Pretending he just doesn’t see.”
– Bob Dylan
Is it really a wonderful life?
So here’s a quiz for the holidaze: Raise your hand if you can explain what the following paragraph is saying?
“Citigroup today announced a series of repositioning actions that will further reduce expenses and improve efficiency across the company while maintaining Citi’s unique capabilities to serve clients, especially in the emerging markets. These actions will result in increased business efficiency, streamlined operations and an optimized consumer footprint across geographies.”
Okay, I know. That was waaaay too easy. Let’s try the next paragraph:
“Michael Corbat, Citi’s Chief Executive Officer, said: ‘These actions are logical next steps in Citi’s transformation. While we are committed to – and our strategy continues to leverage – our unparalleled global network and footprint, we have identified areas and products where our scale does not provide for meaningful returns. And we will further increase our operating efficiency by reducing excess capacity and expenses, whether they center on technology, real estate or simplifying our operations.'”
Clear as a cup of Christmas cheer, right? I mean, let’s be serious: who doesn’t know what “an optimized consumer footprint across geographies” means? And gosh darn it, it’s just clearer to everybody involved to say “our scale does not provide for meaningful returns” and “simplifying our operations” instead of “11,000 of our employees will be out of work in a few days,” isn’t it?
It Just Shouldn’t Ever Have to be This Hard
This is just bad, bad, bad. In fact, it’s so bad that it qualifies the folks who endorsed it as early frontrunners for the 2013 Darwin Awards.
As this spot-on report in Ragan’s PR Daily observes, there’s no mention until the bottom of the third paragraph that 11,000 (um, yeah, that’s 11 with three zeros after it) Citigroup employees are being laid off.
This is just bad, bad, bad. No doubt the Citi public relations team fought hard on this one, but good gravy, why should they even have to in this day and age? Seriously, what are the suits in the C-suite smoking that makes them think: (a) this kind of a release is a good idea; and (b) they can (or should) escape unscathed when everybody with a phone, tablet or library card – which, of course, includes “repositioned” employees – has access to a global communications pulpit? Do they really believe that investors on Wall Street to whom this story is really aimed would prefer Citi use this kind of attempted sleight-of-hand rather than plain talk? And does obfuscation of this magnitude really make Corbat and Citi execs and investors feel better about the company?
Like any other organization, Citi has to do what it has to do to remain competitive, profitable and well-positioned for the future. That sometimes includes having to make tough decisions that are just plain crappy for employees. But what Citi doesn’t have to do – and should never even contemplate – is to make matters worse by making stupid decisions.
The Rules of Public Relations Haven’t Changed
There’s no doubt the rules of media relations have changed in this so-called “digital age.” But what constitutes real news – like, oh I don’t know, 11,000 people losing their jobs – hasn’t changed. And the fundamental rules of public relations – be honest, authentic and transparent, not to mention human – have not changed. Neither has the Golden Rule last time I checked. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Or better still, do not treat others as you would not want to be treated. That’s a pretty simple and productive way to live your life whether you’re a ditch digger or a multibillion-dollar global financial behemoth.
Seriously, you would think a company that’s been under public, media and government scrutiny during the past five years for its part in the collapse of our economy would know better than to try to bury the lede with clumsy obfuscation and corporate jargon. Think again. Apparently the MBA whiz kids at Citi never heard of George Bailey and his wonderful life.
A big #PRFAIL on this one to #Citigroup.
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