Seth Godin had a great article that talked about corporate responses to public failures. I sent him a note telling him about what happened here in Canada with Maple Leaf Foods. Here is the note:

Seth,

I find it interesting to compare the corporate responses to the public that these two large companies have taken. In case you haven't heard, last summer, Maple Leaf foods discovered that much of its consumer products were infected with something called Listeria. Literally dozens upon dozens of products were recalled across the country, and in the end 19 deaths were linked to the contamination of Listeria in these products.

What did Maple Leaf do? The company bought a huge amount of TV and print media and had the CEO, Michael McCain, speak frankly and earnestly to Canadians. He apologized for this event and accepted the blame and told his audience what the company was doing about the problem. These ads changed over time as the problem was addressed so the message was always relevant and fresh. The company also set up a website (http://www.mapleleafaction.com/) to communicate openly about what has happened. You can even view the TV spots in an embedded You Tube window.

I seem to recall reading a newspaper article about this last month were Mr. McCain was quoted as saying that he refused to speak with a gaggle of lawyers via a phone conference as the event erupted because "they encourage you to not take the blame, to shift responsibility." Instead he headed to the media cameras at a press conference and began with an apology and an admission that, while not absolutely confirmed (via genetic testing of the Listeria organism) it looked like the death and illnesses that had been reported thus far (only a few at that point) were caused by his company's products.

Maple Leaf has been honest, open and forthright with Canadians about this. This problem shouldn't have happened in the first place, but it did. It is what they did after the problem was discovered that has maintained my trust in this company. Had they hid or spun the news, I wouldn't buy one thing from them ever again. It took guts to do what Michael McCain did...if only more leaders of companies had that much integrity. I can't imagine what the current American financial melt-down event would be like right now had the leaders of these banks, insurance and investment firms had the same level of transparency, honesty and integrity as Mr. McCain. To act any other way is to treat the public with disdain and mistrust.