Monthly Archives: January 2020

A problematic culture

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The reverberations following Major League Baseball’s report on the Astros sign-stealing scandal continues to rock the Houston sports world. It did not take long for Astros owner Jim Crane to “dismiss” A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow once MLB suspended both for the 2020 season (which makes me think  Crane knew this was coming and already made the decision before MLB announced the suspensions).

I will leave the impact this will have on the field to the sports experts, but there was something in MLB Commissioners report that caught my eye…

“while no one can dispute that Luhnow’s baseball operations department is an industry leader in its analytics, it is very clear to me that the culture of the baseball operations department, manifesting itself in the way its employees are treated, its relations with other clubs, and its relations with the media and external stakeholders, has been very problematic.”

Manfred pulled no punches in describing the culture established under Luhnow’s leadership. You will recall back in October 2019, the Astros fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman for targeting female reporters with inappropriate comments regarding relief pitcher Roberto Osuna who was accused of domestic violence when playing for the Toronto Blue Jays.

At first, the Astros disputed what took place calling the reporting “misleading and completely irresponsible.” They then released a mea culpa statement apologizing to Stephanie Apstein (one of the reporters targeted) and to all individuals who witnessed the incident. Taubman is now ineligible to work for any MLB club through the day after the 2020 season ends at which point he will be allowed to apply to commissioner Manfred for reinstatement.

Following the aftermath of Crane’s announcement that Hinch and Luhnow were “dismissed”, the Astros issued a media advisory making Crane available to meet with the media.

Pretty standard stuff, but what caught my eye was the line…

“Please note that media outlets are not permitted to carry the news conference live on the air nor online” (it did note the Astros would stream it on Astros.com).

Maybe I’m too old school (#OKBoomer), but inviting the media to a news conference with the caveat you can’t broadcast it live is wrong. Are they trying to drive traffic to their website? If a media outlet did broadcast it live, they would probably lose their credentials and not be allowed access to the team. I wonder what kind of reaction that would have gotten in markets like New York, or Boston. My guess is not too well.

All this does not bode well for an organization accused of, not only cheating, but having a “problematic” culture of the way it treats media. You would think the Astros would be trying to mend relationships and not continue its usual ways of doing business.

Flipping the narrative

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There is a negative connotation to the phrase “flipping the narrative”. Some might call it “spin” or “propaganda” and find it dishonest, but that is not always the case. Take Wells Fargo for example.

The California Department of Insurance accused Wells Fargo of issuing nearly 1,500 insurance policies without their customers knowledge or permission from 2008 to 2016. The bank agreed to pay a $10 million penalty in January 2019 as part of a settlement agreement. This caused severe brand perception causing customer trust to free-fall.

So how to rebuild that trust? The bank took the steps to acknowledge what it did and that is was wrong and flip the narrative to move the story forward.

Check out their video that was posted to YouTube.

As you can see, the video walks the viewer through the history of the bank with a dramatic fade to black and no audio after their mistake was shown. The effect of going to black sends a powerful message that shows they knew what happened was wrong. The video then picks up with a sense of optimism about the future and how it is moving forward to regain customer trust.

I realize this is just one video, but I found the courage to produce and post it extraordinary. Nobody likes talking about past mistakes and I can’t imagine the suits in the corner office being comfortable with reminding people what they did, yet America, if nothing else, loves to forgive.

Remember Mike Tyson (arrested and charged with raping beauty queen Desiree Washington in 1991) who ended up starring in The Hangover? Other celebrities like Robert Downey Jr., Mark Wahlberg and Martha Stewart have all been able to resurrect their careers after various offenses.

I get the Wells Fargo is an institution and not a celebrity, but it does feel that Americans can find it in themselves to forgive, especially when someone, or something is willing to own up.