Leadership and Framing

The Mayors of NYC and Oklahoma City were interviewed for a program last April 19 -- the l2th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing that claimed hundreds of lives. Mayor Guiliani, of course, will be observing the 6th anniversary of 9-11 next Tuesday. Last April, as you'll remember, the Virginia Tech campus suffered a horrendous massacre of 32 students at the hands of a student who then took his own life.

Three catastrophes. And in each case, terrorized people needed something fast -- information, yes. But more than that. They needed to know that the sky had not fallen. They needed reassurance. They needed leadership. And that was the job of their leaders -- on the ground -- they mayors of those two stricken cities, and the president of the university.

So what does a leader say in the midst of a disaster like 9-11, Oklahoma City, Virginia Tech?

The mayors put it simply: They had to be honest -- but they also had to be sensitive to the emotional fragility of their audiences.

For example, Mayor Giuliani said that on that terrible day he was getting reports of casualties as high as l2,000. But he couldn't confirm that number -- in fact, it could have been higher or (as it turned out), lower.
So what he said publicly came from his heartfelt honest recognition that because he didn't know the facts, he had to say he didn't. And that instead of giving out a number -- l2,000 -- that could have overstated or understated the actual casualty numbers, it was simply better to say: " We don't know the numbers of casualties -- but whatever they are, they are too much to bear."

By FRAMING his communication in that way, New York's mayor was acting compassionately and ethically. Such communcation requires not only compassion, but wisdom and experience: that is, the qualities of genuine leadership.

Reflecting on the way the mayor approached his communication, few people would accuse Mayor Giuliani of lying or even spinning. The term we use in mass-mediated communication is "framing." And as you can see, unlike the term spinning, framing doesn't suggest that the communicator is deceptive or manipulative. In these crisis situations, what must enter into all contemplation of communication is what the Greeks called caritas (caring or love or kindness). Kindness is, in fact, wisdom -- perhaps the greatest wisdom. And that's what we want from our leaders -- particularly at a time of crisis, when we are fragile, and prey to rumors and terror and confusion.

This in in fact the lesson of what PR calls "crisis communcation":

1. Tell the truth. If you don't know the facts, say you don't -- and that your information could be mistaken, and that you'll correct it as soon as you're able to.
2. The facts are important, of course. But facts are pretty useless if the leader is without compassion and kindness and wisdom and concern for the people. And the facts are pretty useless without a frame -- a perspective in which to view them as a whole. People want more than numbers -- they want meaning. It's a leader's ethical obligation to provide meaning -- and indeed, as Winston Churchill did for Britain in the darkest early days of the Nazi bombing -- a resolute, positive and spiritually uplifting tone to every communication. ("We will never never never never never surrender.")
3. Don't cover up the facts or the truth. People will forgive just about any act, but are very hard on cover-ups. (Watergate. Monicagate, etc.)
4. Gather the facts and tell them as soon as you can. People are waiting desperately for information. Don't dither unnecessarily. Don't fly over the scene when you could be on the ground helping. Perception is critical -- how you are perceived is a vital part of the effectiveness of communication.
5. People don't merely "buy" the message -- they must believe the messenger. And people aren't stupid -- and they loathe being lied to and tend to be rather unforgiving about being lied to.
6. Ethical communicators keep in their hearts and minds compassion as well as competence -- and know they must cling to their credibility and visbility or risk losing their way.

On Tuesday, September 11, I shall be attending a conference at Emerson College, where one of the speakers is an Emerson alumna whose mother was a First Class passenger on Flight 11, which crashed into the WTC. I had almost forgotten that Tuesday happens to be the anniversary of the day when so many perished.

-- Dr B