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
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
How did no one know?
One of the most common questions asked after a crisis becomes public is, "How did no one know?" The reality however, is that someone usually did know. They may not have had all the information. They may not have understood the full extent of what was happening. Often however, employees had seen the warning signs long before an issue reached the point where leadership could no longer ignore it. Throughout my career as a communications executive, I have spent more than 30 years
Catherine Cameron
Aug 73 min read
Protecting Trust Before Crisis Happens: The Leadership Responsibility to Prevent Harm
Trust is not built when everything is going well. Trust is built in the moments when things become difficult. Throughout my career as a communications leader working with healthcare and social service organizations, I have seen that reputation is not created through statements, policies, or carefully crafted messaging alone. Reputation is built through behaviour. It is revealed by how organizations respond when challenges arise. Every organization will face difficult moments.
Catherine Cameron
Aug 55 min read