Everyone makes mistakes. It’s a part of life, and we should show some grace to those that do. However, mistakes should lead to growth, and the lack of that is where trouble can really show up.
It’s like when you’re looking at reviews of a business. Many of us jump to the negative reviews to see where the problems might be, and the responses to those reviews from the business owner can have a huge impact. If they respond with grace and empathy, and show a clear desire to resolve the problem, that’s an amazing way to grow trust for their company.
I was recently listening to some people discuss an issue that was handled poorly, and it reminded me of three stories.
The McDonald’s Coffee Lawsuit
The story of Stella Libeck burning herself with hot coffee from McDonald’s in 1992 is well-known, and the bad guy in this case is (surprisingly to some) McDonald’s. The Wikipedia entry for the incident has the full story, but the short version is:
- She spilled coffee on her lap and suffered third-degree burns in her pelvic region.
- The coffee was served way above acceptable levels.
- Libeck only asked for $20,000 to cover her expenses, but McDonald’s refused.
- She sued to get the money, and the jury found McDonald’s was clearly at fault and awarded her $2.7M instead.
If McDonald’s had responded appropriately to the problem, none of us would have ever heard about this story.
United Breaks Guitars
United Airlines treated musician Dave Carroll’s guitar very poorly, breaking it while loading it on the plane. They refused to take any responsibility for it, so in response Carroll wrote a song about the incident, which you can view here:
The video has racked up millions of views, and United had to hustle to try to control the damage. A good summary of this is on Wikipedia as well. If United had worked to resolve the problem instead of running from it, that song never would have been written. To this day, when I hear the words “United Airlines” I instantly think “United breaks guitars”.
Home Depot
I shared this story a few years ago (which you can read here), but when Home Depot sends “their” team to your house, they use contractors for the work. No problem there. However, if any issues come up, Home Depot is quick to deflect the blame and say “take it up with the contractor, not us!”. You think you hired Home Depot (that’s who you contacted and paid), but they run from any problems.
As I mentioned at the time, we will occasionally use contractors with our work at our agency, but we take full responsibility for them. If something goes wrong, we make it right. Perhaps Home Depot has changed their policies since then, but it was a really ugly look for them.
KFC -> FCK
KFC is an example of a company that did it right. In 2018, they had to temporarily close 900 restaurants in the UK and Ireland due to some logistics mistakes. Rather than deflect blame, they fully owned the problem. They ran a full page ad in some major publications to take responsibility, and it was received very well.
Mistakes happen. Own them, and the aftermath might be far better than you could have hoped.
