When corporate accidents happen, people look to the CEO for answers. And in the case of the recent oil spill caused by British Petroleum (BP), the company has covered all the right public relations bases. Tony Hayward, BP’s Chief Executive, has been actively interviewing with dozens of media outlets and the company’s website posts frequent updates on the spill and containment efforts. And, his employees are working hard to rectify the problem. But is this enough?
Back in September 1982, seven people died in the Chicago area after taking cyanide-laced capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol, the painkiller that was Johnson & Johnson’s best-selling product. James Burke, the company’s chairman, exhibited unusual honesty and sensitivity by recalling 31 million bottles of Tylenol and offering replacements free of charge.
But more than 20 years have passed since that accident and in today’s business environment, forthrightness isn’t enough. The US Geological Survey estimates that 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil are being leaked into the Gulf each day, and that the spill has affected the coasts of 4 U.S. states. Some Florida residents have reported that BP’s efforts are largely limited to the leak itself, and that BP has little or no presence on the hundreds of beaches on which globules of tar- and oil-soaked wildlife is washing up.
To make matters worse, Hayward told the BBC that BP would, "return the Gulf Coast to the position it was in prior to the event." In this one statement, Hayward’s lack of leadership can be viewed most clearly. Even after the leaking well is contained and most of the oil is removed, the Gulf Coast will never be the same. [After all, this spill is estimated to be at least 10x larger than the one caused by the Exxon Valdez in the eighties, whose effects are still being seen.]
Leaders don’t manage a crisis; they enable a company to be transformed by it. When James Burke took the extraordinary step of recalling and replacing Tylenol, he taught an entire industry to put consumers first. Tony Hayward’s actions may be effective at stemming public curiosity, but he isn’t making choices that will change an entire industry’s approach to handling an environmental disaster.
About taz.tagore
TAZ TAGORE is a leading social entrepreneur, author and leadership expert. She founded the innovative non-profit The Reciprocity Foundation in 2004, whose work has been highlighted by over 20 newspapers and magazines for excellence and have appeared on five nationally televised shows.
Taz splits her time between Toronto and New York City where alternately parents her daughter in her home town and runs the Reciprocity Foundation. Since it's inception, the Reciproicty Foundation has helped thousands of homeless youth and children to leave the shelter system, attend college and take on leadership roles in the media, fashion, film and education sectors. This year, 6 of the youth from her program were nominated for an Emmy award for creating a documentary about youth homelessness that was originally aired on CW/PIX. Homeless youth from her program have gone on to graduate from FIT/Parsons (and later launched clothing lines and design companies), NYU/Tisch (and become filmmakers, dancers and actors), and CUNY (and later become community activists and mentors to homeless youth). In addition, several youth from her program were featured on America's Next Top Model as part of a national campaign to educate Americans about youth homelessness. For her efforts in the social entrepreneurship sector, Taz was awarded the Echoing Green fellowship and was a finalist for the internationally juried Q Prize.
Taz is also actively writing books, articles and blog posts for a variety of media brands including Deepak Chopra's Intent.com and Beliefnet.com. Her writing focuses on how to live, work and parent mindfully by applying Buddhist teachings and practices to everyday life. Her personal blog Labor of Love (laboroflove.typepad.com) focuses on how Buddhist practices/teachings have helped her become a more loving and aware parent to her daughter Ayla.
Taz also teaches Leadership to senior executives at Fortune 500 corporations and leaders of nonprofit organizations. She also teaches a course on Authentic Leadership at the University of Toronto and guest lectures at a variety of universities and conferences on similar topics.
She continues to practice yoga, meditation and everyday mindfulness, and is so grateful to be alive and actively working for social change in the world.
The problem is that public relations is not the problem. The real problem is that oil leaks are inevitable as long as profit is the only value that the patriarchal legal system recognizes. Drilling from a platform one mile above the ocean's floor and then drilling two miles below the crust of the earth is very very dangerous. Constant attention to safety must be the first and only rule. Instead falling twenty one million dollars behind schedule caused the profit minded BP to ignore obvious safety problems and continued drilling. This is insanity. Visit my blog at http://heroinherservice.blogspot.com to read my full blog titled Greed , Patriarchy, and the Inevitability of Environmental Disaster. love and light, Stuart
http://stuartmarkberlin.com