Been traveling this week in Europe. Just spent some time in the Hague and Amsterdam talking about reputation and reputation recovery to our Dutch office’s clients. I am always reminded that some things are not exactly the same when it comes to leadership behavior. Whereas in the U.S., CEO apologies are practically a dime a dozen, this is not common practice in many European companies or countries. We had a few conversations about how corporate legal officers would not allow a CEO apology for litigation reasons. However, in the U.S., CEOs often bypass these restrictions in order to “share the pain” with stakeholders and move on from what has happened to what needs to happen next. In addition, many U.S. CEOs do not outright say “I apologize” but instead use the three words “I deeply regret…”
Despite this difference in apology proclivity, I noticed on cnn.com that the CEO of BAA was apologizing for the delays and baggage fiasco at Heathrow’s new terminal. And while reading the papers over the past week, I learned that the UBS soon departing chairman Ospel more or less apologized. As reported in the April 6th The New York Times, “I’m the chairman of this firm and ultimately repsonsible for what has happened.” The description of this mea culpa was fairly striking. As reported, “But during an interview on Friday at UBS’s neo-classical headquarters in downtown Zurich, the steely composure Mr. Ospel brandished at the Basel meeting was gone. Sitting in a plain white conference room adorned with maps of the world and the United States, his hands trembled and his eyes were cast downwards.” No one said that accountablility is easy. UBS has lost over $30 billion from the subprime mess.
Perhaps UBS will pave the way for more apologies in the financial services sector. A headline in the IHT this week summed it up: “Banks’ lack of contrition boosts chance for harsh rules backlash.” Essentially the media is calling on banks to show “share more pain.”
