Cisco's PR Dilemma
Image by Reuters
When your internal memo becomes a news story - Cisco and John T. Chambers
On Monday, Cisco CEO John Chambers distributed a memo to his staff, outlining the vision, strategy and goals of Cisco and its products. As of 4:33 p.m. today, this note was first picked up by Reuters (via an exclusive) and has hit media outlets around the world.
Reuters subsequently followed up with an editorial , another story and now there are a barrage of articles from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, to name a few.
But was this indeed just an 'internal memo' or was it a way to talk to external audiences without doing so directly? A simple piece that was created without the need for a news release or a webcast. A conversation of sorts between a CEO and, well, the public at large.
I don't think so.
In this increasingly connected world, most corporate internal communications (though marked 'confidential' or 'for internal audiences only') find external avenues. Especially when it involves a top brand with a global presence and more than 72,900 employees.
I stumbled upon this story not through my RSS or Google Reader, but through Facebook. I'm a FB fan of Chris O'Brien, a reporter who worked at The News & Observer and is now a reporter at the San Jose Mercury News. He posted the following on his wall: Blunt memo from Cisco's Chambers: "We have disappointed our investors and we have confused our employees. http://bit.ly/hoQsBW."
This stood out because the words 'Chambers,' 'disappointment' and 'investors' were all in the same sentence. And my curious nature made me stop, take notice and click on the link, which took me to Cisco's blog. There, Karen Tillman, director of global PR, explained that there were a few media inquiries about the internal memo and she decided to just post it in its entirety.
The tone and style of the memo appears to be written for internal audiences and I really don't think the outpouring of media interest was expected.
As communicators, we write multiple internal and external documents for our clients. In doing so, I always use the following as a guide:
Always approach an internal document as an external piece that can be read by anyone at anytime.
Sounds simple? Only if followed.
Also, I recommend that clients re-educate their staffs on the guidelines and policies, regarding internal and confidential documents.
Sounds simple? Again, only if followed.
What are your thoughts? Was this internal memo shared externally on purpose?
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