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I recently was interviewed by Kirk Laughlin of Nearshore Americas about nation branding with particular focus on Latin America. The interview can be seen here or at this link.
Tags: Americans, Branding, Chile, Costa Rica, Events, Governments, Latin America, Leadership, Marketing, Miners, Nation Branding, Outcomes, Positioning, Situation Analysis, Strategy
This blog post appeared last week in NearshoreAmericas.com
The August 5th mine collapse near Copiapo, Chile seemed like more bad luck for a country already hit by one of the largest earthquakes in history this past February.Media coverage of the mining disaster was constant and the way in which the Chilean government and miners handled the situation mesmerized the media and consumers alike. On October 13th, millions across the globe were riveted to their TV sets watching the dramatic rescue take place, almost two months before anticipated. It was a stunningly inspirational scene – a disaster, rescue plan and successful result – seemingly in lockstep that even Hollywood writers couldn’t have improved upon.
A Silver Lining?
At the outset of the crisis, it was hard to imagine there could be a silver lining to the story, one that could provide an advantage for how Chile, as a country, is presented to the world. Can the outcome of natural or man-made disasters have a positive impact on a country’s competitiveness in growing exports, attracting investment or seeking outsourcing contracts? The Chilean miners’ rescue offers some interesting lessons.
1. Leadership makes a difference
There is that old saying that “a fish rots from the head”. Conversely, positive, focused leadership trickles down throughout an organization and effects planning, implementation and results. Chile’s focused leadership from President Sebastian Piñera and particularly Mining Minister Laurence Golborne made a difference in how the rescue effort (managed more like a large construction project) was strategically planned and implemented. The plan allowed for international cooperation, options, customer relations (i.e. miners’ families), and management of public expectations.
2. Emotion and egos get you nowhere; help moves you forward
Chile offers a diverse mix in its socio-economic strata. Much of the country feels like a highly developed nation. There is a thriving middle class, high literacy and education rates, advanced use of the Internet and telecommunications. Yet, there are pockets of extreme poverty and underdevelopment that give a very different picture. It’s certainly a very long way from Haiti to Chile but Chile still is not at the level of many developed countries which probably explains why the country ranks #30 in the Global Economic Forum’s World Competitiveness Report and not higher. The Chileans didn’t ask for charitable contributions but did welcome cutting-edge technology and advice from other countries with the goals of beating the expected result of not getting the miners out until mid December. The U.S. has not responded in as focused or timely a way when it has been hit by disasters. American egos have gotten in the way of accepting foreign help.
3. Media needs to be managed but not catered to
While the media savvy crisis mangers in Chile worked with the international journalist community, platitudes and wild claims were avoided and the focus was kept on what needed to be done.
For example, the Wall Street Journal published a story “Chile Mining Minister Is Resourceful in Rescue” in which writer Matt Mofffett wrote about the response from the Chilean government, dominated by former business executives. Centered around Mining Minister Laurence Golborne, a former retail executive, the story traces Golborne’s early missteps in the crisis to gaining the confidence of the miners and their families. It praises Golborne’s communication skills in dealing “with people from lots of different social strata” and goes on to cite the oft repeated catchphrase for the current government, “Chile Inc.”
Then, on September 10th, an article appeared in Universal Knowledge@Wharton, the newsletter of the esteemed Wharton School of Business’, titled, “Lessons on Leadership and Teamwork – from 700 Meters Below the Earth’s Surface”. The article is an interview with Francisco Javier Garrido, a professor of strategy at various MBA programs in Europe and the Americas. Garrido talks glowingly of the miners and their leadership skills.
These are the types of stories, not the ones about mistresses or movie deals, that will be long lasting and have true value for Chile’s image and competitiveness.
4. Results can reveal societal traits
In the Wharton article, Garrido details the miners’ skills in situation analysis, overcoming elementary responses, viewing efforts as a function of goals, teamwork, ethical coherence and integrity and communication skills. These 33 miners, he notes have taught “the business world that you need to act with flexibility when it comes to achieving your goals.” He further points out, “There are lessons here that transcend the world of business instruction when it comes to [defining] such expressions as “decision making,” “leadership” and “teamwork.”
Since the successful rescue, there have been hundreds of articles and blogs adding to the comments on work skills of the miners and leadership of Chilean officials.
Given the positive results of managing this crisis, two questions arise:
First, is it ethical to use the story of the miners to profile or position Chile or Chilean businesses? If used in a tactical way, it seems inappropriate and opportunistic to promote such a story as saying something positive about a company, sector or country. To those who read the media coverage, the lessons are there for us to see. The story illustrates how leaders can respond to crises and victims can show behaviors and values that can teach us about disaster response. Finally, it shows us how leadership can operate in the midst of crisis and media can respond positively to not overreact as so often takes place, but to manage for what everyone hopes will be positive outcomes.
Second, what real impact does crisis management have on a country’s image? Several months ago, in Nearshore Americas, Simon Anholt, a British branding consultant asserted that there is no evidence to show that marketing communications can change a country’s image (see “The Latin America Image Issue: Going Beyond the Superficial to Create a ‘Nation Brand’.”) Anholt said, “Influencing a country’s reputation is primarily a matter of policy, strategy, innovation and investment over a very long period – it has nothing to do with logos, slogans, advertising or PR campaigns.”
The World Watches
All of this is true but it ignores the impact of what happens when a country exercises strong management tools to solve a difficult problem while the world watches. Few would dispute that Chile’s positive awareness is much higher today than it was before the mining accident. It is a result of both what the Chileans did and what they said working with modern media and marketing communications as part of the overall management of the crisis.
The miners’ rescue won’t change Chile’s ranking on the global competitiveness index but it will open doors in the U.S. and elsewhere for Chilean businesses that never looked at the country before. How long those doors stay open and whether they lead to new business will depend on how well Chile manages from this point forward.
Tags: Change, Chile, Chile Inc., Cris Management, Customers, Emotion and egos, Francisco Javier Garrido, Global Economic Forum, Governments, Journalists, Laurence Golborne, Leadership, Marketing, Matt Moffett, Media, Miners, Nearshore Americas, Opportunism, Outcomes, Positioning, Sebastian Pinera, Simon Anholt, Situation Analysis, Strategy, teamwork, UniversalKnowledge@Wharton, Wall Street Journal, Wharton, World Competitiveness Report
It hasn’t been a week yet since the dramatic rescue of the Chilean miners riveted millions around the world to their TV sets. We were awestruck by the scene of miners emerging one by one from their entrapment. For two days, praise was heaped upon Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera, Minister of Mining Laurence Golborne and the international cooperation that brought technology together for a successful result.
It was inspirational and caused even the most cynical pundits to stop in admiration and hope the rescue would encourage us all to rise above the petty things we so often focus on and work together to solve the real problems at hand. Problems such as the state of our economy, high unemployment, continuing wars abroad, environmental degradation and more, all demand the attention of leaders. In Chile, we saw leaders come together for a common cause, drop the distractions and create a plan to achieve a positive outcome. That’s what leaders are supposed to do. Newspapers and TV stations across the U.S. covered the story and praised the international response.
So what’s happened in the week since the rescue?
Some recent headlines in New York tell us:
As always, The New York Times has covered a number of substantive issues but in the country’s largest city, it has the smallest circulation of the three largest daily papers. The rest of the national print and broadcast media has dropped any mention of the rescue’s impact to the back pages, if it’s mentioned at all. Other issues being hotly discussed include: gays in the military, Congressional candidates as witches, whores, bigots, thieves, liars, religious zealots, girly men and manly women. There has been little discussion of the big issues and problems that we deal with.
The mine rescue, of course, has stimulated some related discussion. One blog tells how the drill, drill bits, drilling chief, emergency cameras, rescue pod and diet recommendations all came from the US…to cheers I suppose of USA! USA! Others have noted that the 33 miners and 33 days to dig the shaft both coincide with Christ’s age at death, so surely this was not a victory for leadership, international cooperation and technology but for religious miracles.
It’s all quite frustrating, particularly when most of us from the most conservative to liberal know that we are faced with some of the most challenging problems in our nation’s history. It’s probably expecting too much of an event such as took place in Chile to get us to pull our heads out of the sand. In fact, it’s likely that the daunting problems we face are what scare us into looking elsewhere for salvation, to deny that we face a monumental economic challenge that will take more years to recover from than it took to get into and to shove looming problems such as global warming aside. The U.S. as a nation has become like the person who notices a lump but does nothing for fear that it’s cancer only to learn that survival might have come if the lump had been addressed when discovered. In truth, most of the problems we face are larger than 33 miners trapped beneath the earth. Every aspect of that challenge could be dissected and planned with good organizational skills, but it stands as a symbol that should inspire us to demand better. We don’t need anybody to shout, “the sky is falling.” There are pieces of it lying all around us.
Tags: Chile, Laurence Golborne, Leadership, Media, Miners, New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Times, Outcomes, Sebastian Pinera, Situation Analysis, Strategy
The August 5th mine collapse near Copiapo, Chile seemed like more bad luck for a country already hit by one of the largest earthquakes in history this past February. Media coverage of the mining disaster has been constant and the way in which the Chilean government and miners have handled the situation has mesmerized millions of people around the world. In a desperate situation such as this, it’s hard to imagine there could be a silver lining to the story, even providing an advantage in how Chile, as a country and society, is presented to the world.
The situation could change at any time but three recent articles provide an interesting lesson. On September 1st, The Wall Street Journal published a story “Chile Mining Minister Is Resourceful in Rescue” (download highlighted version here) in which writer Matt Mofffett wrote about the response from the Chilean government, dominated by former business executives. Centered around Mining Minister Laurence Golborne, a former retail executive, the story traces Golborne’s early missteps in the crisis to gaining the confidence of the miners and their families. The story comments on Golborne’s communication skills in dealing “with people from lots of different social strata” and goes on to cite the oft repeated catchphrase for the current government, “Chile Inc.”
That phrase caught the attention of New York Times writer, Ben Schott, who eight days later wrote an entry (titled “Chile Inc.”) in his popular vocabulary blog and reprinted the Journal’s positive comment about Golborne’s handling of the crisis.
Then, on September 10th, an article appeared in Universal Knowledge@Wharton, the newsletter of the esteemed Wharton School of Business, titled, “Lessons on Leadership and Teamwork – from 700 Meters Below the Earth’s Surface” (download highlighted version here). The article is an interview with Francisco Javier Garrido, a professor of strategy at various MBA programs in Europe and the Americas. Garrido makes a few comments on the consistency of the government but talks glowingly of the miners and their leadership skills.
He details their skills in situation analysis, overcoming elementary responses, viewing efforts as a function of goals, teamwork, ethical coherence and integrity and communication skills. These 33 miners, he notes have taught “the business world that you need to act with flexibility when it comes to achieving your goals.” He further points out, “There are lessons here that transcend the world of business instruction when it comes to [defining] such expressions as “decision making,” “leadership” and “teamwork.”
All three stories have now been frequently quoted in the print and digital media and particularly the ever-growing blogosphere. Reading them, we’re compelled to ask whether we would respond in a similar fashion. It is a difficult situation that has positive lessons for us all and causes us to admire the miners, the government and to ask whether Chileans possess some traits that we all might want to emulate.
The question then comes up of whether it’s ethical to use such a story to profile or position a business in Chile or would it be seen as being crassly opportunistic. If used in a tactical way, it seems inappropriate to promote such a story as saying something positive about a company, sector or country. To those who read the media coverage, the lessons are clear enough for us to see. However, it seems acceptable to talk about the miners’ plight the same way these three stories have treated it thus far. It illustrates how governments can respond to crises and victims can teach us about behaviors and values we can admire. Finally, it shows us how leadership can operate in the midst of crisis and media can respond positively to not overreact as so often takes place (and we are seeing repeatedly in the U.S.), but to manage for what we all hope will ultimately become a positive outcome.
Tags: Chile, Chile Inc., Events, Flexibility, Governments, Journalists, Leadership, Media, Media responsibility, Miners, Outcomes, Positioning, Situation Analysis, Strategy
