Scott Monty

Dear United, Your Indifference to Customers Is Showing

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By now, you've seen the footage, news reports, tweets, hashtag trends, Facebook posts or general chatter about the one story that was able to take the attention off of Pepsi and global politics: the United passenger who was <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/10/video-surfaces-of-man-being-dragged-from-overbooked-united-flight.html">dragged from his seat</a> on April 9 because a flight was overbooked. The story became a nearly instant viral sensation <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/meghara/chinese-social-media-calls-for-boycott-of-united-airlines?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email&utm_term=.tllrErDB9W#.wnOy4yZrXe">across the globe</a>.<br />
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United's initial response was to cite policy, blame the unruly attitude of the passenger, and to use the passive voice <a href="https://withoutbullshit.com/blog/united-breaks-passengers-apologizes-feebly">to cover up the culpability</a>:<br />
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Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate. We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities.</blockquote>
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Then on April 10, United CEO Oscar Munoz <a href="https://twitter.com/united/status/851471781827420160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediaite.com%2Fonline%2Funited-ceo-in-statement-i-apologize-for-having-to-re-accommodate-these-customers%2F">made the matter worse</a> with his use of unfeeling industry-speak:<br />
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This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to <b>re-accommodate</b> these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation.</blockquote>
Kind of an odd statement from the person who was just named <a href="http://www.prweek.com/article/1426909/united-airlines-ceo-oscar-munoz-named-prweek-us-communicator-year">PRWeek's Communicator of the Year</a> just a month ago.<br />
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In <a href="http://rare.us/rare-news/across-the-u-s-a/united-airlines-ceo-apologizes-in-public-statement-but-slams-defiant-disruptive-belligerent-passenger-in-internal-email/">an internal email</a> (which always find their way to the press), the CEO blamed the "defiant," "disruptive" and "belligerent" passenger and went on to detail what happened on the flight, including the statement that "Our agents were left with no choice but to call the Chicago Aviation Security Officers to assist in removing the customer," which itself was not true, as the airline only offered $800 and not the higher $1,350 that is required to entice passengers to give up their seats.<br />
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Again, just as it was caught compounding a tense issue in recent weeks, United <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmonty27">failed to demonstrate any kind of empathy</a>.<br />
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United then began to feel the full brunt of the public's outrage. This is a company that is <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/united-airlines-david-dao_us_58ed013ae4b0c89f9121d917?gk">no stranger to scandal and poor customer perception</a>. So it was a pretty easy target for the  <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NewUnitedAirlinesMottos&src=typd">#NewUnitedAirlinesMottos</a> hashtag on Twitter and <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9JFFYPXoAESqTB.jpg:large">excoriating reviews of its app</a>.<br />
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Ultimately, its stock dropped by 4% in trading on the morning of April 11, erasing some $830 million in shareholder value.<br />
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Ah! The inevitable "shareholder value" motivator! This is exactly what United needed. Finally, late in the afternoon of April 11, the company, through its CEO, issued <a href="http://newsroom.united.com/news-releases?item=124755">an updated statement</a> that was much more heartfelt and human:<br />
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The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.<br />
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I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.<br />
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It’s never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We’ll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.<br />
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I promise you we will do better.<br />
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Sincerely,<br />
Oscar </blockquote>
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This is the right thing to say and the right way to say it. But the gesture was far too late.<br />
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The world witnessed United's initial reaction to the situation, both by the ground crew and by the PR response. It spoke volumes about the company's values, corporate culture, and priorities.<br />
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And those priorities do not center around customers. They center around an existing process, policy and profitability.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say.</b></i></span></div>
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<b>— Ralph Waldo Emerson</b></div>
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If United says it is committed to customers, then every action <span style="text-align: right;">— every single action </span><span style="text-align: right;">— will reflect that. As it stands, United holds the distinction of overbooking and <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/04/daily-chart-6?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email">bumping the most passengers of any large American airline</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: right;">That statistic </span><span style="text-align: right;">—</span><span style="text-align: right;"> and the clumsy attempts at apologies this week </span><span style="text-align: right;">—</span><span style="text-align: right;">  do not show a customer-centric approach. There needs to be systemic culture change, training, and an overhaul of processes.</span><br />
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The boarding process starts now.</div>
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Dear United, Your Indifference to Customers Is Showing

By now, you've seen the footage, news reports, tweets, hashtag trends, Facebook posts or general chatter about the one story that wa...

It's Not a PR Problem

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Uber seems to be in a perennial communications death spiral. But this isn't about Uber alone.<br />
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They've gotten in plenty of hot water in the media for a variety of reasons (the details of which we won't go into here - but that we chronicle weekly in <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/" target="_blank">The Full Monty</a>). And we've previously ranted on what it might take for <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2016/08/when-do-ethics-trump-superior-user.html" target="_blank">investors and customers to give up the habit</a>.  Each week, there seems to be host of negative stories. If I were running communications at Uber, the data I'd be tracking would undoubtedly show the volume of negatively-slanted news coverage.<br />
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But as <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/4/5/14798450/not-pr-problem-uber-grow-up" target="_blank">Kara Swisher has reported on Recode</a>, defenders of Uber are saying, "<i>It's just a PR problem</i>," seemingly thinking that if there were no journalists reporting on the bad behavior that it simply wouldn't be an issue for Uber any more.<br />
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This issue goes well beyond Uber and even beyond the tech industry. The notion that press coverage is the root of problems in companies is a misnomer.<br />
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It's not a PR problem; it's a business problem.<br />
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And until you've rooted around and addressed the fundamental issues in your business — whether it's culture, HR policies, supply chain disruption, human rights violations, or anything else — you're still going to have problems with the press if they've latched onto you.<br />
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We always tell clients that the first step in a crisis is to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovwxBrIBj1w" target="_blank">stop doing the thing that created the crisis in the first place</a>.<br />
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The press didn't create the issue; you did. Now knock it off and get back to work.<br />
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<i>Image credit: <a href="https://flic.kr/p/difWtp" target="_blank">Martin Ableggen (Flickr)</a></i><br />
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--<br />
<br />

It's Not a PR Problem

Uber seems to be in a perennial communications death spiral. But this isn't about Uber alone. They've gotten in plenty of hot w...

Kenneth, What Is the Frequency?

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I typically update these pages only when I have something of gravity to write. Something that takes many paragraphs and captures your attention for a good amount of time. Thought pieces that are just that: thoughtfully crafted.<br />
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But not every thought is created equal.<br />
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That's not to say I'll be regurgitating nonsensical blather here. But my plan is to be a bit more active than in recent months.<br />
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The reason I'm suddenly considering this change of frequency is due to three separate pieces that came across my screen from my friend and colleague C.C. Chapman.<br />
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First, C.C. wrote an impassioned plea aimed at those who are feeding the content beast, trying to put out material that satisfies the bots and crawlers. He called it <a href="https://medium.com/the-mission/stop-creating-for-the-algorithms-1e7bc3868a69" target="_blank">Stop Creating for the Algorithms</a> and implores us to create based on what compels or inspires us. There's great truth to this, as that which significantly moves us gives us an added impetus to create.<br />
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C.C. also hosts a podcast called <b>Why I Write</b>, and he welcomed <a href="http://whyiwrite.us/episode-6-seth-godin/" target="_blank">Seth Godin to Episode 6</a>. If you don't follow <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/" target="_blank">Seth Godin's blog</a>, he manages to crank out a post every day, without fail. Every. Single. Day. And the interview made me think not only about his prodigious output, but the variance in the length of his posts. Some of Seth's blog posts are multiple paragraphs while others are just a few sentences long. But the frequency (daily) is consistent.<br />
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The third and final piece of content that inspired me is reading <a href="http://neverenoughdays.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=743f540d3a6bc547efa74147e&id=3ae0cc70e6" target="_blank">C.C. Chapman's newsletter</a>. This is the medium that alerted me to the first piece mentioned above, and a stark reminder — for me at least — that email is still a powerful communications channel. Despite the hype given to new technologies and platforms, email is still the old workhorse that gets the job done. [By the way, you should <a href="http://neverenoughdays.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=743f540d3a6bc547efa74147e&id=3ae0cc70e6" target="_blank">subscribe to C.C.'s newsletter</a>.]<br />
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So there you have it. My commitment to sharing more when it's on my mind. But my sincere promise that I won't be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rather#.22Kenneth.2C_what_is_the_frequency.3F.22" target="_blank">beaming it into your brain</a>.<br />
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<i>Image credit: "<a href="https://flic.kr/p/68P43q" target="_blank">Old Timey Tuner</a>" by Orin Zebest (Flickr)</i><br />
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--<br />
<br />

Kenneth, What Is the Frequency?

I typically update these pages only when I have something of gravity to write. Something that takes many paragraphs and captures your att...

Scott Monty - Strategic Communications & Leadership Advisor

Dear United, Your Indifference to Customers Is Showing

It's Not a PR Problem

Kenneth, What Is the Frequency?

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