When leaders choose reputation over accountability, they often lose both
What every institution should learn from the Columbia University scandal A recent article about Columbia University and former OB-GYN Robert Hadden stopped me in my tracks. Not because institutional scandals are unusual. They are not. What struck me was how familiar the pattern felt. I have seen many organizations face allegations of misconduct, ethical failures, regulatory concerns and complaints from the people they serve. Sometimes the allegations prove true. Sometimes the
Catherine Cameron
Sep 33 min read
A Leader’s Guide to Responding When Someone Raises a Concern
Throughout my career advising health care, nonprofit and community organizations on communications, reputation and stakeholder relationships, I have seen one thing repeatedly: trust is often defined by how leaders respond when they hear something difficult. Every organization will eventually face a moment when someone raises a concern, identifies a risk or shares information that challenges what leaders believe to be true. The instinctive response may be to explain, defend or
Catherine Cameron
Aug 263 min read
When Organizational Silence Becomes a Reputation Risk
Organizations spend considerable time defining their values. Integrity, respect, accountability and compassion are carefully articulated in strategic plans, on websites and in leadership communications. These values shape how organizations want to be understood by employees, clients, partners and the communities they serve. However, values are not truly tested when circumstances are straightforward. They are tested when someone raises a concern that is difficult to hear, when
Catherine Cameron
Aug 264 min read
Trust Requires Transparency: The Importance of Boundaries in Professional Relationships
Trust is the foundation of every professional relationship. When we seek the expertise of a regulated professional, we are placing confidence in more than their technical skills. We are trusting that their judgment will be exercised independently, ethically, and in our best interests. Whether the relationship is between a patient and physician, a client and lawyer, a student and educator, or a pet owner and veterinarian, there is an underlying expectation: professional respon
Catherine Cameron
Aug 223 min read
When a Complaint Is More Serious Than It Looks
Most organizations don't struggle with a lack of information. They struggle with information that conflicts with what they want to believe. This becomes particularly difficult when the information concerns someone respected within the organization, someone with a strong professional reputation or someone who has been trusted for years. Organizations and the people within them can become so invested in what they believe about a person that they start evaluating the evidence ag
Catherine Cameron
Aug 193 min read
When the Evidence Is There, But We Look Away
There is something deeply uncomfortable about evidence that changes what we believe about someone we know and trust. Sometimes the evidence is not a matter of interpretation. There are messages, records, documents and contemporaneous accounts that preserve what was said or done. Yet even then, we can find ways not to see what is in front of us because accepting it may require us to reconsider someone we love, respect, work with or have built a career or even life around. That
Catherine Cameron
Aug 173 min read
When a Client Raises a Concern: Who Is Listening?
What happens when a client raises serious concerns about a regulated professional? I was a client who raised serious concerns about the conduct of a regulated professional, a veterinarian, to the business where that professional worked. I was not an employee. I raised concerns involving professional boundaries, a significant power imbalance and conduct that I believed could have implications beyond my own experience. I was directed to the organization's HR manager, who I was
Catherine Cameron
Aug 115 min read
At What Point Does Silence Become Complicity?
Over the past few years, I have found myself thinking about a question that is far more complicated than it first appears. At what point does silence become complicity? Most of us think of complicity as something active. We think of people who participate, conceal information or knowingly enable harmful behaviour. But I am not sure the line is always that clear. In organizations, concerns rarely arrive fully formed with all the facts neatly assembled. More often, they arrive
Catherine Cameron
Aug 102 min read
Beyond the Crisis: How Leaders Rebuild Trust Through Accountability and Action
Trust is one of the most valuable assets an organization possesses. It takes years to build. It can be damaged quickly. And once trust has been affected, rebuilding it requires far more than a statement, a policy change, or a commitment to do better. It requires action. Throughout my career, and as a communications executive, I have seen that organizations are often defined not by whether challenges occur, but by how they respond when those challenges arise. No organization i
Catherine Cameron
Aug 53 min read
When Trust Becomes Vulnerability: Why Professional Boundaries Matter In Every Profession
I have spent more than 30 years helping healthcare and social service organizations build trust, protect reputation, and communicate through complex challenges. Throughout my career, one truth has remained constant: Trust is the foundation of every professional relationship. Patients trust their healthcare providers. Clients trust their counsellors and care teams. Students trust their teachers and educators. Families trust the organizations that support them. Pet owners trust
Catherine Cameron
Aug 54 min read