Caroly Hymowitz and Jeff Green, Bloomberg, May 19, 2014
While few people agree on just about any aspect of Jill Abramson’s dismissal as executive editor of the New York Times, there’s general consensus on this: The company didn’t handle it well.
What could the Times have done better? This article offers eight ideas on what they could have done, including making one statement and getting off the stage, linking the management change to the company’s strategy, controlling the narrative, accentuating the positive, and not getting personal.
Sulzberger allowed his emotions to color his message, which added to the view that he’d mishandled the situation. Davia Temin suggests taking the high road.
“When someone is embroiled in a dispute, you become myopic and you see the world through your own lenses and lose track of how others will view it,” said Davia Temin, head of the New York-based crisis management firm Temin & Co. “There’s no excuse for not taking the high road — no matter how provoked you feel you are.” […read more]