Can we all just behave?

Who doesn't love a crisis? The one answer I could give is the person who caused it as well as the communications team which is often tasked with cleaning things up. Much is often said of how the communications function should be the 'conscience' of an organization. I'd like to put it a little differently, more bluntly if you will.

I'll do this through two recent crises. The first is an open-and-shut case. Global consultancy PwC was working with the Australian government, which was looking to introduce laws targeting multinational tax avoidance and a diverted profits tax.?PwC used that information to win new business by advising clients on how to avoid the very rules they were looking to help draft. You don't need a non disclosure agreement to understand that this is morally wrong. The result is a global crisis that has led to PwC Australia's CEO resigning and the potential of a blacklisting from any future business with the government there.

The second example is from Papua New Guinea. This is a country where the average minimum wage is US$160 a month. And yet the government sent a 30 person delegation to the coronation of King Charles III, with each delegate being given a 50,000 kina (US$14,000) allowance to cover hotels and airfares. To top it all off, the Foreign Minister's daughter, who was on the trip, TikToked about luxury shopping in Singapore. In response to critics, the Foreign Minister called those who took aim at his daughter “primitive animals.” He resigned a couple of days later.

In both cases, what is missing is a dollop of common sense and ethical behavior. There's little a communications function can do if an organization's culture or ethical compass is off. It requires all of us to think and behave in a manner that befits how we want to be seen and thought of. In other words, you build your reputation through your actions, both when the camera is on you and when no one is watching.

A quick sidenote on another topic that is shaping sustainability. I'll be writing in the next newsletter on COP28, the annual super conference which brings together governments, businesses, and the not-for-profit sector from around the world to discuss how we can best tackle climate change. There's lots going on there in terms of how the event and its hosts are being perceived (COP28 is in Dubai at the end of November/start of December). And Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, has launched its latest annual report which includes lots more info on what they are doing relating to sustainability. Which is good to see!