, ahem... resigned). There was so much wrong with his interview and all that has happened since with him. A lot of what was wrong was obvious such as the disparaging commentary about other staff, foul language and threatening to fire his employees if the reporter would not share his source.
But there was much more to this story. He called the reporter at 10:30 in the evening at home, presuming he was entitled to have an off-the-cuff conversation. Ridiculous. No call with any reporter is off the record... even if you say it is. I have listened to the audio recording and Scaramucci acts like the reporter should be on his side and even tries to appeal to the reporter as a citizen who should support the President. Huh? Since when is it a reporter's job to promote or support a political party or politician? And, not only does he use profanities, he critiques someone by name calling with a serious mental health issue. Reprehensible.
Not only is all of this wrong to do with a reporter, it is just plain wrong in any situation. Then, he seems surprised the reporter will use the conversation and has it all on tape. Much like his boss and the official phone call transcripts that have subsequently been released, they appear to think they can have private conversations. It cannot be naiveté at their stage in life, it must be arrogance.
When I reviewed Mr. Scaramucci's communications plan, dated July 30th (the day before he was fired) it was beyond ironic. Here are some excerpts:
Make it clear that horn tooting and denigrating colleagues is unacceptable.
POTUS can choose to fight with the media, but Comms can not.
And the ultimate irony:
All Comms actions/decisions need to be evaluated through one and only one prism-does it help POTUS? To this end, I will lead by example and make sure that my overall conduct, tweets, internal and external comments meet this standard.
Seriously!
It is the worst comms plan I have ever read. Laughable, if it weren't such an important job.
To deconstruct there are some major lessons in here that everyone can benefit from understanding.
Communications is not just the job of a communications department, it belongs to everyone in an organization. And, a communications department cannot fix a dysfunctional organization or make something really stupid sound smart.
NOTHING is confidential. The fact we can hear the interview, see the communications plan and read transcripts of phone calls should surprise no one. And, this is not only true for world leaders and communications people. Everyone has the potential of being recorded anytime, anywhere. Best solution: Do and say the right thing at all times. If you would not say something in public, don't say it.
I was holding off on finishing this blog until last Friday when Mr. Scaramucci was scheduled to hold a live event explaining his side of the story. He canceled it on Thursday afternoon saying he was going to focus on his family and private business venture. Let's hope we never hear from him again.
I was holding off on finishing this blog until last Friday when Mr. Scaramucci was scheduled to hold a live event explaining his side of the story. He canceled it on Thursday afternoon saying he was going to focus on his family and private business venture. Let's hope we never hear from him again.
Posts
0 comments