The Changing News Media: An interview with Jim Lukaszewski, part 7 of 8
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6.
Jim Lukaszewski: When I give this lecture, all the questions are media-related questions and I keep saying, “Hey, trying to get the message out is way beyond what the media does,” and in fact, is one of the difficulties for the communicator. In this book, I have a mixture of examples and stories from all these areas because I don’t want this to be just about communicators.
When the boss hears this impassioned defense of the news media, of reporters, when a PR guy leaves and I’m the room, the boss looks at me and says, “Who is he working for today? I know he’s getting a paycheck from me, but who’s he working for today. Is he working for the television station or is he working for me?”
This is part of the concept of being a trusted advisor. You have to sort out where your allegiances are. You have to sort out what you’re really about and what is in the best interest of this individual, and it’s well beyond what reporters are doing. In fact, news reporters, for example, are becoming less and less important to us every day. (more…)
Reputation management gets an upgrade–for a price
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008Read all about it at the Las Vegas Sun.
Being a Trusted Strategic Advisor: An interview with Jim Lukaszewski, part 6 of 8
Saturday, February 16th, 2008Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.
Q: I’m wondering if there are any experiences you can relate similar to the one you mentioned about this gentleman, Rocky, about some of the things we’ve been talking about?
Jim Lukaszewski: Here’s an example: I’m not an attorney but I have a very large litigation-related practice, both civil and criminal.
Today we are prosecuting and persecuting more senior executives as leaders than we have ever in history. I spend a lot of time with senior executives who are caught up in these problems. I was working with a guy a couple of years ago. This is a CEO of a Fortune 500 company who was going to be indicted. On the day he was indicted, we talked.
A lot of things change when an executive is indicted. He technically loses his job, for example. The bylaws of virtually every corporation say, “If you are the subject of a criminal action, you will be suspended with pay but you will no longer serve in a decision-making capacity.” Basically, the day he was indicted was the day he went on paid leave. (more…)
