“We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused to their lives,” Hayward said.”There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do, I’d like my life back.”
That’s what former BP Chief Tony Hayward said. What’s wrong with it?
He was apologizing, and his apology was about him. I assume he was trying to make a personal connection to listeners, to say that he was feeling pain too, and his statement was so absurdly unaware that it ruined his ethos (his credibility) forever.
The oil spill is entirely awful. Without going into what could have been done to prevent it, a leader’s job in disaster is to get the right people in place to heal the brokenness. Part of that is connecting with the people in desperate need. Plain and simple, it’s all about them.
It’s really hard to say the right thing when everything is going wrong; but people will forgive the wrong words if your spirit is right. Watch the tape again. His spirit is the problem.
To connect with people takes an attitude that focuses entirely on the needs of the people you serve. Leaders: It’s not about you. What is about you is paying attention to what you think and feel, focusing your energy on caring for your people, and then communicating with intention to make sure they get what they need. One of the things they need: Your caring, and evidence in how you communicate that shows you really want to make things right–especially when situations are so bad that everything will be wrong for quite a while.
