Bloghound

People are talking this week about “PR problems” at the Boston Red
Sox and Wal-Mart’s new War Room media strategy when the real problems
are leadership problems.

At a press conference yesterday Theo
Epstein talked to the media for 30 minutes about his resignation as
General Manager of the Boston Red Sox. He never explained the real
reason for resigning, and the rumors about a the nature of the falling
out between Epstein and Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino went supersonic.
Especially since Lucchino didn’t attend the press conference. (All the
other Sox execs were there, including owners John Henry and Tom Werner.)

Sportswriter Bill Reynolds wrote in this morning’s Providence Journal:

You would think he (Lucchino) would have been there for no other reason than he’s
the public face of this franchise, its CEO. You think he would have
been there to send out the message he wishes things could have been
resolved, that he wishes Theo well, blah, blah, blah, the new spin. You
would think he would have begun the first day of damage control, both
to his image and the perception that the Red Sox are going to be fine,
that the organization is strong enough to withstand the loss of anyone,
Epstein included.

Lucchino’s absence and the way the Epstein contract negotiations were handled tell you there are bigger leadership problems.

A front page story in Tuesday’s New York Times, “A New Weapon for Wal-Mart: A War Room/Retailer Tries Political Tactics to Help Image,” talked about how the retailer is taking a page from the political playbook to try to sell a better image to the public.

No
PR tactic – or even the best political strategists – can help a company
with weak leadership. And Wal-Mart is flip flopping all over the place.

Last week The New York Times
also reported on a leaked Wal-Mart memo discussing the company’s
strategy for selling its new employee healthcare plans to the public.
The memo said the company is testing the plan’s proposed changes “to
determine whether these investments would effectively ‘move the needle’
on Wal-Mart’s public reputation.”

Here’s what Wal-Mart should do to move the needle:

1. Get
   with the most innovative health care reformers in the country and
   develop a plan that’s good for employees and doesn’t break the
   company’s back (as is GM’s employee/retiree health benefits).
2. Take its huge PR budget and at least half of its advertising budget and use that to fund employee healthcare.

Poor management begets poor reputation. PR has nothing to do with it.

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