1. Bad News Cannot Be Hidden. Mel Gibson is a controversial actor. Big businesses are also controversial - doing things like off-shoring and building nuclear powerplants. As a result, we can expect that somewhere there's an activist or politician who disagrees with you and, should the opportunity emerge, will pounce. It also means that if you're a large company with a valuable brand, there's probably a market for bad news about your company - and where there's demand, supply usually follows.2. Bad News Travels Faster Than Ever. I mean really, really fast. The whole thing came and went in a flash. Gibson was arrested on Saturday night and his arrest report was public in a matter of hours and the commentary started immediately. If bad news breaks at 1am on Sunday, will anyone notice? Can your company assemble a team of executives and PR staff at 3am on a Sunday to draft a press release?
3. Apologize Fast & Apologize Frequently. Given what had happened, Mel Gibson did a great job, in my opinion. Not just one but two fulsome and public apologies. He was heavy on saying he was sorry and very light on excuses.
4. Don't just say something, do something. Another smart thing, Mel Gibson did was going beyond just saying he was sorry. He asked leaders of the Jewish community to help him figure out what was wrong and expressed a willingness to change. Enterprises should be ready to do the same - not just apologize, but openly solicit ideas from the public. IBM just had big event called Innovation Jam which invited customers and employees to develop new ideas. If a big oil company had an oil spill, would they have the courage to host a "Clean-Up Jam" and invite the public to suggest better ways to prevent and clean up accidents?
You don't have to like Mel Gibson to learn from his experience. With billions in revenues and hundreds of thousands of employees, every large company will, sooner or later, be handling a situation like this.
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