It’s Better to Keep Quiet and Let Them THINK You are a Fool…
I am not a Democrat. I am not a full time registered Republican, but I am certainly not a Democrat. I voted for Bush. Twice. My wife voted Democrat if for no other reason than to cancel out my vote. I may be the only admitted Republican in the New York metropolitan area, aside from Rudy Giuliani, and he doesn’t count because he would be a communist if he thought it would get him elected. That being said, it was embarassing to Republicans everywhere when Joe Barton R. Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, apologized for the White House demand of a $20 billion claims fund to reimburse losses after the gulf oil spill. Now, I know that Texas was never known as the state where politicians and Mensa meet, but really. Count to ten before you open your mouth and think about what you are about to say. Actually, the most absurd part of this whole episode is that this was not an impromptu interview, or a comment in passing. This was most likely something that was preplanned, thought out and reviewed by staff members and political advisors. Does anyone have the guts to tell there boss that perhaps he might want to wait on that? That the Emperor has no clothes? Had he been alive then one wonders if Barton would have congratulated the White Star Lines on their new ship the Titanic as 1517 people sank in the ocean. My wife, a former attorney (she’s okay, she never worked the negligence racket), used to always say, “It is better to keep quiet and be thought a bad attorney than to open your mouth and prove everyone right.” Apparently this goes for congressmen as well.
So now that I have eliminated any possibility of doing work in any regulated industry in Texas, we can try to relate this to our own business. There are times when it just does not pay to open your mouth. A vehicle is involved in a bad accident and the press wants a statement. Can there possibly be any upside to giving them one? No one is going to care that the injured pedestrian, who was an honors student, worked overtime at the grocery store to help her mom make ends meet, and saved endangered wildlife in her spare time, and you know they all do, blew a .15 and was crossing in the middle of the block between two parked trucks at 3am. No upside. Save it for the jury. That does not mean that there is NEVER a time to give your side of the story, but when you do, be terse, have the statement prepared in advance, and try not to answer questions afterwards. Only the parts you do not want to hear will show up in the final edited version of the interview.
There should be one person in your company that is the contact for all the press. In my company it is usually me, but ocassionally I pass things on to members of my staff whose experiences make them more qualified to answer some specific question. Witness a recent article in the Sun Times by Mary Wisniewski regarding plaintiff’s attorneys having trouble getting huge judgements in Chicago. The reporter, who by the way has always been very fair to our industry, was asking why it is more difficult to get a large judgement paid now than it was 10 years ago. Well, 10 years ago I had not yet entered the Chicago marketplace, so for me to answer, even though I knew the answer, would not have been appropriate. I referred the reporter to Jeff Feldman, our fleet director, who has been operating in Chicago since I was in college. We discussed an answer, and voila: “Jeffrey Feldman, head of Taxi Medallion Management and former president of Yellow Cab, said the industry has changed “tremendously” because of a change in city policy. For decades, Yellow and Checker owned most Chicago cab medallions, and the companies needed layers of insurance to protect their assets. “We were the perpetual deep pockets,” Feldman said. But to break the monopolies, the city made it illegal for one company to own more than 25 percent of city-issued medallions. Feldman said the business changed from large companies with fleets of cabs to a system where medallions are held by many different owners.” Jeff made the point that it was a change in city policy, not some nefarious scheming by taxi companies, that altered the status quo.
I see this getting long here, but I would also recommend that even smaller operations have a public relations firm available, either on retainer or on a case by case basis, to help handle the disasters, and to help roll out your sucesses. We use Melwood Global, as does the Taxicab Livery and Paratransit Assn. (TLPA), and we have been very satisfied with both their work and their fees. With some educating on our part, they now understand the taxicab market fairly well, and they have been instrumental in rolling out our programs in the press.
Final note: TLPA summer leadership conference will be in Vancouver on July 14-17, 2010. I know Al hopes to see you all there.