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America’s Leadership Crisis: Davia Temin — How Do We Fix It? podcast with host Richard Davies
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Companies: Crisis and Common Ground — Let's Find Common Ground podcast with hosts Richard Davies and Ashley Milne-Tyte.
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Communicating with Authority and Compassion in Crisis or Opportunity — Voice America’s Out of the Comfort Zone with host Wanda Wallace.
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Leading Through Crisis & Chaos — Know the Rules of the Game® Podcast with host Desiree Patno & Special Guest Davia Temin.
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Temps at the Top — Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal.
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You Can Eradicate Sexual Harassment in Your Organization — Monday Morning Radio.
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Leading in a ‘Me Too’ Era
In the era of #MeToo, leaders need to know what to do to prevent the problem in the first place.
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Temin and Company is often quoted in print, broadcast and social media on topical issues as well as industry trends.
Following is a list of links to those articles, beginning with the most recent.
Managing Your Bank’s COVID-19 Communications in Social Media
Steve Cocheo, The Financial Brand, March 19, 2020
Financial institution marketing is changing rapidly as the nation hunkers down with mobile devices, laptops and connected TVs. Isolation, working from home and more screen time than ever puts more importance on what banks and credit unions say on social and how they say it.
Something that can be reassuring to both consumers and businesses is a demonstration that “we’ve got your back.”
“Banking institutions need to better communicate strength in uncertainty,” says Davia Temin, President and CEO of Temin and Company, a crisis management consultancy. “My suggestion is to channel Elizabeth Warren and ‘have a plan for that.’ Institutions might do well to showcase how much contingency planning they have done and how thorough it is. If the populace, the markets and the regulators believe them, life can be far less panic-driven.” […read more]
Is your board risk-ready?
Michele Wucker, Strategy + Business, March 11, 2020
Your company’s board of directors is charged with reviewing all kinds of risks to the corporation. But how well prepared are its members to do so? How ready are directors to evaluate, communicate, and act on risks — and thus to better ensure that their companies are doing a good job? A great deal rides on the answers to these questions.
Understanding the risk attitudes of directors as individuals and as a whole can make all the difference if a risk materializes into a full-blown crisis. Davia Temin, founder of the New York–based crisis management firm Temin and Company, said it’s essential to understand and improve a board’s risk reaction dynamics during times of calm. “It’s better to fix the fissures on a board ahead of time because every fissure will explode in a crisis,” she said.
She recommends boards do an annual risk survey to determine how attuned different directors are to various risks. Crisis scenario games can shed light on differences among board members in their responses to stress and risks, and help board chairs to identify ahead of time which directors they might lean on most when — not if — a crisis hits. In fact, PwC’s 2019 survey found that the percentage of directors participating in crisis management tabletop exercises doubled since last year, from 28 percent to 56 percent. […read more]
Wells Fargo’s Duke Quits Before Turn in Washington Hot Seat
Hannah Levitt, Bloomberg, March 9, 2020 »
Wells Fargo & Co. Chair Betsy Duke resigned from the company’s board ahead of a dramatic congressional hearing set for this week, succumbing to the same political pressures that have claimed multiple former leaders of the bank.
The lender said Monday that board member Charles Noski will replace Duke as chair. Duke faced a growing chorus of calls for her departure after Democrats atop the House Financial Services Committee issued a scathing report last week on the bank’s response to a series of consumer scandals.
The latest set of hearings begins Tuesday with an appearance by CEO Charlie Scharf, less than five months into his tenure. The committee will seek his thoughts on next steps for what it calls “the bank that broke America’s trust.”
Scharf is preparing to answer questions on what he’s doing to get back in the good graces of customers, regulators and the public. He’s met with nearly half the House Financial Services Committee, including Waters, since taking over in October, people with knowledge of the meetings said.
He’ll be able to point to changes he’s made since taking the helm, including adding new leaders and settling past probes. And he can tout the bank’s recent announcements on minimum-wage increases, limited-fee bank accounts and lending to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Scharf “can come on as a hard-nosed leader who is going to do the bidding of the public and fix things,” Davia Temin, founder of crisis consultancy Temin & Co., said in an interview. “America still loves a comeback kid.”
The board members faced a different task, Temin said. “It’s harder to be part of the problem and then the solution.” […read more]
Victoria’s Secret Faces New Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Jordyn Holman and Kim Bhasin, Bloomberg, February 3, 2020
New allegations of sexual misconduct have surfaced at Victoria’s Secret as the brand tries to remake its image after years of scandal and slumping sales.
Female models and executives were bullied and harassed for decades at the lingerie chain, evidence of an “entrenched culture of misogyny,” according to a New York Times investigation published this weekend.
The revelations come days after reports that L Brands Inc., owner of the troubled retailer as well as Bath & Body Works, was in talks to break up the company and that longtime Chief Executive Officer Les Wexner could step down.
***
Davia Temin, CEO of crisis consulting firm Temin and Company, said the problems at Victoria’s Secret have become endemic, and it may need a new owner to survive. Patching up the brand by tweaking advertising won’t be enough, she said.
“Unfortunately, now Victoria’s Secret’s brand has gone to sleazy from sexy,” Temin said. “And no re-brand is going to fix that.” […read more]
Employees Speak Out—Against Their CEOs
Rachel Feintzeig, Charity L. Scott and Sharon Terlep, The Wall Street Journal, February 1, 2020
Chief executives routinely face barbs from investors and the media. Now some are dealing with criticism from a group closer to home: their own staffs.
Two recent workplace sagas—at online luggage seller Away and G/O Media, the publisher of former Gawker Media sites such as Deadspin and Gizmodo—highlight the more outspoken scrutiny that some leaders face from employees. At both companies, disgruntled workers led efforts to pressure their chief executives over behavior or decisions they didn’t like.
The top boss used to be more shielded from in-house criticism. With some exceptions, discontented employees tended to grumble among themselves or at a town hall meeting. They let labor leaders do the toughest talking, usually in pursuit of better wages or job security.
But at a time when digital forums like Slack and others are proliferating, workers aren’t just pressing employers to develop a stronger social conscience. They are taking leaders to task for their management style and, in some cases, calling for their jobs.
***
Companies are still trying to figure out how to handle crises born out of more openly critical employees, said Davia Temin, CEO of Temin and Co., a New York-based reputation and crisis-management firm.
“This is a new competency,” Ms. Temin said, “and I don’t think that it’s just a normal leadership competency that you learn in business school.” […read more]
Wells Fargo Quashes Hope That Its Scandals Are Nearly Resolved
Hannah Levitt, Bloomberg, January 27, 2020
Wells Fargo & Co.’s finance chief was promising analysts they would be kept abreast of the bank’s efforts to resolve scandals when his new boss chimed in. “I just want to be clear, I’m not suggesting here that any of these public issues will be closed this year,” Chief Executive Officer Charlie Scharf said earlier this month. “The time frames will be driven by when we accomplish that work and when the regulators are satisfied by it.”
The firm has yet to reach settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission after setting aside more than $3 billion for litigation in the second half of last year. And in its quarterly filings, the bank lists an array of other open-ended probes, investigations and sanctions including a Federal Reserve-imposed growth cap.
It’s a strikingly long tail for a scandal that began with the 2016 revelation that employees had opened millions of potentially fake accounts to meet sales goals, possibly overcharging customers by a few million dollars. That unleashed a public and political backlash that has kept Wells Fargo in a harsh light ever since.
“There’s this sort of free-floating anger and fury that’s out there in the populace, and anything that sticks its head up that’s a problem that isn’t resolved in the right way, it coalesces,” Davia Temin, founder of crisis consultancy Temin & Co., said in an interview. “That fury is magnificent — it is stunning in its destructive power.” […read more]
The Cost of MeToo Claims
Stephanie Forshee, Agenda, January 17, 2020
When supermodel Kate Upton went public two years ago and accused Guess co-founder Paul Marciano of groping her breasts — allegedly without her consent — word spread fast. Guess Inc. had been trading at $18.37 per share just a day earlier, but its stock dropped by 18% upon the news about Marciano, making it the worst trading day in six years as the company lost $250 million in value.
Due to the reputational damage brought by a MeToo claim, plus the piling on of shareholder lawsuits alleging the information was material for investors, analysts and executives have found themselves rethinking how to calculate the impact of these allegations on businesses.
Since MeToo received a platform in recent years, 285 companies have been hit with claims — 199 private companies and 86 public companies — according to Temin & Co., which tracks sexual misconduct allegations. Davia Temin, CEO of the risk and reputation firm, says, “Instead of putting their head in the sand not wanting to know, the best boards are saying, ‘We do want to know. We want to know before any problem arises.'” […read more] (subscription required)
The Ghosn Brand Is Broken. These Spin Doctors Say How to Fix It
David Heller, Corinne Gretler and Jeff Green, Bloomberg, January 12, 2020
Carlos Ghosn captured the world’s attention by being spirited out of Japan in a private jet concealed in a box often used for audio equipment with the help of a security detail led by a former Green Beret. He evaded two trials on charges of financial misconduct. Now he wants to salvage his shattered reputation.
“The world does love an anti-hero,” said Davia Temin. “The world does love someone who bucks rules and regulations — if they’re a romantic figure. He has made himself into quite a romantic figure. As tempting as is it to tell his story, more and more, the risk now isn’t just that he will sour public support, but that he will do something to make himself a further target.” […read more]
Old Board Structures ‘Won’t Work Tomorrow’
Stephanie Forshee, Agenda, December 20, 2019
Agenda’s survey showed that audit committee directors have been tasked with taking the lead on cyber risks, at least according to 23.8% of survey respondents. And almost 36% of respondents feel that substantiated whistle-blower claims belong with the audit committee. Even though sexual misconduct allegations have been high-risk areas for legal recourse from shareholders, the committee of choice isn’t always with audit- or risk-focused directors.
According to the quarterly survey, 42.7% of respondents said that MeToo issues don’t belong to an individual committee but rather the full board. By contrast, 12.2% felt that MeToo issues don’t even belong in the boardroom to begin with.
But then there are the 18% who think the comp committee should be in charge of Me Too issues. Corporate governance professionals think that as an offshoot of human capital issues, cultural concerns have increasingly been landing with the comp committee.
Davia Temin, president and CEO of Temin & Co., says that in her experience with boards, the audit and risk committee members are typically the directors who primarily oversee sexual misconduct allegations, or sometimes the complaints will go to the executive committee. “A fair amount of time, those committees will inform the whole board if the issue is important enough,” Temin explains.
Temin notes that the push for boards to handle concerns of sexual harassment or misconduct is happening more frequently and is largely being driven by boards that have more women on them. “Often we find that it is women corporate directors who will champion MeToo issues being examined at the board level,” Temin says.
As for comp committees’ overseeing sexual misconduct claims, Temin thinks that responsibility should lie elsewhere, since executives subject to misconduct allegations aren’t just having their pay docked but are often being ousted from the companies if they are found guilty. “Comp committees historically have handled the issue when penalties have not included letting executives go, but instead included the forfeiture or clawback of compensation as a penalty for sexual harassment. Today, we know that this remedy is not seen to be as viable under public scrutiny as it once was. Thus, stronger measures are usually taken.”
The bottom line, in Temin’s opinion, is that “what worked yesterday no longer works today, and most assuredly will not work tomorrow.” […read more] (subscription required)
Harvey Weinstein Sex Abuse Settlement Is Not an ‘Oh, Wow’ Number
Jeff Green, Bloomberg, December 11, 2019
A tentative $47 million settlement between Harvey Weinstein and dozens of his accusers is “flawed,” advocates say, but still an important vindication.
“I think it’s just on the margin of being seen as serious, but it certainly does not deliver the message that $100 million would deliver, or $200 million would deliver,” said Davia Temin, founder of crisis consultancy Temin and Company, which has tracked more than 1,400 people accused of harassment and other misbehavior since the Weinstein allegations surfaced. “This isn’t some ‘oh, wow’ number.”
Considering the scope of the allegations and their impact, Temin and others expected a higher figure. […read more]
Podcasts »
Leading Through Crisis & Chaos
Know the Rules of the Game® Podcast: with host Desiree Patno & Special Guest Davia Temin.
To listen, Click Here.
Temps at the Top — Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal
To listen, Click Here.
You Can Eradicate Sexual Harassment in Your Organization — Monday Morning Radio
To listen, Click Here.
...more »