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Generally speaking, it's pretty shocking how utterly abysmal crisis/damage-control PR is for companies. Rather than "never letting a good crisis go to waste", m

Generally speaking, it's pretty shocking how utterly abysmal crisis/damage-control PR is for companies. Rather than "never letting a good crisis go to waste", most companies/leaders just dig a deeper hole. A small part of me would love to just start a Crisis PR firm for tech companies. Regardless of who's right or wrong, it's really nice to see a leader come out and actually face criticisms with a cool head, and at least from my point of view, not bullshit legal language. Even better if it does encourage positive change. (Specifically about Stripe, I am positively biased because once I submitted some feedback and their product team immediately jumped to communicate with me as to how to best design and implement the feature.)

tmpz22 6y ago
I don't think most companies have the capacity to handle it well in the first place. I think the outliers like Stripe are different because they have a very hands on CEO who can cut through all the tape, IIRC they also have a fairly learn and very technical organization with strong domain knowledge in areas where the tape is cut. Most orgs are non-engineering orgs, most CEOs are not technical, most large orgs have far too much bureaucracy to cut through it.
- projektfu 6y ago
  I feel like many companies don’t want to commit to giving up a potential revenue stream, even if they’re not tapping it. So you get ignored or mealy mouth responses.
- bryanmgreen 6y ago
  If you're a CEO or a senior executive, I personally would expect that you're 100% capable of responding to criticism without losing your mind or spending $5,000 for a lawyer to send you some copy-pasta of "We take your feedback very seriously and will consider your opinion." and then never doing anything. I'm not suggesting the leader be the one to personally go and fix the problem, but they certainly should have the communication skills to navigate it and organize a solution.
- loeg 6y ago
  I think the real difference here is that pc has had morals and a moral biz model from the getgo. He doesn't have to try to half-apologize for something that is incredibly damning but essential to the business model. This instance was mostly just miscommunication, and he took quick, calm, and excellent steps to address the miscommunication.

tmpz22 6y ago

I don't think most companies have the capacity to handle it well in the first place. I think the outliers like Stripe are different because they have a very hands on CEO who can cut through all the tape, IIRC they also have a fairly learn and very technical organization with strong domain knowledge in areas where the tape is cut. Most orgs are non-engineering orgs, most CEOs are not technical, most large orgs have far too much bureaucracy to cut through it.

projektfu 6y ago
I feel like many companies don’t want to commit to giving up a potential revenue stream, even if they’re not tapping it. So you get ignored or mealy mouth responses.
bryanmgreen 6y ago
If you're a CEO or a senior executive, I personally would expect that you're 100% capable of responding to criticism without losing your mind or spending $5,000 for a lawyer to send you some copy-pasta of "We take your feedback very seriously and will consider your opinion." and then never doing anything. I'm not suggesting the leader be the one to personally go and fix the problem, but they certainly should have the communication skills to navigate it and organize a solution.
loeg 6y ago
I think the real difference here is that pc has had morals and a moral biz model from the getgo. He doesn't have to try to half-apologize for something that is incredibly damning but essential to the business model. This instance was mostly just miscommunication, and he took quick, calm, and excellent steps to address the miscommunication.