What Can We Learn from 2 Minutes of Damage Control with American Airlines CEO, Gerard Arpey
Earlier this month, American Airlines disrupted travel accommodations for approx. 250,000 customers due to their planes not meeting precise standards of air worthiness. The immediate cost of this crisis is already in the tens of millions. Owners of ground transportation companies could easily find themselves in a similar predicament. Effective damage control is crucial in times of crisis. Let's examine how AA's CEO handles damage control and learn from it.
Mr. Arpey achieves seven objective in this brief 2 minutes with the public.
He opens with a sincere apology to those impacted by the grounding of AA planes. I do not believe Mr. Arpey expects any disgruntled customers to accept his apology. The apology is used to soften up an angry public so that they might listen to what else he has to say.
He assures the public that significant action is being taken to solve the problem . He states that everything possible is being done to re-accommodate those impacted by the grounding of AA planes. Using language like “working round the clock” also helps to put the public at ease.
Mr. Arpey then clearly explains what happened in one sentence. “We failed to complete the air worthiness directive to the precise standards set forth by the FAA.” Straight forward and easy to understand.
He then accepts personal responsibility for the failure. He even points to himself to emphasize his desire for the blame. Why take the fall on behalf of all of AA? Customers are more eager to forgive people than corporations; because people know people make mistakes. If he can redirect the public anger for AA to him personally, it will likely accelerate the healing process between AA and the public as well as reduce negative impact on the AA's bottom line. Additionally, when Mr. Arpey, the Chairman and CEO, accepts the blame, he does two more things. a) He takes some of the heat away from his employees who are battling on the front lines--making it easier to their jobs. b) Taking responsibility at the top gives the public no place to go but down the path of healing.
After stating what happened and accepting the blame personally, he restates that significant action is being taken to solve the problem. This is not because he forgot he has already said this. He is changing the tone of the conversation-- focusing on the positive and reassuring the public the problem is being fixed. If AA can focus the public conversation on what action is being taken to solve the problem, rather than the problem itself, they will likely minimize further damages.
After his restatement, Mr. Arpey appeals directly to AA customers and thanks them for their continued patience. Appealing directly to customers will not change the fact that they are rightfully upset with AA. But it may stabilize the relationship enough to prevent complete loss of future business.
Mr. Arpey closes with publicly thanking his extraordinary employees . Mr. Arpey knows that the pressure being placed on his employees during this time is tremendous. He has to keep his team encouraged and “in the game.” Affirming them publicly is a deliberate effort to let them know they are appreciated and to keep them motivated and focused on the task at hand. Keeping his team motivated is what will get planes back in the air and AA back to business as usual. The same would certainly be true of if we were talking about chauffeurs, dispatchers or reservationists. They are the ones doing the “real” damage control.
Summary: No ground transportation is immune to crisis—whether it be caused by internal or external factors. Make sure you have a crisis management plan in place and make sure you know how you will handle damage control before faced with the task.
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