Communications Lesson Learned From Imperfection

By Josh Zecher

As a kid, one of the first mantras that my parents tried to drill into my head was "honesty is the best policy."  The more truthful and open you are, the less trouble you can get into.  In the world of corporate communications, it is still amazing how often "spin" is interpreted as "lets lie to cover the truth." 

If a mistake is made, communications should be about moving the story away from the mistake and onto the solution.  The only way to do that is to admit error.

Last night, the world of sports showed us how the admission of a mistake can move a story forward.  For some background, last night Detroit Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out away from a perfect game.  A perfect game means 27 batters and 27 outs, no hits, errors or walks.  A perfect game has only been accomplished 20 times in more than 100 years.  On what would be the final out of the game, first base umpire Jim Joyce called a Cleveland Indian batter safe at first base.  He blew the call.  Replays showed the batter was definitely out but the damage was done and perfection was lost.

Too many times, authority figures hide behind their uniform and won't admit a wrong.  Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere were calling for Joyce's head minutes after the blown call.  So, how did he handle?  Joyce visited the Tigers clubhouse after the game to apologize to Galarraga and his team.  Joyce then met with the media and fell on his sword.

But quickly the online avalanche of criticism turned to praise for how Joyce handled the situation.  Articles abound with sympathy for Joyce and admiration for his character.

Granted, last night's events were not life and death and was only a baseball game but it can be used as a textbook example of how to handle a crisis situation.  Call it the communications perfection of the imperfect umpire.

UPDATE:  A great scene at the ballpark today to highlight how Jim Joyce took the story to a positive ending.

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The more truthful and open you are, the less trouble you can get into. In the world of corporate communications, it is still amazing how often "spin" is interpreted as "lets lie to cover the truth."

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John Parent over at Fansided's Motor City Bengals Detroit Tigers site disagrees, and that̵ I can udntrseand his frustration. If the roles were reversed, and Fausto Carmona was robbed of a perfect game, I would be livid. (Of course, all this controversy masks that Carmona made a damn fine start himself). But you simply cannot overreact to this. If you want to use this as a springboard to get instant replay in baseball, be my guest. I'm for anything that improves the accuracy of the game. Instant replay definitely would have fixed this mess. But actually altering the outcome of the game after the fact should only be done in the most important of situations. And I'm sorry, an early June game between the Indians and the Tigers doesn't count as important.

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