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> The Management of
Corporate Controversy
A Survival Guide for the Senior Executive
By Rusty Cawley, APR
• www.ControversyManagement.org •
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The Management of Corporate Controversy
A Survival Guide for the Senior Executive
By Rusty Cawley, APR
Copyright 2009, W.O. Cawley Jr.
All rights reserved
Published by The Office for Controversy Management
College Station, Texas
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> Controversy kills
It destroys companies. It wrecks careers. It slows sales. It closes
plants. It stops construction. It drives down stock prices. It repels lenders
and investors. It demoralizes employees.
The list of damage caused by unmanaged corporate controversy is
almost endless.
Since each of these responsibilities – sales revenue, stocks prices,
manufacturing, marketing, employee morale, and so on – falls into the
purview of the executive … shouldn’t you know how to protect them from
controversy?
Imagine you are at The Table with all of your company’s top
executives.
There’s a controversy in progress. Stakeholders are angry, the
company is suffering, and the question is put to you:
“What do we do?”
Could you provide a concise, clear analysis of the situation, followed
by a concise, clear strategy for ending the controversy?
If not, read on. >
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> Remember Arthur Andersen?
For much of the 20th century, Arthur Andersen was the most trusted
name in corporate accounting. It was one of the Big Five … until 2002.
Then it got caught up in the Enron scandal. The firm surrendered its
licenses to practice as Certified Public Accountants after being found
guilty of criminal charges relating to its auditing of Enron. That led to the
loss of 85,000 jobs.
The managing partner listened to his lawyers. He took his company’s
case all the way to the Supreme Court, and won!
But who cares?
By the time the courts ruled in Arthur Andersen’s favor, the firm had
been abandoned by its stakeholders: its client