Lay Death Provides Rare PR Opportunity For Management Consultant
A PR guru named Dave Overton has been distributing an e-mail to New York-based media outlets, including BusinessWeek, on behalf of his client, Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ, a Washington, D.C. based management consulting firm, for interest in his client’s thoughts on the death of former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay.
Thoughts like these:
Lay’s death may be the equivalent of a child sticking their fingers in their ears to avoid hearing something bad. But a lot more final.
Great Moments In Public Relations, Part 3,724 [Fine On Media]
The full e-mail to BusinessWeek, via Fine On Media:
From: Dave Overton
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 12:27 PM
To: Beucke, Dan
Subject: [NEWMANPR] — Why the demise of Ken Lay?Dan,
One of the top reasons why CEOs get fired is “Denying Reality.” In milder cases, a CEO will quit rather than let a horrible truth puncture their fantastical views. Or they’ll blame their workers or board. They’ll craft all sorts of psychological defense mechanisms to avoid shouldering culpability.
One could argue in Lay’s case that the truth he would be forced to confront (bankrupt company, displaced workers, destroyed nest eggs, prison, etc.) was so horrible, and so unavoidable, that his body simply shut down rather than confront a terrible reality.
Lay’s death may be the equivalent of a child sticking their fingers in their ears to avoid hearing something bad. But a lot more final.
Mark Murphy is CEO of Leadership IQ, a Washington, D.C. based management consulting firm.
Mark has some interesting thoughts on the demise of Ken Lay and how others can avoid his fate.
Please let me know if you would like to speak with him.
Thanks for your time.
EARLIER: NYP Requests To See Kenneth Lay’s Corpse
