What is common between Ranbir Kapoor and Infosys - bad publicity perhaps…? Ranbir soon became the heart-throb of millions despite a not so perfect launch. His ascendance to the top of popularity charts was no surprise considering his lineage; charm just came naturally to him. His much published relationship with Deepika Padukone added to his desirability, especially among the fairer sex. Ranbir’s dream-run continued and despite his break-up with his celebrity girlfriend, the image never took a hit. But one ‘coffee’ changed it all. Deepika’s comment on Ranbir on a popular television chat-show dealt a severe blow to his image. Considering the fact that Deepika has a no-nonsense image and that she was ex-girlfriend of Ranbir her comments echoed over the nation and overnight charm suffered lot of harm. Suddenly Ranbir was not so cool dude. The best thing he could do was to keep quiet….the more he spoke more image erosion happened. The angry over-protective dad’s outbursts hardly helped his cause. Overnight from the prince-charming he was relegated to a play-boy image. Bad publicity did him in.
Infosys’s charm and dream-run as a company is similar to Ranbir’s; although their run was much longer than the later. Infosys too had humble beginnings but soon caught the fancy of the nation. Narayan Murthy’s leadership and foresight made him the blue-eyed boy of the nation. Infosys with its focus on innovation and people-oriented policies soon became the ‘employer of choice’. Just when it thought its image was invincible, came the controversial iRACE. Many employees filled the official blog and the social media with caustic comments opposing the policy. Membership always lends credibility to comments and hence like Deepika’s comment the Infocian’s utterances left the IT-giant embarrassed & humbled. And like Ranbir’s angry dad, the company made a mistake of attempting to silence its internal customers with a proposed social media policy. This hardly did Infosys any good. Then followed the leadership dilemma. The climax came when the veteran Mohandas Pai resigned from the company. Media was rife with speculations of a tussle at the top. All this generated enough bad publicity and like Ranbir, Infosys lost much of its sheen.
Successful companies and their leadership teams must understand that the power has shifted to people with the advent of social media. Bad publicity that too emanating particularly from its stakeholders can do irreparable damage to their image. Bad publicity cannot be suppressed and can rattle even the most resilient. Knowing how to manage & engage one’s stakeholders goes a long way in building and sustaining strong corporate brands. The organizational leadership plays perhaps the most significant role in this process, both in engaging its people and also in managing the media effectively. Crisis communication is more about being honest, owning mistakes and taking concrete steps, rather than just talking and reacting. BP’s ex-CEO Tony Hayward committed the same mistake sometime back. When one of the worst oil-spills happened in the Gulf of Mexico in a rig licensed to BP, Tony Hayward first shrugged responsibility and when he later apologized, did that without empathy and compassion. The whole affair damaged BP’s image and people lost trust on the company. In retrospect, both Ranbir & Infosys could have handled the crisis better. Both Ranbir and Infosys would have to put a great deal of effort to resurrect their image. However will they ever regain their old charm is left to be seen.
