Messaging, Views on News, public relations • March 10th, 2008

The wearin’ o’ the red

by Chris Lato

A little bit o’ resume inflation can leave politicios red-faced in embarrassment. Case in point: this fascinating tidbit about Hillary Clinton and Ireland. Just in time for St. Patty’s Day, too!

The temptation to do a little puffery on one’s resume can be strong. In this case, Clinton is looking to build credibility on her claims that she has more experience than Barack Obama. But if you reach too far, you can wind up stuck in an embarrassing place.

Clinton’s claims are debatable, and the campaign dutifully trotted out someone who attested to Clinton’s bona fides in the Irish peace process.

The key to making such claims is to ensure you can actually back them up in a reasonably strong way. Avoid the need for having to move into crisis mode by having good connections (preferably actual participants who have some appearance of objectivity) ready to step up and speak to the claims and qualifications. That way, you have the potential to turn it around and have your accusers as the ones with egg on their faces.

These brushfires can be extinguished by dealing with them swiftly and decisively. Letting it linger out there without strong pushback can be bad news. The story just keeps on gaining traction and any response offered later on, no matter how strong, will look like too little, too late.

This situation reminds me of one former state Senate leader, who was ousted a few years back. (Wisconsin political observers with a decent memory of recent history will know who I’m talking about.) She was caught fibbing about her educational achievements on her resume. It was embarrassing, and her initial half-answers just allowed the whole matter to fester in a very public way when a direct, forthright admission of the truth could have gotten the story under control. It’s the kind of thing that gets people fired at ‘regular’ jobs.

That’s just one that occurred to me off the top of my head. I’m sure there are plenty more.

I wouldn’t say the resume thing was the only reason she lost her senate seat in a primary election, but it didn’t help. It’s just one more arrow in the quiver of those who are out to take you down. Why give your opponents such easy ammo, especially when your communications plan should have built-in plans to handle such crises? Your team needs someone experienced in crisis communications, otherwise you’ll wind up looking like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight – and that suggests to the press and public that you’re not ready for prime time.

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