Mike Paul's Blog

NEW YORK - The following is Mike “The Reputation Doctor” Paul’s Annual Top 10 List of Reputations in Crisis in 2006. This list is compiled by and solely the opinion of global reputation management expert Mike Paul, who is also a weekly guest in the media providing expert analysis of various reputations in crisis:

1. Donald Rumsfeld – The now-former Defense Secretary was the stubborn and poor-listening architect of the war in Iraq, and because the U.S. has still not “won the war,” he was finally asked to leave by President Bush under strong pressure from Democrats in Congress. Both the Bush administration and the U.S. as a nation have global reputations in crisis because of decisions in Iraq and Donald Rumsfeld ran the war in Iraq and tops my list this year for reputations in crisis.

2. The Duke case – D.A. Mike Nifong charged former Duke lacrosse players Collin Finnerty, Dave Evans and Reade Seligmann with allegedly raping a stripper hired for a team party in March. The case has made both national and international headlines for many months and highlights and importance of both the court of law and the court of public opinion. All the reputations in this case have been damaged, especially D.A. Nifong, who is up for re-election and has many thinking he only took the case in an attempt to get re-elected.

3. Mel Gibson – His drunken, anti-Semitic rant towards an L.A. police officer will blur our perception of him forever, mainly because it was not the first time he voiced similar opinions. To overcome a crisis, you must remove the root of the problem and sadly, the root has not been removed within Mel Gibson.

4. Floyd Landis – Floyd Landis was fired by his team and his sponsors and the Tour de France no longer considered him its champion after his second doping sample tested positive for higher-than-allowable levels of testosterone. The samples contained synthetic testosterone, indicating that it came from an outside source. This was the top steroid story in the world in 2006.

5. Halliburton – The Reputations Institute’s recent survey ranked Halliburton as the corporation with the worst business reputation worldwide. This is not a good thing. Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton before becoming Vice President of The United States. Halliburton is a products and services provider to the oil and energy industries with major contracts in Iraq.

6. NYPD – Five undercover detectives and officers fired a total of 50 shots outside a Queens strip club, killing Sean Bell and injuring his two friends. Before the shooting, Bell's vehicle hit one officer and an unmarked police car, and officers apparently thought one of Bell's companions was about to get to a gun, police have said. However, no gun was ever found on the victims. Only a few years ago, NYPD police officers shot a man named Amadou Diallo in the Bronx 41 times and he also did not have a gun. As a result, the NYPD moved from heroes to zeros in the court of public opinion.

7. Enron’s Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling – Ken Lay was found guilty on all six counts that relate to Enron fraud, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, perpetrating wire and bank fraud, and making false and misleading statements to employees at a company meeting, as well as to banks, securities analysts and corporate credit-rating agencies. He also was found guilty the same day on four other bank fraud counts in a separate case on his personal banking. In 2006, this historic case finally came to an end, but before former Enron Chairman Ken Lay could be sentenced, he died of a heart attack. However, former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was found guilty of 19 of 28 counts against him and he is currently serving 24 years in prison. This case will go down in history as the most influential corporate case in recent history to influence both new laws regarding ethical behavior and radically changing public perception regarding unethical behavior by adding further fear of prosecution to executives’ minds. Accountability is a great deterrent.

8. Michael “Kramer” Richards – His racial rant at an L.A. comedy club was not a one-liner, but went on for several minutes. The root of this crisis is heart work and not head work or mere words. To best improve his reputation, Richards must now prove to the world with action that his heart has changed. He should also stick to comedic acting and leave stand-up comedy to the pros. The crisis has also reminded all of us that the N-word is not something to mess with.

9. Zidane – It was the headbutt heard ‘round the world! In the 110th minute of the final match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, on July 9, 2006, French soccer player Zinedine Zidane notoriously headbutted Italian soccer star Marco Materazzi in the chest. The French captain said that Materazzi had insulted him, targeting his sister and mother. The incident spawned an internet and pop-culture video frenzy referred to as the Zidane headbutt. Following the incident itself, Zidane was shown a red card by the referee, meaning he had to leave the game for his penalty. As Zidane had previously announced that he would retire from professional football after the 2006 World Cup, the headbutt became the last play ever of his illustrious career. Not a good thing for his reputation. Advice to Zidane: pro athletes in the U.S. get heckled by players and fans every week. Part of being a professional is learning to handle conflicts not just adulation.

10. Hewlett Packard – The confrontation at Hewlett-Packard started innocently enough. Last January, the online technology site CNET published an article about the long-term strategy at HP, the company ranked No. 11 in the Fortune 500. While the piece was upbeat, it quoted an anonymous HP source and contained information that only could have come from a director. HP’s former chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, told another director she wanted to know who it was; she was fed up with ongoing leaks to the media going back to CEO Carly Fiorina’s tumultuous tenure that ended in early 2005. According to an internal HP e-mail, Dunn then took the extraordinary step of authorizing a team of independent electronic-security experts to spy on the January 2006 communications of the other 10 directors—not the records of calls (or e-mails) from HP itself, but the records of phone calls made from personal accounts. That meant calls from the directors’ home and their private cell phones. It was classic data-mining: Dunn’s consultants weren’t actually listening in on the calls—all they had to do was look for a pattern of contacts. Dunn acted without informing the rest of the board. Her actions were now about to unleash a round of boardroom fury at one of America’s largest companies and a Silicon Valley icon. Congressional hearings were called to investigate the matter and HP’s reputation continues to take a major hit as trust has been severely breached at the leadership level within the corporation. Ms. Dunn: it is important to remember, the first step in crisis management is ego management.

ADVICE FOR ALL OF US: Learn from the mistakes of those above. You don't want to become a YouTube video star or plastered on the front page of the newspaper with a reputation in crisis. Why? Because Your Reputation Is Everything!

Mike Paul is editor of The Reputation Doctor blog. The Reputation Doctor is a nickname given to him by various clients he has counseled over the years. Mike's blog is located at www.ReputationDoctor.com. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, BBC, and others as a weekly contributor and expert in the global news regarding CEOs, political leaders, celebrities, corporations and other organizations with reputations in crisis. Mr. Paul is also president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR (www.mgppr.com), a leading strategic public relations and reputation management firm based in New York. For interview requests, speeches, senior counseling or other business opportunities with Mr. Paul, call 212-595-8500 or email info@mgppr.com.

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Michael “Kramer” Richards' Reputation in Crisis: Racist or Ignorant and Angry?

“Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your ass!”

Screamed Michael “Kramer” Richards as the actor tried his hand at comedy at the Laugh Factory in L.A. last week, but lost it in a racial rant after allegedly being heckled by two black men in the audience.

According to the Associated Press, two black men, who say they were insulted by actor and comedian Michael Richards during his racist rant at a comedy club, want a personal apology and perhaps some money, their lawyer says. Richards, who played the wacky Cosmo Kramer on the hit TV show "Seinfeld," appeared onstage at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood last week.

Frank McBride and Kyle Doss, say they were part of a group of about 20 people who had gathered at West Hollywood's Laugh Factory to celebrate a friend's birthday.

Their lawyer, Gloria Allred, says they were ordering drinks when Richards berated them for interrupting his act.

When one of their group replied that Richards was not funny, the comedian launched into a string of obscenities and repeatedly used a derogatory term for African-Americans. A mobile phone video camera captured the outburst.

The camera started rolling just as Richards began his attack, screaming at one of the men, "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your ass."

Richards continued, "You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now motherf**ker. Throw his ass out. He's a nigger! He's a nigger! He's a nigger! A nigger, look, there's a nigger!"

The crowd is visibly and audibly confused and upset. Richards responds by saying, "They're going to arrest me for calling a black man a nigger."

One of the men who was the object of Richard's tirade was outraged, shouting back "That's un-f***ing called for, ain't necessary."

After the three-minute tirade, it appears the majority of the audience members got up and left in disgust.

Richards, who played Jerry Seinfeld's wacky neighbor Kramer on the long-running TV comedy Seinfeld, made a nationally televised apology on The Late Show with David Letterman this week.

He has since publicly apologized to two prominent civil rights leaders, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Michael Richards is due to appear on Jesse Jackson’s radio show to discuss the crisis tomorrow.

Gloria Allred complained today that Richards "has not apologized to his victims directly, face to face, man to man."

Richards' publicist said his client wants to apologize to both men, who are black, but has not been able to locate them.

The video of Richards' outburst shows several people getting up and walking out as he shouts at the audience.

His publicist, Howard Rubenstein, said Richards was not considering any demand for payment.

"He's not dealing with that," Rubenstein said. "He wants to apologize to them directly and then see what happens."

PHOTO: Owner Jamie Masada And Comedian Paul Rodriguez Successfully Defend The Laugh Factory

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding Michael “Kramer” Richards racial rant:

Michael “Kramer” Richards’ reputation crisis should be about heart work and not spin.
I was a returning guest on Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor last night as a reputation management expert and I was asked to analyze and critique Richards’ reputation in crisis. I emphasized three things in the interview: 1) This case is more about heart work than head work and Richards must examine himself internally before offering any communications externally. 2) Excellent reputations are built with truth, honesty, accountability, transparency, humility and consistency. 3) Richards needs to go the rehab immediately to examine his deep and personal psychological issues which are hurting many other people, as well as himself. In my opinion, he needs to be in rehab for a minimum of 6 months to properly examine the problem and then develop new and important habits for lasting change.

His PR counsel, Howard Rubenstein, has already made big mistakes in reaching out to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They were not in the audience and should not be the focus for repairing a reputation.
I also mentioned this on Fox News. Jackson and Sharpton are men who love to pour gasoline on a fire and their egos love the media limelight. The proper way to contain this crisis and do the right thing would be to focus on the audience which was at the Laugh Factory the night of the tragic racial rant. I recommend working with the Laugh Factory to best reach all those in attendance of Richards' stand-up routine. He should try to give them all an honest and direct apology in person, face-to-face. Why? Because all those in attendance were offended, especially the black audience members. Those offended were not just the two black men in the audience now seeking cash from Richards.

Michael Richards is not a stand-up comic. He is an comedic actor. There is a BIG, BIG difference!
Michael Richards considers himself to be a stand-up comic, but he is not. Just ask the real stand-up comics on the comedy circuit. They know how to properly handle a heckle. The goal is to turn lemons into lemonade with a better joke, not with an angry racial tirade! In fact, it is one of the first things a true comedian learns on the stand-up circuit. Michael Richards was trying to resurrect his career by performing more stand-up routines. Well, guess what? It backfired! I believe it was very wise for the Laugh Factory to separate itself from Richards. Owner Jamie Masada and comedian Paul Rodriguez (a friend of mine) both did a good job. They had to defend their comedy club and support their audience. In doing so, they retained their reputations. Michael Richards' anger issues surfaced more than once in very ugly ways on stage.

Hire a professional crisis PR and reputation management counselor immediately when in crisis. Waiting even 24 hours may be too late and may increase the damage to your reputation significantly.
Michael Richards' actions emphasized another important rule: don’t wait, don't fake it and don't wing it when your reputation is in crisis! If you or your team don’t have significiant crisis PR and reputation management experience, get professional crisis PR and reputation management help immediately! Richards obviously was not properly counseled for his appearance on the Letterman show or the evening after his racial rant. He is an actor and this was not acting. He was very uncomfortable and inexperienced on stage and during his post tirade interview. Seinfeld set the whole interview opportunity up to help his friend on Letterman, and Seinfeld also sought to protect his own reputation. There is a reason why seasoned experts in crisis PR and reputation management make as much or more than seasoned attorneys. Why? Because your reputation is everything! Many attorneys try to pretend to be experts in the court of public opinion, as well as the court of law. This is a big mistake. Ironically, I’ve had to bail out many attorneys in reputation crises themselves. If you are an attorney, it is best to hire seasoned crisis PR or reputation management experts to co-counsel your clients in both courts (the court of law and the court of public opinion) in cases like this. Learn from Michael "Kramer" Richards' mistakes and value your own reputation too. Hey, you don't want to become a negative YouTube video played over and over again like Richards, do you?

Remember, do the right thing when your reputation is in crisis and seek the counsel of an experienced reputation management expert. It will be a major challenge, but ultimately the rewards of repairing your reputation will be great. Why? Because Your Reputation Is Everything! ™

Mike Paul is editor of The Reputation Doctor blog. The Reputation Doctor is a nickname given to him by various clients. Mike's blog is located at www.ReputationDoctor.com. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, BBC, and others as a weekly contributor and expert in the global news regarding leaders, celebrities, corporations and other organizations with reputations in crisis. Mr. Paul is also president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR (www.mgppr.com), a leading strategic public relations and reputation management firm based in New York. For interview requests, speeches, senior counseling or other business opportunities with Mr. Paul, call 212-595-8500 or email info@mgppr.com.

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Comment from: Mike [Visitor]

Michael Richards’s use of the word nigger out of anger only exposed his inner self. I'm shocked to see people like Jerry Seinfeld and Rosie O'Donnell come to Richard's protection. The reason is very clear: deep down, they understand with Richards. They know that anger could set free their inner unbelievable Racist as surely as anger turned the imaginary Dr. Banner into the Incredible Hulk, a brutish, thoughtless beast bent on devastation. JN0-201 exam , 1z0-040 exam , 250-365 exam

Jul 31, 2009, 12:50 am

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The New Corporate Reputation Crisis: The Backdating of Stock Options with Executives and Corporate Boards in Crisis

“Of 120 companies involved in the snowballing backdating scandal, more than 40 percent share directors with other implicated companies.”

A corporate governance research firm, The Corporate Library, said in a recent report.

According to the Associated Press, on tennis courts and golf courses, in bars and restaurants, at meetings and conventions, it seems corporate board members spread the word about a novel way to boost executive compensation – backdating options.

A study released last month suggested that the common link between companies that backdated options was a network of directors who sat on some of the same company boards. Now many of them, their companies and their chief executives are losing their jobs because of it.

Of 120 companies involved in the snowballing backdating scandal, more than 40 percent share directors with other implicated companies, The Corporate Library, a corporate governance research firm, said in a report Thursday. That proportion of interconnected boards is much higher than would be expected from a similar, randomly selected sample, the study found.

“Director interlocking relationships are fast becoming what appear to be the most important characteristic and indicator of backdating problems,” the report said.

Options grants give the recipient a right to buy a stock at a fixed “strike price,” which is generally set at the stock's market price the day of the grant. Generally, a company's board or compensation committee must approve its options grants to top executives.

Options holders benefit if the stock rises above the strike price because it enables them to buy stock at the lower price. In the backdating scandal, companies have dated option grants to days when the stock was at a low, enhancing the potential benefit.

The scandal was first reported in March by The Wall Street Journal, which calculated the tiny odds of companies randomly making grants on the days they chose, when the stock was at its lowest prices for the year or for the quarter. For instance, the Journal found the odds of one executive's options being timed so well, without backdating, were about 200 million to one.

H. Nejat Seyhun, a finance professor at University of Michigan, said one of his studies found that “directors are often participants, as well as beneficiaries, of backdating.”

For instance, the odds that options grants to UnitedHealth Group Inc. director Richard T. Burke occurring randomly were more than a trillion to one, Seyhun found. In Burke's 27 options grants, he got the best price available for a 91-day period five times.

Seyhun said the odds of some of Burke's grants occurring randomly were even narrower than the odds of randomness for grants given to William McGuire, the company's Chairman and CEO, who agreed Sunday to step down from both posts after an internal probe of the company's option practices. The odds of his all of his grants occurring when they did were 45 billion to one against.

UnitedHealth spokesman Mark Lindsay said that during the time period in question, “Option awards were distributed broadly, and based on merit, to over 14,000 employees.”

At least 135 public companies have disclosed Justice Department, SEC or internal investigations of their option grants, according to an Associated Press review. So far, at least 39 executives and board directors at 19 companies have been fired or resigned.

Some of the directors on multiple boards of implicated companies include Millard S. Drexler, former chief executive and a director of retailer Gap Inc. also sits on the board of Apple Computer Inc. Both companies have uncovered troubles with options grants after internal reviews. Drexler left Gap in 2002 has been CEO of retailer J. Crew since 2003.

J. Crew and Apple representatives had no comment. Greg Rossiter, a spokesman for Gap, said that the company's internal review had found no backdating or errors in options granted to executives at or above the vice president level and less than $5 million in errors related to options given to lower-level employees. He referred questions about Drexler to J. Crew.

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding the growing corporate crisis of fraudulently backdating stock options:

WARNING TO CORPORATE EXECUTIVES: Keep it up, and you too will be caught!
Fraud is as old the origin of man. Why? Because we as humans are flawed. We need true accountability to stay on the path to truth, but rarely seek it. We are fearful of transparency and do all we can to try to protect our lies and deceit. We can not do it alone. We need help and reputation management counselors provide help when in these storms.

Denial is your enemy and honesty is always your best friend.
Doing the right thing is always difficult. It is the biggest challenge in my counsel of leaders and corporations with reputations in crisis. Learning that the truth always bubbles to the top is difficult for many to understand. Some truly believe hiding works. It never works for the long term. Still don’t believe me? How many examples of reputations in crisis do you have to read, hear or see in the news media to understand?

A message from clients who have learned the hard way: selling your soul, integrity and your good name is never, never worth the money!
Over the years, I have had the honor of counseling many top corporate clients. These clients have included CEOs and board members of global corporations. They have all shared the same advice to those still lying and stealing for money when they finally hit rock bottom: lying and stealing is never worth the money in the end. Selling your soul will take a toll on your mind and you will never be happy. The way my firm practices reputation management is like a 12-step program for your reputation. There is really no other way to truly help those with reputations in crisis. Most clients must hit rock bottom before they are truthful with themselves, and that is the first step in rebuilding their reputations. They must be honest with themselves before they can be fully honest and transparent with others. This is a valuable lesson for us all.

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Comment from: backdating option [Visitor] · http://www.backdatingisnotacrime.com/backdating-reference/another-loss-for-uncle-sam-judge-dismisses

.., back dating scandal is still to broad to consider illegal.. i agree that this is not really fair in some way but it will be depending on its usage...

Jan 13, 2010, 2:04 am

Comment from: reputation management [Visitor] · http://www.reputationmanagementkings.com

I would like to share Reputation is branding. A company who has to deal with customers can not ignore it. However, competitive environment spells the action path. Banks survived were those which were supported by paying taxpayers' money. Had they not received this free money, would they survived? Difficult to reply. Eurotrain or utilities are sort of essentials. People can not simply ignore them. This will be probably strong reason that they will come up prosperer.We keep our fingers crossed that such companies listen to customers and tax payers.

Feb 12, 2010, 5:50 am

Comment from: CocoChanels [Visitor]

Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!

Jun 26, 2009, 6:31 pm

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Trans Fat Is the New Cigarette - Packaged Food Companies and Fast Food Chains Have Reputations In Crisis!

“If you removed trans fat from the planet, the only people who would feel the difference are the people who sell the trans fat.”

Commented Dr. Steen Stender, one of the leading Danish experts who lobbied for the anti-trans fat law in Denmark.

According to the Associated Press, two years ago, Denmark declared war on artery-clogging oils, making it illegal for any food to have more than 2 percent trans fats.

The result? Today, hardly anyone notices the difference. The french fries are still crispy. The pastries are still scrumptious. And the fried chicken is still tasty.

Denmark's experience offers a hopeful example for places like Canada, Chicago and New York City, which are considering setting limits on the dangerous artery-clogging fats.

Trans-fatty acids typically are added as partially hydrogenated oils to processed foods such as cookies, margarine and fast food. They are cheaper to produce than healthier oils -- such as canola, corn or olive oil -- and give foods a longer shelf life.

Producers also argue that removing them from processed foods will change tastes and textures beloved by consumers.

However, trans fats also have been called the tobacco of the nutrition world. They lower good cholesterol while raising bad cholesterol.

Even eating a daily amount that is less than 5 grams of trans fat -- the amount found in one piece of fried chicken and a side of french fries -- has been linked with a 25 percent increased risk of heart disease.

"No other fat at these low levels of intake has such harmful effects," said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist at Harvard's School of Public Health.

It is still too early to tell if removing trans fats from food in Denmark has improved the country's health.

The Danish health ministry reports that cardiovascular disease has fallen by 20 percent in the past five years. However, other countries have reported similar drops in heart disease where smoking has been restricted and where industry has made efforts to improve some foods.

In countries that are making no effort to regulate the amount of trans fat in food, such as Hungary and Bulgaria, heart disease rates have continued to climb.

Denmark is the only country to have so sharply limited trans fats, passing a law in 2003 that came into effect in 2004, making it illegal for any food to contain more than 2 percent of trans fat.

For Danes like Troels Nyborg Andersen, the government's decision means he feels less guilty about his fast-food habit.

"I know trans fats are bad, but you don't think about that when you're hungry," said the 27-year-old Copenhagen native, chomping a hamburger. "It's good that the Danish government got rid of trans fats so that I don't have to worry about it."

"We wanted to protect people so that they would not even have to know what trans fat was," said Dr. Steen Stender, one of the leading Danish experts who lobbied for the anti-trans fat law.

Though obesity rates are rising in Denmark, they are far below those of most countries: Just 11 percent of the Danish population was obese in 2005, less than half of Britain's obesity rate, estimated at 23 percent.

When faced with the prospect of a trans fat ban, industries typically rebel. Other countries in the European Union initially objected to Denmark's ban, arguing it would be economically unfair since their foods could not be legally imported into Denmark.

Many producers also were concerned about the possible change in texture and taste without the additives.
Preserving the delicacy of traditional Danish pastries was a major concern at Copenhagen's famed La Glace cafe, renowned for its pastries and cakes. When the trans fat law kicked in, its bakers began experimenting.

"There was a bit of a crisis," admitted Marianne Stagetorn Kolos, La Glace's owner.

The first attempts were disastrous. The trans fat-free margarines melted too soon, destroying the flakiness of the 81-layered pastries.

"Everything was flat," Stagetorn said. Luckily, the problem was solved by switching margarine suppliers.
Customers like Anne Petersen haven't noticed.

The pastries "taste just as good as they always did," said the 59-year-old sales assistant, who favors the raspberry version. "If it wasn't for the law, I never would have known that there wasn't any trans fat."

Stender and other health experts say Denmark's trans fat ban should be adopted worldwide.

"There's no reason it cannot be done elsewhere," he said, explaining that the food in Denmark is not markedly different from food anywhere else. "If you removed trans fat from the planet, the only people who would feel the difference are the people who sell the trans fat."

We can learn a lot from Denmark’s leadership in dealing with trans fat. They put health before profits.
A MESSAGE TO CORPORATE FOOD GIANTS: You can learn a thing or two from Denmark. If the long-term goal in business is to build brand loyalty for life through strong affinity marketing, isn’t Truth with a capital T a corporate brand’s best friend? Isn’t hiding the truth the same as lying to your customers? Won’t building back trust be very difficult if the whole truth rises to the top regarding trans fats and your company? Here is a prediction: if your company does not switch to a very healthy non-trans fat oil before the end of 2007, the impact on your various brands still using trans fat will be devastating.

Packaged food companies, fast-food chains and restaurants all over the world have known trans fats are very bad for many, many years.
Here is the simple formula and bottom line: trans fats both lower your good cholesterol and raise your bad cholesterol. That is a crisis combination for any person eating a lot of trans fat, especially our children who don’t know any better, who are now hooked like an addict in search of a needle.

Trans fats in food is the new “cigarette” crisis.
I was quoted in Advertising Age magazine over a year ago discussing the reputation crisis for packaged food companies and fast food chains regarding trans fat in American foods. I described trans fat as the new “cigarette” crisis in America. My friends who are executives in the food business were not thrilled with my characterization, but I believe it is true. It is time for global corporations in the packaged food business and fast food business to wake up and smell the bad fat. This problem is not going to go away and the more the onion is peeled back the smellier the problem will get. Time to embrace change or die a slow death in the world of public opinion.

Cities across America will ban trans fat soon. The time is now for packaged food companies and fast food chains to seek help in the court of public opinion from a seasoned reputation management and crisis PR expert.
New York, Chicago and several other large and small cities are discussing banning trans fats in America today. Any corporation or lobbyist for a corporation trying to defend the continued use of trans fats in cooked and packaged foods has their head in the sand and does not understand the power of public opinion. Also remember, attorneys are NOT the experts in reputation management and crisis public relations, seasoned reputation management and crisis public relations counselors are. We get paid roughly the same amount for a reason: we are professionals, we are experts in the court of public opinion and we provide results for both the short term and the long term.

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"It was scary," Evans said. "I woke up from a nap to 10 police officers in my living room with a search warrant."

According to AP, the three members of Duke University‘s lacrosse team charged with rape say they had expected DNA testing would clear them of a crime they insist they did not commit.

"We were told it would help to clear everything up," said Collin Finnerty, 20, who was interviewed on CBS‘ "60 Minutes" along with Reade Seligmann, 20, and David Evans, 23. "So we were happy to go."

"It was scary," Evans said. "I woke up from a nap to 10 police officers in my living room with a search warrant. I went through every part of it — told ‘em where they could find things and that we‘d fully cooperate and answer any questions they had."

Defense attorneys, who have insisted their clients are innocent, declined requests in recent weeks from The Associated Press for interviews with the indicted players.

Nifong initially complained publicly about a lack of cooperation from the team, and said the DNA test would reveal who committed rape and who was innocent. When the tests failed to find a definitive match, he said there is no DNA evidence in most sexual assault cases and vowed to press ahead with the case. Indictments against the three players soon followed.

Kim Roberts, who was also hired to perform at the party, was also interviewed by CBS' "60 Minutes." She said she was separated from the accuser twice during the evening, both times for five to 10 minutes. But Roberts said the accuser never gave her any reason to believe she had been attacked.

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding the latest in the Duke rape case:

In high-profile legal cases today, the court of public opinion is as important, and sometimes more important, then the court of law.
I have said this over and over not only privately to clients, but as a commentator on Court TV, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, BBC and The New York Times: the court of public opinion not only influences the courtroom, but also influences the nation and the world. And what is a subset of the nation and the world? A jury. And how important is the court of public opinion regarding building trust and credibility? Everything! Not only for a legal case overall, but for the reputations of both the prosecution, the victim, the individual defendants and their attorneys. They all want a positive reputation after this case.

The truth always bubbles to the top.
D.A. Nifong appears to have made some short term decisions that are coming back to bite both him and the alleged victim in the long term in this case. Did he do it for political reasons? Well, let's put it this way: when you have to choose between your reputation (or your job) and another's, which would you choose every time? We choose ourselves. Remember, a D.A.'s position is an elected position and election day is the first week of November. We humans are a selfish bunch by nature. Sad, but true.

This important case doesn't go to trail until spring of 2007 and there will be many twist and turns in the court of public opinion affecting the legal outcome of the entire case for months to come.
Any attorney who tries to handle the court of public opinion (which, of course, includes local, national and global media) on their own in a case like this is committing professional and reputational suicide for themselves and equally so for their clients. Why? There is a reason why top professionals in crisis PR and reputation management today earn hourly rates equal to and sometimes larger than the top attorneys in the world. With all due respect, we are worth every penny in the short run and the long run.

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Said reputation management expert Mike Paul, referring to former U.S. Congressman Mark Foley.

The following is a story I was interviewed for regarding former Congressman Mark Foley's reputation in crisis:

Disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley, who is being investigated for sending sexual e-mails to young male pages, checked himself into a rehabilitation facility after he resigned Friday from Congress.

The 52-year-old Florida Republican said through his attorney that he is being treated for alcoholism. Skeptics, however, say Foley is using addiction as an excuse, and his real intent is to avoid answering for his alleged misdeeds.

"Here's a man who's continuing to hide," said Mike Paul, a "reputation management expert" in New York City whose clients include United Airlines and Time Warner. "It's sad to see that he is still thinking he can get away with spin."

Foley's decision was surprising to almost no one, as it has become a cliché for high-profile politicians and celebrities to enter treatment for drug or alcohol addiction in the wake of scandal.

The list includes Mel Gibson, Rush Limbaugh, Robert Downey Jr., Whitney Houston, Winona Ryder and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.

In an Oprah-fied society, where everyone feels each other's pain and talks openly about it, seeking treatment for addiction is often applauded as the right - even noble - thing to do.

But rehab also is being used as a public relations strategy, one with dubious merits, some experts say.

Image consultants say there is a risk for people to view rehab as an excuse for bad behavior, while addiction counselors worry that the treatment is being trivialized.

"I believe the public is on to this as a spin doctoring method and doesn't look upon it favorably," said Sam Singer, president of a public affairs agency whose clients include ChevronTexaco Corp., Levi Strauss & Co. and the owners of the San Francisco 49ers.

He said if Foley were his client, he would have advised him to not resign so quickly and to apologize personally for his alleged mistakes.

"Immediately signing yourself into rehab is the equivalent of taking the Fifth Amendment. People immediately assume you're guilty," Singer said.

Foley has not spoken publicly about the allegations against him, instead relying on his attorney and other members of Congress.

Mike Paul called that a mistake, saying the story will feed on itself whether Foley participates or not. That prediction was borne out Wednesday with the resignation of Foley's former chief of staff, who said he warned Republican leaders about Foley's behavior before 2005.

The details released to date by Foley's attorney - that the former congressman is gay and that he was the victim of sexual abuse by a clergyman as a teenager - have raised an eyebrow or two in the addiction treatment community.

Experts say it typically takes weeks or months before clients feel comfortable talking about their past.

"It does look to me like it's damage control," said Michael Spielman, director of the Drug Abuse Alternatives Center in Santa Rosa. "These are the kinds of things we don't encourage people to bring out right away."

In allowing his attorney to release those details, Foley is walking a fine line between excusing his actions and explaining them.

Spielman said the contradiction in any treatment program is telling clients they are powerless over their addiction while teaching them to take responsibility for their own lives.

Working through those issues can take considerable time and effort. High-profile cases can distort this reality by making the process seem secondary to rescuing a reputation or career. Among the celebrity set there is even a certain glamour in going to rehab.

While acknowledging those concerns, Spielman said he's not worried that Foley's case will discourage people from seeking help.

"Honestly, we see 2,000 individuals every year in our counseling programs," he said. "We know that 99 percent of the people are here because of some negative consequence. It may be legal. It may be medical.

PHOTO: Tyson Vivyan, 26, speaks about former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley during an interview in Atlanta, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006. Vivyan claims Foley sent him sexually suggestive messages after he served as a congressional page 10 years ago. He said Thursday that Foley began sending him instant messages about a month or two after his nine-month stint as a page ended in June 1997. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

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Father Flim-Flam, Who Stole Close to $1 Million Dollars, Finally Goes to Prison Putting the Catholic Church’s Reputation in Crisis Again!

“I am just truly, truly sorry that I used money for my own purpose that I had no right to do.”

Monsignor John Woolsey said before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bruce Allen.

The Manhattan monsignor known as "Father Flim-Flam" was contrite for his sins yesterday - but he'll still have to serve his penance in prison. Previously Woolsey commented in the press that, “everyone does it.” His assumption that every priest steals like he did caught many off guard.

Msgr. John Woolsey was led off in handcuffs to start his 1-to-4-year prison term, prompting several of his supporters to weep in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The 69-year-old priest, who pleaded guilty to raiding the St. John the Martyr's coffers of more than $50,000 so he could splurge on Rolex watches and European golfing trips, also must finish paying back $200,000 to his former parish.

"I am just truly, truly sorry that I used money for my own purpose that I had no right to do," Woolsey said before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bruce Allen.

Woolsey arrived in Allen's courtroom with a check for $100,000, a few friends from the priesthood and dozens of supporters, several of whom had written to the judge pleading for mercy for him.

Allen received more than 140 letters in support of Woolsey - including one from Edward Cardinal Egan - that recounted the priest's good works and years of service.

But the judge told the monsignor, who prosecutors contend stole more than $1 million, that he was shipping him to prison.

"You should know that across the street in Criminal Court, people who have stolen cans of tuna fish wind up going to jail for 30 days or 60 days," Allen said.

Prosecutors had pushed to have Woolsey serve a 2-to-6-year sentence and to pay back $800,000, charging that he transferred nearly $837,000 in church funds to his own checking account so he could pay his credit card bill.

An additional $270,000 that had been in the church's possession also could not be accounted for, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Amatruda said.

"It's time to end the jockeying . . . and send this man to prison," Amatruda said.

The prosecutor used Woolsey's own words against him when he produced a letter to parishioners in which the pastor lamented how modern life is built on "sands of self-gratification, sands of materialism and sands of relative morality."

"The taint for his actions is going to be difficult to erase . . . and land on the shoulders of people who selflessly performed charitable acts," Amatruda said.

Defense attorney Nicholas DeFeis chalked up Woolsey's crimes as irrational acts committed by a priest who "is not the caricature that is made out in the press."

He added that although Woolsey did purchase more than 50 high-priced watches, he kept only one at a time.

"The purchases in this case were compulsive, competitive and irrational," DeFeis said.

Woolsey said several supporters have offered him jobs once he completes his prison sentence - which will last at least 6 months before the deeply tanned monsignor is eligible for a work-release program. The unyielding support from his flock of followers has been his biggest blessing, he said.

"Those words are keeping me standing," Woolsey said. "It's what is holding me up."

Thou shalt not steal!
This is the eighth commandment of the important Ten Commandments in the Bible. As a priest, Monsignor John Woolsey knew all of the commandments in the Bible very well. These laws set a new standard of morality thousands of years ago and have been forgotten by many today. The Monsignor studied them and even memorized them for many years, but did he live them? The answer is surely no. As a result he has a reputation in crisis.

The Bible is the origin of accountability.
The Bible urges accountability in many areas. Christian leaders were given a pattern to follow as to how they were to relate and function, and they were called to model this pattern to others. The manner in which they were to exercise their leadership was not something they were to decide on their own. They knew that God would ultimately hold them accountable for how well they fulfilled their leadership responsibilities. Each person needs other good people with whom they can be honest and accountable (Ephesians 4:25; James 5:16).

Practice what you preach or your reputation too will be damaged.
Monsignor Woolsey is now known globally as Father Flim-Flam. Sadly, this new name is part of the consequences of his actions. Woolsey should have also remembered the old saying practice what you preach. Sadly this priest thought he would never get caught. His arrogance will not only be paid for on earth with his damaged reputation, but he will also be judged again, more severely by God. However, he has an opportunity to fully repent not just in words, but in his heart with God and those he has harmed. Do you practice what you preach? Be careful. Think of areas where you fall short today and create a reputation management plan to correct them now. Full transparency and accountability are two important tools to help you on your journey to an excellent reputation.

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Comment from: Mike [Visitor]

Yeah the Manhattan monsignor known as "Father Flim-Flam" was contrite for his sins yesterday - but he'll still have to save his reparation in prison. Msgr. John Woolsey was led off in manacles to start his 1-to-4-year prison term, punctually some of his followers to suppurate in Manhattan Supreme Court. 642-164 exam , 642-061 exam , HP2-T11 exam

Jul 31, 2009, 12:38 am

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Anna Nicole Smith’s Reputation in Crisis Again with Son’s Death and New Baby Drama

“Smith ordered the follow-up autopsy to end "media speculation surrounding the matter.”

Anna Nicole Smith's son was on prescription anti-depression medication when he died at the hospital bedside of the former reality TV star, a pathologist who did a second autopsy on the 20-year-old said Monday.

Daniel Smith began taking a ''quite low'' dosage of prescription antidepressants four to six weeks ago, said forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht. He said he did not know whether the medication played any role in the death. He is still awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine the cause of death.

Daniel was found last Sunday morning slumped in a chair, covered in blood and vomit. The cause of death has not been determined.

Smith ordered the follow-up autopsy to end "media speculation surrounding the matter," said her Bahamian lawyer, Michael Scott.

Wecht, who ordered drug and chemical analyses that could take weeks, said he learned about the prescription medication after the autopsy from Daniel Smith's psychiatrist in the United States. The depression apparently "had to do with a girlfriend," he said.
He said he and the Bahamian coroner who did the first autopsy agreed there was no evidence Daniel Smith died from a "suicidal overdose."

Smith died Sept. 10 at a hospital room in the Bahamas where the former Playboy model was recuperating from childbirth. Witnesses including Anna Nicole's lawyer Howard Stern, who was in the room with the family at the time, said Daniel Smith had arrived on the island chain the previous day in good spirits, according to Wecht.

Bahamian pathologists performed an autopsy Sept. 12 and were expecting toxicology results this week, but the coroner's office has said the findings will not be released before a jury inquest scheduled for Oct. 23.

"He got off the plane and he was delighted. He was happy to be there with his mother and his sister," Wecht told The Associated Press.

A funeral home embalmed Daniel's remains on Monday and was awaiting further instructions from the family.

Anna Nicole Smith, who came to the Bahamas during her pregnancy to avoid media scrutiny, was making the arrangements with the help of a lawyer.

"To protect her privacy, you have to be very creative in the ways we communicate with her," said Loretta Butler-Turner, the director of the funeral home hired by the family.

The 38-year-old celebrity has not indicated whether she will return to the United States with the body, Butler-Turner said.

The man who claims to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's newborn daughter says the blond bombshell ran off to the Bahamas to give birth to keep their child away from him.

Larry Birkhead, a celebrity photographer and journalist who dated the reality-TV star on and off for two years, says Smith, 38, tried to cut him out of the baby's life, forcing him to keep his paternal status a secret and running away to the Caribbean.

Wecht, 75, is known as a critic of the Warren Commission's single-gunman theory of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
He is facing trial on charges he used his staff when he was the coroner in Allegheny County, Pa., to do work for his multimillion-dollar private pathology practice. He resigned from office in January and contends he did nothing wrong.

Never order a second autopsy because of media speculation, order a second autopsy to gain the truth and nothing but the truth about the death of your son!
Anna, your son is dead. It is tragic and it is very sad. Isn’t it about time you did the right thing? Don’t try to cover the truth. It will bubble to the top with or without you. If your son was depressed about his girlfriend, upset about his own life in general and/or worried about the birth of his new sister who he also probably feared would now gain all of your attention, it is time to tell it all, fully and completely. If your attorney, manager or others are counseling you to do otherwise, that is a big mistake.

Your new daughter needs her father and Daniel’s problems probably have roots in not having a loving father in his day-to-day life. All children need their father and without them, they will have problems in life.
If there is one lesson Anna can learn from the tragedy of her son, it is that her new daughter also needs her father tremendously. Running to the Bahamas will not stop solve her problems. Do the right thing, in Daniel’s name, and allow the baby’s father to be in her life as soon as possible. This is not about you. This is about what is best for your daughter.

Your reputation is in crisis because of all the personal choices and decisions you made. You must now live with the consequences and/or make lasting change.
This lesson is direct, blunt and to the point because some lessons have to knock us upside-the-head before we get it. Personal responsibility, transparency and accountability are desperately needed in Anna Nicole Smith’s life and, quite frankly, all of our lives. How are you doing in these areas yourself? Are you being honest with yourself or are you too avoiding the obvious problems in your reputation due to fear? It’s time for a reputation audit to find out the truth.

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“We had a wonderful time. It is time for me to move on. We remain friends.”

Commented Carolyn Kepcher, formerly a star on NBC’s The Apprentice and formerly executive vice president in the Trump organization, on ABC’s Good Morning America after being fired by Donald Trump due to excessive self promotion as her full-time job suffered.

According to A.P., Carolyn Kepcher, who sat by while her boss Donald Trump dismissed one would-be apprentice after another on TV, has now felt the full force of his iconic phrase: "You're fired."

Kepcher, a co-star with Trump from the start of "The Apprentice" in 2004 and a long-time employee of the Trump Organization, has been let go.

"Mr. Trump wishes her the best," said Trump spokesman Jim Dowd, who confirmed she is no longer with the company. She had been chief operating officer of two of Trump's golf courses.

Her leave-taking will have no impact on the upcoming sixth season of "The Apprentice," originating for the first time from Los Angeles. Though production is completed, she was not part of the cast.

The slender, striking blonde had become familiar to viewers as one of Trump's two sidekicks on the NBC series. She was an adviser to one of the rival teams and was often seated beside Trump for boardroom sessions where one or more competitors would hear Trump declare, "You're fired."

The Post story attributed Kepcher's firing to excessive self-promotion as a star at the expense of her performance at her day job, an account echoed for The Associated Press by a person close to the situation. The person insisted on anonymity because it was a personnel matter.

"We had a wonderful time," Kepcher said of her time on the show. "We remain friends."

However, "Apprentice" co-star George Ross publicly criticized her, saying that her obsession with fame had interfered with her work.

"I love George. I respect George," Kepcher said in response to his comments. "I disagree with everything he just said."

Trump's daughter Ivanka, who Kepcher called "incredibly brilliant," will replace Kepcher on the show.

"Hey, Donald Trump fired Carolyn. Did you hear about this? You know, the blonde one on 'The Apprentice'? Replaced her with his daughter," Jay Leno said on "The Tonight Show."

"That's good business sense. Nepotism, always smart. Fire the competent people. Replace them with your children. Hey, it worked for Saddam."

Kepcher plans on spending more time with her children before pursuing any new opportunities, she said.

"He's a great success story in business," Kepcher said. "Eleven years is a long time."

Since TV fame beckoned, Kepcher has been active with speaking engagements, made a number of talk-show appearances and two years ago wrote a book, "Carolyn 101," which promised to reveal the secrets of her success and give readers’ guidance for their professional lives.

When your goal is to create a national or global reputation under the wing of your boss and he or she doesn’t agree, you will be fired.
Carolyn knew Donald Trump had a big ego, was taught by him that his reputation was everything and thought it would be O.K. to share the spotlight with his ego? Hello…that was a big mistake! She didn't think very carefully from the perspective of the other person: her boss! Reputation management 101.

I hope Carolyn 101 has a chapter on how to repair a reputation in crisis.
Carolyn still has not admitted she was fired and that is a big mistake. Using the tool of humility, she could actually position herself as having more integrity than Trump by truthfully admitting she was fired and explaining what she learned from the experience and how it can be of value to others. Do you think Carolyn is the only person in the world who has been fired? There are millions who have been fired or are worried about being fired today who could learn from her experience. She could then focus on her knowledge and expertise of golf and business and become a big hit with both men and women interested in both critical areas. Will she do so? We’ll have to wait and see if she takes the Reputation Doctor’s advice.

Being in the celebrity spotlight is a drug and if you don’t realize that you will become addicted.
Carolyn has become addicted to fame and celebrity. And who could blame her? She was on a top television show and she wanted to take advantage of it. The big mistake was thinking she could continue working for the Donald and build her own image at the same time. I think that might be the problem - thinking image instead of reputation. Well, it didn’t work out the way she had planned. Trump is the type of boss that always wants you to know he comes first, not you. Carolyn forgot that and paid the price for it. What’s next for Carolyn? If Trump doesn’t support any of her future opportunities external to his organization, in Hollywood or in business, she will have a tough time. Look for Carolyn to try to mend fences and make sure Trump is on her side in the future. Also look for his ego to put her in her place from time to time. Remember, in his mind, he always comes first and know image will ever supersede his. Maybe he needs to be taught the difference between an image (fake like Hollywood) and a reputation (built with truth)?

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Jan 19, 2010, 2:10 am

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According to A.P., Prosecutors abruptly dropped their case Monday against John Mark Karr in the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, saying DNA tests failed to put him at the scene despite his repeated insistence he killed the 6-year-old beauty queen.

Karr is still in custody with the Boulder County sheriff, who said Monday night California authorities had asked for him to be detained to face child pornography charges in that state.

The move came just a week and a half after the 41-year-old schoolteacher was arrested in Thailand and put on a plane to the U.S. in what was regarded as a remarkable break in the decade-old murder mystery that had cast suspicion on JonBenet's parents.

District Attorney Mary Lacy said Karr emerged as a suspect in April after he began exchanging e-mails with a Colorado professor in which he admitted responsibility for the slaying.

According to court papers, Karr told the professor he accidentally killed JonBenet during sex and that he tasted her blood after he injured her vaginally. But officials at the Denver crime lab conducted DNA tests last Friday and failed to connect Karr to the crime.

"This information is critical because ... if Mr. Karr's account of his sexual involvement with the victim were accurate, it would have been highly likely that his saliva would have been mixed with the blood in the underwear," Lacy said in court papers.

"We're deeply distressed by the fact that they took this man and dragged him here from Bangkok, Thailand, with no forensic evidence confirming the allegations against him and no independent factors leading to a presumption he did anything wrong," Temin said.

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding the latest in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case and the top 3 with reputations in crisis:

Mary Lacy now bumps John Mark Karr from the number one position as the biggest reputation in crisis in this case. Sure many attorneys may think she did what she had to do, but this case is played out in 2 courts (the court of law and the court of public opinion). Most people now think Mary Lacy wasted a lot of taxpayer money, should have asked authorities in Thailand and California for DNA evidence before coming to Boulder and should have told us at her first press conference that the D.A.'s office was absolutely not sure if he is the top suspect in the case and needed more time to study his evidence even after knowing about Karr since 2001. Bottom line: when you make bad decisions and also refuse to share critical information with the press and the public on a timely basis, you always reap negative consequences in the court of public opinion. Message to all attorneys: seek expert help from a seasoned crisis PR expert with a lot of litigation-support PR experience when you have a high-profile case. If not, your reputation may also be in crisis very quickly.

The Boulder Police Department are like the old Keystone Kops in the silent movie era. I don't say this lightly because I respect competent police departments across the globe. They put their lives on the line for us every day. In fact, my older brother spent over 23 years as a police officer. But I have no tolerance for a police force that has made so many mistakes in a murder investigation of a young girl. The Boulder Police allow a child molester and killer to continue to walk the street. The Boulder Police made a mess of the crime scene on day one and continued to make big mistakes afterward because they are not experienced enough in dealing with murders and violent crimes and not humble enough to ask for much more help. They could have been honest from day one and sought more help immediately from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, even asking for more help from the Denver police department, but they did not do so. They tried to appear like they could handle a global murder case like this and as a result, they reaped the consquences of their actions in the media. The same media microscope allowed the world to see the dozens of major mistakes in this case. Bottom line: be humble and seek help immediately in areas where you lack knowledge or you may end up with a reputation in crisis like the Boulder Police Department.

First Patsy Ramsey was on the suspect list from day one because the Boulder Police thought she was such a controlling mother she may have murdered her own daughter. Then it was John Ramsey who had his head on the block as a suspect because he either did it himself or helped his wife with the murder, even if it was helping her cover it up. Then Patsy died and the attention moved to John. Then we all met a crazy man by the name of John Mark Karr and John Ramsey went to the bottom of the list or in some minds, off the list completely. Guess what? He's back! And until they catch the murderer, I believe John Ramsey's name will continue to be on the suspect list. Imagine having your reputation in crisis for 10 years and the world still not sure if he is deserving of it or not? One thing is for sure, the murderer knows what happened and many still think John Ramsey did it all himself or helped his wife cover it up. Either way, he still has a reputation in crisis in the court of public opinion. This is not the court of law, but this court, the court of public opinion, is just as important. Bottom line for John Ramsey: when there is a lack of information, the court of public opinion forms its own opinion. It ALWAYS filled the vacuum when there is a "no comment" and a refusal to share relevant information or the truth. The verdict in the court of public opinion sometimes changes day to day or minute by minute or sometimes digs in deep and takes years to change even when the truth finally surfaces. Either way, your reputation, the truth and consequences for your actions are still very relevant and make or break lives. Why? Because Your Reputation Is Everything!

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Comment from: Mike [Visitor]

Prosecutors are development not to file any blames against John Mark Karr after DNA tests failed to show a link between the man who maintained he killed JonBenet Ramsey by mistake and DNA found on the little girl’s body, News4 has reported. News was the first to information, supported on two anonymous sources close to the inquiry, that the DNA comparisons came back unhelpful. 642-105 exam , E20-322 exam , 640-821 exam

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Comment from: Rose [Visitor]

John Ramsey didnt kill his daughter!!
John Karr he is the one he killed this little angle & confessed to Thai police since day one!! why he wud do so?! if he wasnt the one he killed this little girl regardless to DNA TEST? and after 10yrs.. justice should find a way for her death!

May 14, 2009, 8:52 am

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Jun 30, 2009, 8:45 pm

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Karr was released from custody by the Boulder County sheriff, who said California authorities had not asked for him to be detained to face child pornography charges in that state.

District Attorney Mary Lacy said Karr emerged as a suspect in April after he began exchanging e-mails with a Colorado professor in which he admitted responsibility for the slaying.

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding the latest in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case and the top 3 with reputations in crisis:

The Boulder Police Department are like the old Keystone Kops in the silent movie era. I don't say this lightly because I respect competent police departments across the globe. They put their lives on the line for us every day. In fact, my older brother spent over 23 years as a police officer. But I have no tolerance for a police force that has made so many mistakes in a murder investigation if a young girl. The Boulder Police allow a child molester and killer to continue to walk the street. The Boulder Police made a mess of the crime scene on day one and continued to make big mistakes afterward because they are not experienced enough in dealing with murders and violent crimes and not humble enough to ask for much more help. They could have been honest from day one and sought more help immediately from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, even asking for more help from the Denver police department, but they did not do so. They tried to appear like they could handle a global murder case like this and as a result, they reaped the consquences of their actions in the media. The same media microscope allowed the world to see the dozens of major mistakes in this case. Bottom line: be humble and seek help immediately in areas where you lack knowledge or you may end up with a reputation in crisis like the Boulder Police Department.

First Patsy Ramsey was on the suspect list from day one because the Boulder Police thought she was such a controlling mother she may have murdered her own daughter. Then it was John Ramsey who had his head on the block as a suspect because he either did it himself or helped his wife with the murder, even if it was helping her cover it up. Then Patsy died and the attention moved to John. Then we all met a crazy man by the name of John Mark Karr and John Ramsey went to the bottom of the list or in some minds, off the list completely. Guess what? He's back! And until they catch the murderer, I believe John Ramsey's name will continue to be on the suspect list. Imagine having your reputation in crisis for 10 years and all still not sure if he is deserving of it or not? One thing is for sure, the murderer knows what happened and many still think John Ramsey did it all himself or helped his wife cover it up. Either way, he still has a reputation in crisis in the court of public opinion. This is not the courtroom, but this court is just as important. Bottom line for John Ramsey: when there is a lack of information, the court of public opinion forms its own opinion. The verdict in the court of public opinion sometimes changes day to day or minute by minute or sometimes digs in deep and takes years to change even when the truth finally surfaces. Either way, your reputation, the truth and consequences for your actions are still very relevant and make or break lives. Why? Because Your Reputation Is Everything!

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Comment from: Johan [Visitor]

His DNA doesn't match because he didn't do it. He's just a crazy guy who read too much about the case.XK0-002 exam

I think this one will continue to be unsolved unless there is a new break like a jailhouse confession and also busy in study SSCP exam. The crime scenen investigation was screwed up from the start, so this case got too hard & too old to solve. SK0-002 exam

Oct 20, 2009, 1:19 am

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JonBenet, the Ramsey Family, the Boulder Police, John Karr and Reputations in Crisis

“I was with JonBenet when she died. Her death was an accident. I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet. It's very important for me that everyone knows that I love her very much, that her death was unintentional, that it was an accident.”

Commented John Karr, the JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect and former elementary school teacher, at a press conference in Bangkok Thailand. He was visibly nervous and stuttered when he spoke.

According to A.P. a former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey -- a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her parents.

Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and one law enforcement official told the Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online.

The Ramsey family's attorney in Atlanta pronounced the arrest vindication for JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer on June 24.

``John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furor around them,'' attorney Lin Wood said. He said the Ramseys learned of the suspect a least a month before Patsy Ramsey's death.

Karr was a teacher who once lived in Conyers, Ga., according to Wood. The attorney said the Ramseys gave police information about Karr before he was identified as a suspect.

Wood would not say how the Ramseys knew Karr. But JonBenet was born in Atlanta in 1990, and the Ramseys lived in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody for several years before moving to Colorado in 1991.
An attorney for the Ramsey family said Wednesday that Karr once lived near the family in Conyers, Ga.

Wednesday's arrest was a surprise development in one of America's most lurid murder cases, which had left a cloud of suspicion over her family after years went by with no arrests. Some feared the case would never be solved.

Striking video images of the blonde-haired girl in child beauty pageants helped propel the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States.

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family's home in Boulder, Colo., on Dec. 26, 1996.

Karr was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. CBS News reported he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.

Ironically, Karr began working as a second-grade teacher in Thailand on Tuesday before he was arrested.

A few comments and questions from the Reputation Doctor regarding the recent developments in the JonBenet Ramsey case:

Finally, the Ramsey family reputation will be rehabilitated after being suspects themselves for 10 years.
This case is a prime example as to why a reputation must be defended vigorously. John Ramsey did the right thing in his first communication with the media upon the capture of John Karr in Bangkok. Ramsey said we must allow the justice system to be served and highly praised the authorities in Boulder and in Bangkok for all of their hard work and tireless dedication. He took the high road here and his reputation will be repaid for doing so. He has a reason to be upset with law enforcement and the press for the way they treated his family with 10 years of doubt of their own innocence, but he is more grateful for what is happening today. Smart man. The media is rewarding him for how he is handling the news. John Ramsey will have more to say soon, as well as others. Look for his reputation to bounce back better than ever. We love an underdog and this is a wonderful underdog story for John Ramsey personally and also vindication after death for Patsy Ramsey’s reputation too. Remember, she passed 3 lie detector tests and law enforcement, the media and the world still didn’t believe her before she died!

The Boulder Police department continues to have a reputation in crisis.
The entire Boulder police department made many big mistakes in this case and had tunnel vision focused only on John and Patsy Ramsey as alleged murder suspects of their daughter for years. Sadly, the police department will now continue to reap the consequences of their actions. Yes, they contributed to finding John Karr, but the Boulder police will not get much of the glory. They tried so mnay times to try to appear as murder investigation experts, but in reality the Boulder police were scared to death about making big mistakes in a high-profile case like this, and, as we all know now, they made many mistakes. Their amateurish, small town and sometimes cocky approach was front and center for all to see. They were trying to be the NYPD, but seriously lacked the expertise to do so.

The new Boulder district attorney, Mary Lacey, is now one of the potential heroes in this case.
Mary Lacey was not the D.A. when this case first began, but all are happy to see her in the position today. Her determination to do the right thing, pay for a proper investigation and seek the best outside advice she could get is one of the reasons for the capture of John Karr. However, the Boulder D.A. and many others, including the FBI, still have a lot of work to do on this case. Her press conference today did not really give any new information. As I always say, there is a big difference between the court of law and the court of public opinion. The law leans towards no comment and public opinion desires more information through the media. Ironically, murder suspect John Karr had more to say to the press thus far than the Boulder D.A. Without new, honest, factual information from authorities in this case, the void of info will be filled with other opinions, conjecture and innuendo. Always has been and always will be. This is one reason why no comment might work well in the court of law, but never really works in the court of public opinion. And the phones at the D.A.'s office and the Boulder police department are now ringing off the hooks again by the many hundreds of global media bureaus seeking more information. Note to both: get excellent, seasoned, outside PR counsel on the case now before it's too late. Your reputations are all on the line and this case has legs.

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Commented Floyd Landis on ABC’s Good Morning America, but Landis originally said the liquor he had the night before the stage or perhaps dehydration were possible reasons for the positive test.

According to Reuters, embattled Tour de France winner Floyd Landis vowed on Monday to clear his name.

"I have a new goal, to prove myself innocent," Landis told ABC's Good Morning America.

Samples taken from Landis during last month's Tour revealed excessive amounts of the male sex hormone testosterone and the American faces being stripped of victory and a two-year ban.

The U.S. Cycling Federation has already referred the case to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

When asked whether he had ever used any performance-enhancing drug, Landis said, 'No, I have not."

Landis originally said the liquor he had the night before the stage or perhaps dehydration were possible reasons for the positive test.

"This is where I got myself into trouble from the beginning," said the American. "I can't explain these test results because I don't know exactly how this anomaly has occurred.

"I have come out in the press and tried to explain this from the beginning. I was forced into that situation because of leaks and announcements by the UCI (International Cycling Union) themselves, against their own rules, by the way.

"And this has caused some problems for me. All of these reasons that have come up, some of them from me, some of them from other people attributed to me, we need to try to forget about that and let the experts figure out what's going on."

Meanwhile in Paris, an expert in the field of sports doping research said Landis faced an uphill task to clear his name.

"If they want to prove him innocent from a scientific point of view, they will have to re-invent physiology," Gerard Dine, a researcher and an expert with the national organization for scientific research, told Reuters on Monday.

A second Landis drugs test, or 'B' sample, was revealed over the weekend also to contain an abnormally high level of testosterone, making Landis likely to be the first Tour winner stripped of his title for doping in the 103-year history of the race.

Landis, asked whether he contradicted himself with his various reasons for the positive test, said, "Number one, the whisky idea was not mine from the beginning.

"And the dehydration was a theory from the lawyers, which I must say I hired in Spain to represent me at the opening of the B sample but was not authorized by me to say something like that.

Landis had a poor showing on the Tour's 16th stage and fell some eight minutes behind the leaders. However, he had a remarkable 17th stage to climb back into contention.

He told CBS's The Early Show the race was the "result of 15 years of hard work".

"A lot came together on the day after my bad day," he said. "I was clearly the strongest guy there from the beginning."

The UCI must now decide whether to take the title from the 30-year-old Landis and hand it to second-place finisher Oscar Pereiro of Spain. The Californian has already been sacked by his Swiss team Phonak.

When asked if he will race again and clear his name, he told CBS: "If I had to choose between the two, clearing my name is the most important one."

Should Landis get a UCI ban he would then not be able to sign up for a main circuit ProTour team for a further two years. At his age, that would effectively end his career.

A few comments and questions from the Reputation Doctor regarding cyclist Floyd Landis:

If you are innocent, why did you cancel your original "Tonight Show" interview the day after the Tour de France victory and other media major opportunities within the first few days of the crisis?
I believe Landis was afraid of the truth because of the consequences of his actions. I believe he is a doper and he is guilty. I also believe he felt he needed to hide the truth from the public. He tried unsuccessfully to hatch a plan of spin with his attorney and his agent and it all failed miserably.

If you are innocent, why are you so sheepish and nervous in the media?.
If I was innocent of such a crime, I would have much more passion to fight for my reputation in both words and actions. I would not be as worried about measuring each word that came out of my mouth because I know the truth and it would set me free. I would have been on TV immediately, on day one and willing to tell the world, especially on the Tonight Show the day following your victory. Landis, did you miss the Tonight Show episode with Hugh Grant? He moved from crisis to rehabilitation in a few small minutes of truth with a direct apology on the right TV show. Your appearance recently on the Tonight Show was a bomb. Excuses, excuses, excuses. They don't help a reputation in crisis.

Why is your lead defense a legal one? Don’t you realize this whole thing is being played out in the court of public opinion?
Even you admit your attorney made big mistakes with his comments to the media regarding drinking whiskey as the accuse for the doping test results and other dumb and lying statements. Now you are saying it may be something you ate? Earth to Landis, make sure who ever speaks for you in the press has an agreement to share those messages with you before they share them with the world through the global media! Also, hire the best reputation management expert you can find. You needed crisis PR help the day the story broke, actually the day you first took performance enhancing drugs, but you weren’t ready for help then because you were still lying to yourself! Are you finally ready for help now? Put your pride and ego aside and do the right thing before it’s too late to rehab what’s left of your rep, if not for you then for your wife and family. Remember, they have your mudded name too.

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"There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested."

Commented Mel Gibson in a statement five days after the latest incident put his reputation back in crisis.

According to Reuters, Actor Mel Gibson on Tuesday apologized for making anti-Semitic remarks in a drunken rant and asked to meet Jewish leaders, but one of them called on the Hollywood superstar to show deeds and not offer words.

"There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark," Gibson said in a statement.

"I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested," he added.

Gibson, who directed 2004's blockbuster movie "The Passion of The Christ" about the last hours of the life of Jesus, was caught speeding in his car early Friday, and he went on a rant in which he is widely reported to have said, "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department report, parts of which have appeared on celebrity Web site TMZ.com, is laced with anti-Semitic statements and expletives from the actor.

The report further said that an open bottle of tequila was found in Gibson's car.
In his statement, the Oscar-winning director of "Braveheart" and lead actor in the "Lethal Weapon" series said he had entered "an ongoing program of recovery." In the past, Gibson has admitted to having problems with alcohol.

But it has been the anti-Semitic remarks that have raised the biggest outcry in and out of Hollywood because before "Passion," a $610 million global box office sensation, Gibson denied he or the movie were anti-Semitic.

His statement on Tuesday sought a meeting with Jewish community leaders in which he could explain his actions.

"I'm not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one-on-one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing," Gibson said.

"I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery," he said.

But Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles likened the actor's statement merely to a first step.

Hier said Gibson must prove himself by completing a rehabilitation program and performing acts of goodwill such as visiting the Nazi death camps in Germany.

"We will know when the time is, but the time is certainly not when his press agents think it is," Hier said. "I certainly think he is facing his alcoholism, and now I think he needs to face the statements of bigotry and anti-Semitism the same."

Meanwhile, U.S. television network ABC said on Tuesday, it has pulled from development a miniseries about the Holocaust that it was developing with Gibson's Icon production company.

"Given that it has been nearly two years and we have yet to see the first draft of a script, we have decided to no longer pursue this project with Icon," said spokeswoman Hope Hartland.

Mel Gibson now must walk the talk and back up all the rhetoric with consistent actions for the rest of his life.
No one said reputation management was easy. After a crisis, Gibson’s reputation must be open to lots of truth, honest, humility, transparency, accountability and consistency. If he is not willing to do all of the above, his reputation is toast!

The first step of crisis management is ego management.
Gibson must leave his ego at the door with both words and actions and consistently think of his relationship with God to get him through this crisis. The humility and honest he had in his previous interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC’s Good Morning America regarding his relationship with his wife should be used as an example for how he must speak to the Jewish community, learn and remember the the horrific suffering of the Holocaust and seek a long-term relationship with the Jewish community based on truth.

Mel Gibson should apologize again in person before the L.A. sheriff, leaders from the Jewish community and his family at a press conference this week and be willing to apologize many times more, if needed.
Saying your sorry through your spokesman is not enough with a crisis like this. The apology must come from Gibson himself and have on ifs or buts in it. He should also answer a few questions to clarify his remarks and be willing to take the heat to begin the healing process with accountability. Saying I'm sorry once nevers cuts it. Mel Gibson must be willing to say he's sorry over and over again to repair the relationship he breached. As I said in an interview today on CNBC's On the Money regarding Gibson's reputation in crisis, this is more heart work than head work and as a Christian Mel Gibson should know that.

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“This is an aberration. I’m sorry. I’m contrite. I’m stupid. Foolish. No excuse.”

Commented Peter Cook, 47, Christie Brinkley’s husband, after admitting to a year-long affair with 19-year-old teen Diana Bianchi in the Hamptons.

Christie Brinkley's architect husband, Peter Cook, has publicly apologized to his estranged wife following revelations that he'd had a year-long affair with a teenage girl.

"I love my wife. I have loved her since the day I met her. Please … I love her," Cook told New York Post columnist Cindy Adams via his lawyer, Norman Sheresky. "For a lifetime, I've tried to prove how much I love her. This is an aberration. I'm sorry. I'm contrite. I'm stupid. Foolish. No excuse."

Asked about divorce plans, Sheresky said, "There is no divorce proceeding that is proceeding. Christie Brinkley has not sued her husband." Cook, he said, "hopes there's no divorce. If she wants one – and he certainly hopes this doesn't happen, but if – it will not be nasty. She can have whatever she wants."

On July 12th, Brinkley, 52, announced her separation from Cook after 10 years of marriage.

One of Brinkley’s friends told People Magazine the model was devastated by the discovery of the 47-year-old Cook's relationship with former employee Diana Bianchi, 19. Bianchi's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, is investigating a possible sexual harassment lawsuit.

Referring to Cook's relationship with Bianchi, Shereksy told the NY Post that Cook "denies that any relationship with that person was nonconsensual. … As he told it to me, quote, 'I took no advantage.' "

Explaining that Cook "got involved, in over his head somehow, and he wants to make it up to (Christie) for the rest of his life," Sheresky added, "He didn't invent adultery. He didn't invent the certain kind of person who would engage in it with him, either."

On July 18th, pop singer Samantha Cole revealed that she'd had a romantic relationship with Cook a decade ago, when she herself was 19. On Monday, Cole told MSNBC's Rita Cosby that she and Cook have "maintained our friendship through the 10 years, on and off," and that he had contacted her recently to warn her that "some people might call you."

Cole said she eventually broke up with Cook when she went to Los Angeles to record an album, adding that they'd been arguing so much that it left her voice "raspy." A month after the breakup, Cole said, Cook was engaged to Brinkley.

Brinkley so far has not commented about the separation, and on Tuesday her publicist, Elliot Mintz, told the Associated Press that he didn't think she would ask him to issue a response. "This is not the way for people to have a discourse or a discussion about private matters," he said.

According to the NY Post, Bianchi's father, Brian Platt, a local police officer, spoke with Cook several times about the architect's relationship to his daughter and each time Bianchi’s father receiving the brush off from Cook.

Now Cook must back up his apology to Brinkley with clear and appropriate actions to save both his marriage and repair his reputation.
Peter Cook did the right thing by apologizing. However, he better be prepared to apologize over and over again if Christie, the family, friends and the public ask him about the subject for the rest of his life. That is the price he must pay for his actions. If he only wants to apologize it once, his reputation is doomed. This is an important message not only for Cook, but also for his attorney. Why? This situation is less about the law and more about reputation. His attitude moving forward will dictate his latitude.

Christie Brinkley will forever be a public figure with public responsibility..
When Brinkley signed her first modeling contract many years ago, she became a public figure with public responsibilities. This happened before she ever met Billy Joel or Peter Cook. I tell all of my celebrity clients that is the day they gained a lot and gave up a lot. They are not private citizens. They are public citizens and there is a big difference with very different expectations and responsibilities. Bottom line: Christie has a public responsibility – forever. It is something Cook, Brinkley and her entire family must understand. It might not seem fair, but the entertainment and modeling business is never fair, even when you are semi-retired. Her public status lasts a lifetime, like it or not.

The Brinkley/Cook family reputation is on the line. It is time for both parents to think of their kids, first.
Christie is already trying to protect her kids by taking them away and trying to control their access to computers, radios and newspapers. Her goal is to prevent them from hearing the stories in the news about their father and stepfather, Peter Cook. She must learn how to communicate the bad news directly to her kids. They are smarter than she thinks. They will learn the truth and it is best to learn it directly from her. If she needs help doing so, she should seek help from an expert. Is Cook thinking similarly regarding protecting his kids or is he focused on myself? He must immediately begin thinking of his family first, especially the children, to best repair the damage he has done and do the right thing moving forward. His personal reputation and the reputations of Brinkley and the entire family are all on the line. Cook needs to make some important changes in his life. Honesty, transparency, accountability, humility and consistency must key pillars in his action plan and backed up with more patience than he has ever had before.

Trust and reputation are built over a lifetime, but can be gone in seconds based on our own behavior. However, they can both be repaired with the right tools and the right heart.

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Comment from: Chris31 [Visitor]

I head about that Christie Brinkley Friday won her proposal to keep her ugly divorce trial open to the world regardless of advice her kids might be hurt by what comes out.
After some days a veterinarian is being blamed of Adultery pestering by an ex-lover after he supposedly matted at his privates in his office, panted about his "unmanageable panties fetish" and sent her vulgar pictures from a cell-phone camera.
642-356 exam , 650-059 exam , NS0-153 exam

Jul 30, 2009, 11:42 pm

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“I can't regret what I did because it would mean that he was right to say all that.”

Commented French soccer star Zinedane Zidane in a ridiculous attempt at an apology after getting thrown out of the World Cup final against Italy for angrily head-butting Italian soccer star Marco Materazzi in the chest.

According to ChronWatch.com, Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, the 34-year-old superstar of international soccer, claims to have been goaded into the vicious head-butt of his opponent’s sternum because of insults his Italian foe leveled at his mother.

His impulsive act – which disbarred him from the closing minutes of a tied game – probably cost his team the World Cup, his country a degree of pride absent for years, and the chance to heal the racial divide that recently saw various communities in France rioting in the streets.

In short, Zidane could have healed that divide by uniting France under the banner of a world championship, but he blew it. It was no isolated incident: Zidane had been kicked out of a Champion’s League match for head-butting another player in 2001, as well as stamping an opponent in the 1998 World Cup in response to an “insult”. Altogether, he’s been kicked out of 14 games in his career.

Zadine's immature and extremely violent reaction to the words – mere words – of his opponents recalls another world-class athlete and his very different response to provocations far worse than anything the pampered, multimillionaire European soccer star faced last week.

Jackie Robinson, as everyone knows, was Major League Baseball's first black player and, unlike Zadine, a man of great integrity. Robinson, by dint of his character, refused to be goaded into losing his head, even as he faced indignities and provocations that were far more egregious than those Zadine ever encountered. In fact, Robinson, against all odds, kept his eye on the prize, i.e., his country, his race and his sense of personal dignity.

Today, sadly, "the prize" seems to be – Zidane is a good example - utter self-interest. Robinson didn’t lose his head because he appreciated that not only did his Brooklyn Dodger teammates need his talents to help them get to the World Series (which they played in 6 times in Robinson’s 10-year career) but that millions of black Americans depended on him to help forge a new future for them in the United States. Jackie knew that their hopes depended on his behavior.

One can only imagine Mr. Robinson laughing an ironic laugh at the excuse Zadine offered: "You mean someone said something mean about his mother? That would have been a good day for me!"

And, of course, it would have been, for a couple of not nice words were the least of what Jackie Robinson faced every day he put on his Dodgers uniform -- words so vile that today we only describe them with their first letter (the “n” word).

But Robinson faced more than mere words. More than once, opposing managers ordered their pitchers to throw 100-mile-per-hour fastballs at his head. Many players slid into second base, cleats high, in order to injure or intimidate him. Death threats were not uncommon.

But Jackie Robinson, unlike Zidane, was an uncommon man. In spite of treatment never endured to that extent – before or since – by any other major sports figure, he persevered, winning Baseball’s highest honors: the Rookie of the Year award in 1947, the Most Valuable Player award in 1949, a world’s championship in 1955 and election to the Hall of Fame in 1962. All this while winning the hearts and minds of Americans and changing the world in doing so.

Jackie Robinson once said that an individual life is not important, except in its impact on the lives of others. If only Zidane had understood these words before he chose to resort to violence in front of a billion people, many millions of them children who considered him a hero.

Zidane chose to hit the man who taunted him. Jackie Robinson chose to ignore the men who taunted him. Instead, he hit a baseball.

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding Zidane vs. Jackie Robinson:

Zidane’s false pride would not allow him to give a true apology.
As I’ve said many times, a true apology has no ifs or buts. Zidane tried to justify his actions instead of taking full responsibility for his actions.

One’s character and reputation are built in the verbal line of fire.
Trash talking in sports worldwide is as old as sports itself. How do you handle both the pressure of the game and the pressure of insults from others, including trash talking of all kinds in the game? You do so like a champion with great patience and the ability to block out anything in the way of reaching your goal. Obviously Zidane failed miserable in handling the pressure. As a result, it will affect his reputation for life. He let down his team, he let down his family, he let down his country and, most importantly, he let down himself, and his pride still stands in the gap of reality/humility and stupidity.

Zidane didn’t have a worst-case scenario plan for his reputation, but Jackie Robinson did.
Branch Rickey chose Jackie Robinson to be the first African-American player in Major League Baseball for not only his excellent playing ability, but also for his great character. Jackie Robinson had to handle racism and death threats on a daily basis from baseball fans, players on other teams and even fellow team members. Rickey helped Robinson to expect the worst and think of something greater than himself to overcome the pain of the daily threats. Rickey worked personally with Jackie Robinson to handle the verbal and physical threats both on the field and in life off the field. Robinson had a plan and Zidane didn’t. As a result, Zidane’s legacy and reputation will be forever tarnished.

I am proud to say I have done some PR work over the years for with the Jackie Robinson Foundation and I am privileged to know Jackie Robinson’s wife Rachel and her daughter Sharon Robinson, who now works for Major League Baseball, as friends. Jackie Robinson’s reputation is in safe hands because of the legacy he left for his family. His character lives on within the entire Robinson family and is an excellent example for us all.

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Comment from: tessa [Visitor]

omg thats ok im glad they won

Mar 4, 2010, 9:41 am

Comment from: quishawn [Visitor] · http://yahoo

My brother and i are making a project for his class project and we had thought that we should do one on jackie robinson.

so before we go we would just like to say "WE LOVE AND MISS YOU JACKIE

Mar 10, 2010, 3:56 pm

Comment from: charlottenz [Visitor]

Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, the 34-year-old superstar of international soccer, claims to have been goaded into the vicious head-butt of his opponent's sternum because of insults his Italian foe leveled at his mother. MB2-632 exam
His impulsive act - which got him barred from the closing minutes of a tied game - probably helped cost his team the World Cup and MB2-631 exam, his country a degree of pride absent for years, and the chance to heal the racial divide that recently saw various communities in France rioting in the streets. In short, Zidane could have healed that divide by uniting France under the banner of a world championship, but he blew it JN0-311 exam.

Oct 20, 2009, 1:56 am

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Barbara Walters, to Star Jones, on the day Jones announced she was leaving The View.

“Barbara and Bill orchestrated this from day one. She's known since April she didn't want to renew my contract.”

According to the Southbend Tribune, many of us will never have the chance to stick it to our boss on national TV, a la Star Jones Reynolds in last week's dust-up with Barbara Walters over Star’s departure from the ABC talk show "The View." The goal is to leave a job gracefully and maintain your dignity. It seems Star Jones, Barbara Walters and ABC all have lessons to learn in how to handle future employment and exit challenges.

Star, whose contract was not renewed for next season, “ambushed” co-producer Walters on Tuesday with the surprise announcement that she would not return to the show in the fall. She had been set to make the departure public Thursday.

Last Wednesday Walters told viewers, "We worked closely with her representatives, and we gave her time to look for another job. And we hoped that she would announce it here on the program and leave with dignity."

Whether in front of the camera or inside the confines of a cubicle, there are dos and don'ts to telling the boss that you're out of here." A person's reputation is a very valuable asset, and a messy resignation can harm that," said Mike Crant, a professor of management at Notre Dame.

Alexandra Levit, author of "They Don't Teach Corporate in College," agreed: "If you've worked so hard to achieve a strong reputation in the company, to have it diminished in the last couple of weeks is a waste."

In her book, she gives tips to "fireproof your bridges and make a smooth exit," such as tell your boss first, give two to four weeks' notice, and to stay for that full period.

"Unless they ask you to leave immediately ... you're expected to stay on top of your responsibilities until 5 p.m. on your last day," Levit said.

Emotions can run high during these times, but Kathy Roberts, a senior professional in human resources and operations administrator at Press Ganey in South Bend, stressed maintaining professionalism no matter the reaction from your employer or your personal feelings. Even when you have one foot out of the door, Levit warns not to let everything you may have been holding in off of your chest.

"Resist the urge to bad-mouth people in your company during exit interviews," she said. "It might be true, but you never know when you're going to run into these people again. ... A lot of times, industries are very small."

"At that point, you're leaving, so what good does it do?" she added. "You want to leave under as good circumstances as possible."

"How a person was hired and fired should be between the employer and the employee, and not made public," said Fran Boykins, the president of Michiana's Society for Human Resource Management chapter.

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding Star Jones, Barbara Walters and ABC's The View debacle:

Humility was lacking by all.
Star was not humble. Barbara was not humble and ABC was not humble. Spinning and hiding the truth was the approach of the day and all took a reputational hit as a result.

Burning bridges never helps..
ABC is owned by Disney and Disney is a major player in the entertainment business. Star Jones Reynolds will never be welcomed back in the Disney family. It didn’t have to be that way. She made her choice and must also live with the consequences of her choice and her communication.

Can’t we all just get along?
Reputation management 101: when someone has to choose between their own reputation and another’s, they will choose their own reputation first ever time. As a result, Star is defending herself and ABC is defending the rest of the ABC family, including Barbara Walters. Star is no longer on the ABC team and is now considered the enemy. Why? Because of Star’s attitude and comments upon leaving - even when ABC and Barbara Walters handled the situation poorly themselves. Ultimately, Star's attitude demonstrated her latitude – about curb high. Some are now calling her the Omarosa of daytime TV.

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“If ugly things can get swept under the rug, they will, which is why it is essential that organizations have a comprehensive system in place for getting out in front of small problems before they become big problems.”

According to Syrus Global, from Hollinger to Enron, much has been reported about corporate scandals and poor ethical decisions, but the debate continues as to whether the wrongs were caused by a few bad apples or a culture of playing fast and loose.

Alice Peterson, expert and president of ethics and corporate governance firm Syrus Global, offers five tips to help executives and corporate boards avoid being the focus of the next scandal to hit the headlines.

"Creating an honest culture is certainly aided by the much ballyhooed 'tone at the top,' but that's not enough," said Alice Peterson. "You need to be sure that when your employees make decisions, they come up with answers that serve the shareholders' best long-term interests -- meaning a good economic outcome is probable and good ethical judgment has been exercised. Employees need to be educated about what the law says you can and cannot do. When an employee (or a vendor or other partner) knows about violations of their company's accepted code of conduct -- and boy, do they know -- they must be able to anonymously and safely let someone know about it without any fear of reprisal."

According to a recent report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), as many as sixty percent of employees have observed violations of law or company standards. Other studies report similar results.

Peterson offers the following tips to help you create a culture that will discourage ethical lapses and strengthen your corporate reputation:

1. Listen to your employees, partners and vendors: Encourage employees, partners and vendors to come forward regarding wrongdoing they might have witnessed. Tell them repeatedly that your company doesn't tolerate retaliation, and encourage use of the "open door." Provide them with confidential ways to report wrongdoing that ensure anonymity. You will glean critical information when employees, partners and vendors know they can speak up comfortably and anonymously. According to the 2004 ACFE report, the most common way employers detect fraud, by far, is anonymous tips.

2. Have a disciplined process for dealing with reports of wrongdoing: According to Alice Peterson, "As the saying goes, 'what gets measured gets done.' If ugly things can get swept under the rug, they will, which is why it is essential that organizations have a comprehensive system in place for getting out in front of small problems before they become big problems." Consolidate findings from internal audits, the ethics office and confidential employee reporting into a single database. If you can identify problems and patterns of unethical behavior as they emerge, you can address them before they escalate into bigger issues.

3. Take swift and determined action when it is called for: Make it clear to employees that illegal activity is not tolerated, and that your company expects of its employees an even higher standard of values and code of conduct than is required by law.

4. Provide effective learning opportunities for employees: Most people are willing to do the right thing, but they may need to be educated about what the law really says or how your company's values are interpreted in the everyday. Stuart C. Gilman, past president of the Ethics Resource Center (ERC), has publicly called it both "naïve and dangerous to assume that everyone knows 'ethics.'" A systematic training program for employees helps establish the seriousness of a specific code of business conduct that begins on the employee's first day on the job. And, the ERC's 2005 National Business Ethics Study® found that formal programs can indeed make a difference in weaker cultures. "It's like the lines on the highway," says Peterson. "If there are none, you're likely to drive a bit all over the place -- but when shown where to drive, people stay within the lines."

5. Ensure that your board of directors vigilantly oversees the creation of an ethical culture: Peterson, who is also a member of public company and non-profit boards, says, "It starts in the boardroom. Directors are charged with hiring and regularly reviewing the CEO, overseeing strategy and planning, and understanding risk. Assuring that a company has a strong ethical culture is part of their monitoring and oversight. They must ask tough questions, and not settle for lame answers."

"Building an ethical and responsible culture is the first step to creating a strong reputation -- and a strong reputation creates pathways to greatness. If your company turns a blind eye to unethical behavior, the storms that will inevitably ensue will be difficult and costly to weather," adds Peterson. "Set a strict standard and make sure people know that ethics are non-negotiable. That way, when you turn up on CNN, it's more likely to be for the right reasons."

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor for all of us regarding ethics in the workplace:

Don’t treat employees who report unethical behavior like criminals, instead treat them like confidential heroes.
We need to stop treating unethical behavior inappropriately. A huge step in the right direction is to treat employee who report inappropriate behavior as confidential heroes and not criminals! Purging the corporation of wrongdoing should be the goal and to do so it requires the purging of attitudes of protection and creating an atmosphere and culture of truth.

Transparency and accountability are two very important bricks in reputation management..
Reputations are built with bricks. Transparency must be demonstrated. To do so, executives must have several consistency examples each month to allow all to see the corporation will build integrity by praising and rewarding ethical behavior and have zero tolerance and punishment for unethical behavior.

How are you doing with ethics as both a corporate leader and a human being?
Ethics is often described as science or study of morality or the principles of conduct governing an individual or group; concerns for what is right or wrong, good or bad. Let’s see. If you had to be evaluated today, would you have an excellent ethical evaluation? Here is a new and important ethical measurement tool for us all: conduct yourself in private the same way you do when your boss, wife, parent and children are seated in front of you. Imagine a hidden camera can see all of your decisions no matter where you are. Here is an even bigger challenge. If you believe in God, isn’t doing the right thing, honesty, accountability, transparency, humility and consistency all supposed to be our behavioral standard every day because He sees all? This is something to think about very seriously. Ethical behavior defines who you really are.

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Comments:

Comment from: Smith [Visitor]

This page will outline how to build an ethical culture and recognize the tools and best performs of companies that are doing it right. Building an ethical culture takes time, and while it is not as easy as flicking a control, it is not as difficult as many companies may think. The profit pay you back in the form of less fraud, less risk, less proceedings and safer, more contented workers. And happy employees make happy customers, which will have an obvious crash on the bottom line.
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Aug 4, 2009, 5:09 am

Comment from: chad [Visitor] · http://pledgetostayfit.com

Great info.I love the "fork in the road" pic. I like all your post.I will keep visiting this blog very often.It is good to see you verbalise from the heart and your clarity on this important subject can be easily observed.

Mar 9, 2010, 9:46 pm

Comment from: payday loans [Visitor] · http://www.paydaytown.com

I am completely impressed with the article I have just read. I wish the writer of www.mikepaulblog.com can continue to provide so much practical information and unforgettable experience to www.mikepaulblog.com readers. There is not much to tell except the following universal truth: Leaning on your horn longer than 3 seconds is indicative of psychopathy I will be back.

Feb 13, 2010, 4:31 pm

Comment from: Franz [Visitor] · http://www.reputationsverteidiger.de

It's incredible that 60% of employees noticed a violation of company rules. I guess in every job there is at one point the opportunity to steal or behave not company conform. It probably all comes back to the hiring process.

Feb 13, 2010, 9:06 pm

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“Be truthful, no matter what the consequences. It always comes out in the end.”

Commented Freddy Delgado, former Enron trial juror and Houston elementary school principal, as he recently spoke to a class of high school government students.

According the Houston Chronicle, the speaker asked the following question: "How many of you know about Enron?"

The teens sat as still as mannequins, their eyes assiduously studying the wood grain of the tables in the Davis High School library in Houston. Nary a hand rose.

Friday was Enron day at the Texan school as Delgado, principal of Golfcrest Elementary, shared his experiences as a juror in the trial of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling with students in Robert Lee's senior U.S. government class for the summer term.

Lee hoped the students would hear a rousing endorsement of the jury system — one that would propel them to the courthouse on the wings of civic pride when their own jury summons came. But for at least some, Enron was just a name on a sports stadium.

Then came a startling admission: Delgado confided that he, too, had known nothing about the failed energy giant. Eyes snapped to attention. Then he confessed that he desperately had tried to shuck his jury duty. "I told them I had more important things to do," he said. "I had a school to run."

For the next 60 minutes, Delgado taught a lesson in civic responsibility, corporate morality and the beauty of the U.S. justice system that had the now-attentive students sitting on the edge of their seats.

"Always tell the truth," he admonished them, calling that adage the primary lesson to be learned from Enron's collapse and Lay and Skilling's convictions. "Be truthful, no matter what the consequences. It always comes out in the end."

Lay and Skilling didn't, he said, and, as a result, likely will serve prison time.

"These were very smart men," Delgado said. "Mr. Lay was older. He was well-respected. He gave millions to the community ... Maybe it started small and they kept on hiding. One thing wrong, and they just kept on building. Why they did it — who knows?"

Delgado, a dapper, slightly pudgy man with a schoolmaster's sure sense of his audience, confessed that the 61 days of trial testimony at times were befuddling. Although attorneys largely succeeded in simplifying abstruse business practices, jurors often had to put their heads together to comprehend witnesses' testimony.

"They were accountants," Delgado told the students. "They mumbled, and I didn't know anything about what they talked about. Math never was my best subject. Fortunately, we got to take notes."

Delgado said he and other jurors vacillated — first thinking the defendants were innocent, then guilty.

"We considered all the evidence," he said. "We were very thorough. We had 20 boxes of evidence. We had videos. Whenever we had a question about what was said, we'd look at the videos. But we went back and forth ... That went on until the last day."

"I had to," Delgado answered. "If I hadn't, I would have been arrested by a U.S. marshal."

"Fortunately, I got Fridays off," he continued. "At least I could go and check on things at school. The jurors were like a little family. Some of the women cooked. One brought ropa vieja, that's a Cuban dish. I brought the black beans."

Delgado told students he hoped the fate of Lay and Skilling would send a cautionary message to business leaders everywhere.

Later, he added that he hoped it would send a message to the students as well: If you go to work in corporate America, don't allow yourself to be corrupted by a desire for wealth.

Michael Zamora, a 16-year-old student who aspires to be a lawyer, said he found Delgado's presentation insightful. "I followed the trial in the newspaper, and I heard so much about it," he said. "It was an honor that someone who went through the trial would come talk to us. Enron was so big. It affected the economy.

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor for all of us regarding lessons from the principal and the Enron jury:

Principal Delgado is a man with a reputation of integrity.
We should be proud there are still many excellent teachers and principals in the U.S. education system. We hear some much about the crises and so little about the victories. Principal Delgado is truly a man with a reputation of integrity. He did the right thing in providing a valuable service to the public as an excellent juror and he was willing to share his experience with humility and honesty with high school students. He is worthy of praise.

The entire Enron jury should also be praised for quickly returning to their private lives without turning the verdict into a Hollywood sideshow..
The Enron jury could have lost their integrity by seeking to cash in on the Enron verdict immediately after the verdict, but didn’t. For doing so, they should be praised and earned a reputation of humility themselves. In a world now filled with shock journalism for all, their example is an excellent one for all of us. They did an excellent job on the jury and moved on. Three cheers for the Enron jury.

If integrity is not around you, seek it wherever it is.
An important message for high school kids seeking to do the right thing everywhere: if integrity is not found at home or at school, seek integrity wherever it is. Whether it is within a mentor, a trustworthy friend, pastor, counselor, your grandparents or even an elderly friend, the search will be well worth it and hopefully stay with you for a lifetime. Flee from the knuckleheads in your life and seek friendships, relationships and work with others on the path towards truth and integrity. Doing so will help you build an excellent reputation.

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Said Elizabeth Taylor, the 74-year-old legendary actress this week on CNN’s Larry King Live to defend her reputation.

According to E! Entertainment, Elizabeth Taylor is speaking out against tabloid "death watch" reports that she's gravely ill and fighting a losing battle—or any battle—with Alzheimer's disease.

In her first television interview in three years, the legendary Dame scoffed at the rumors on Larry King Live Tuesday night, claiming she's never suffered from the debilitating disease and that reports to the contrary are simply "dirty."

"Oh, come on, do I look like I'm dying?" she said on the CNN show. "Do I look like or sound like I have Alzheimer's?"

When asked by King what prompted the widely circulated death bed reports, Taylor placed the blame squarely on the press, saying they publish the made-up tales "because they have nothing else dirty to write about anybody else. They won't let me retire."

The suspendered host kicked off the questioning by asking to "clear up some things. A lot of tabloid stories about you."

The 74-year-old screen legend has recently been the subject of a flurry of grave headlines that came in the wake of a National Enquirer cover story titled "Liz Alzheimer's Tragedy." The story, appearing in the tabloid's June 5 issue, cited a "longtime friend" of the actress alleging that Taylor was being treated for the onset of the disease and that doctors were worried the one-woman perfumery was "slipping mentally."

"Do you think any friends of mine would say things like that?" she said when asked about the National Enquirer story.

"I think they're trying to sell magazines and the only way they can do it is by being dirty...They like filth. And if they want to hear that I'm dead, sorry, folks, I'm not. And I don't plan on it."

While Taylor is far from her death bed, she did admit that she's not quite at the peak of her health, responding to King's query over why she was in a wheelchair.

"My back, which has been chronically bad since I was a teenager," she said. "I was born with scoliosis. But not too many people—you know now."

"No...No. I've been there, I've done that," Taylor said, referring to a bout of pneumonia she battled in London which resulted in doctors pronouncing her dead no fewer that four times.

The three-time Oscar recipient also touched on a relationship that's left many baffled, her longtime friendship with Michael Jackson.

She said that she befriended the eccentric pop star after attending a concert but leaving halfway through after her seats in the nose-bleed section kept her from being able to see or hear the performance.

"Michael heard that I had left halfway through, and called me the next day, and was like in tears because he had heard that I'd walked out," she said. "I hadn't walked out. I just couldn't see anything."

She said the duo talked on the phone for upwards of three hours and kept talking and eventually met and "just became really good friends."

As for the child-molestation charges brought against Jackson in 2004, Taylor said simply, "I've never been so angry in my life."

She also appeared to dash the hopes of any eager fans awaiting the release of Jackson's long-promised Hurricane Katrina charity single, telling King she doubted her friend would ever work or live in the U.S. again.

To maintain your good reputation, you must consistently defend it.
Elizabeth Taylor was very wise to go on Larry King's show to defend her reputation and prove by sight and sound that she is doing well and very much alive. However, if she defended her reputation and honor much earlier, she would have done a much better job of reputation management and reduced the damage to her reputation with a proactive strategy.

As a legendary star, you must remember you will always be a public personality for the rest of your life.
As I have told all of my entertainment and celebrity clients over the years, when you sign your name on the dotted line with your first contract in the entertainment business, you gain a lot and also give up a lot. You gain the opportunity to have a successful career, lots of money and a celebrity reputation. You also give up most of your private life for the rest of your life and you are expected to be a role model in society and the opinion of the critics, fans and others in society matter, if you value your reputation. Remember, when you enter show business, you are always in show business and you also have a public responsibility whether you like it or not.

Your reputation is always greatly influenced by the friends you keep too.
Liz Taylor’s friendship with Michael Jackson is also allowing mud to splatter on her own reputation. The mud is not because she is simply friends with Michael, but because she is not willing to speak out against his behavior. Bottom line: love the person, but be honest and transparent about his inappropriate behavior with children. As a friend, this is best to help Michael Jackson with accountability and also best to maintain your own reputation.

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“I firmly believe I'm innocent of the charges against me. We believe that God, in fact, is in control and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the Lord.”

Comments from Ken Lay minutes after he was found guilty of conspiracy, lying, bank fraud and insider trading in the largest corporate crisis in U.S. history. The collapse of Enron, which wiped out more than $89 billion in market value, also left 5,600 employees jobless and owed at least $1 billion in benefits.

According to A.P. and the San Francisco Chronicle the Enron boys will spend the rest of their lives in prison. From comfy corner offices, they engaged in chicanery that fleeced shareholders and pensioners. When misconduct was exposed, their company unraveled with breathtaking speed. Now, Enron's Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, found guilty of conspiracy and fraud, face hundreds of years in the hoosegow.

They're the last -- and many would say, worst -- of the gang of white-collar criminals who've danced through headlines in the past few years. While Enron is the most visible icon for corporate skulduggery, it was only one of a parade of notorious cases that came to represent to average citizens everything that was wrong with corporate America.

"Skilling and Lay will go down as symbols of the excesses of the 1990s and early 2000s," said Kirk Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

From louche party-thrower Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco to the Rigas family at Adelphia, a rogue's gallery of other top executives also fed public disgust with that excess.

"Hubris very quickly can overtake a business leader," Hanson said. "If you've been on the cover of Business Week or Fortune, you get the idea you can do no wrong. You think if there's evidence to the contrary, it must be an error so you can correct it by falsifying the books."

Cooking the books in order to pocket millions -- or hundreds of millions -- in lucre to fund lavish lifestyles was a theme for a range of top executives who've faced trials in the past few years.

There was Tyco Chief Executive Officer Kozlowski with the infamous $2 million birthday bash for his wife on Sardinia, featuring an ice sculpture of Michelangelo's David that spewed vodka. There was Adelphia CEO John Rigas and his two sons who treated the company as their personal piggy bank to fund dozens of vacation homes, the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and their own golf course. (That family reportedly inspired the late, lamented TV show "Arrested Development," which portrayed the patriarch of a family business doing time for fraud.)

"I'm happy to see Kenny Lay and the Boys -- as Howard Dean used to call them -- get strung up," said David Krikorian of Cincinnati, who was inspired by the cavalcade of corporate crime to create a deck of playing cards called Wall Street's Most Wanted. "I hope they go to jail for a long time."

Lay was the deck's Ace of Spades -- "the worst of the worst," Krikorian said -- and Skilling was its King of Spades. To Krikorian's surprise, the deck struck a nerve, with securities lawyers, accountants and business professors snapping up copies as a fun way to broach the subject of corporate ethics.

Some high-profile cases were more modest in scope. Domestic doyenne Martha Stewart and star investment banker Frank Quattrone were tried for obstruction of justice rather than financial wrongdoing. Stewart has emerged after serving five months of prison time as successful as ever. Quattrone's guilty verdict was overturned in March and his lawyers are in negotiations to avert another trial.

Santa Clara University's Hanson said the corporate greed was the flip side of the success of the stock market's go-go days at the turn of the millennium.

"When the bubble burst, a certain percentage of corporate executives tried to hang on by their fingernails through cooking the books and outright fraud," he said. "The critical moment was really the third quarter of 2001, when the earnings of many high-flying companies dropped. When that occurred, you had some executives who said, 'I don't want my wealth to evaporate' and they began to manipulate things, although the Enron manipulations were much earlier."

Sadly, another series of abuses has recently come to light, he said, with revelations that at least a score of companies may have backdated stock options to give top executives instant paper riches.

But ultimately, the Enron fallout has yielded some positives, too, spurring the tough new Sarbanes-Oxley regulations that tighten controls on how companies and executives handle finances.

"I think the developments over the past four years are good for American capitalism," Hanson said. "Sarbanes-Oxley impresses upon every corporate board member and every corporate executive that they personally are accountable."

-- The case: Energy giant Enron went from the country's seventh-most-valuable company to a colossal bankruptcy filing in late 2001. Prosecutors said Lay and other executives schemed to hide Enron's debt and inflate its profits, fooling investors about its house-of-cards frailty so they could reap millions from its inflated stock.
-- The verdict: Guilty on six counts including conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud. Guilty on four counts in separate bank-fraud trial.
-- Current status: Free until Sept. 11 sentencing. Faces maximum 165 years in prison.

-- The case: Same as above
-- The verdict: Guilty on 18 counts of conspiracy and fraud and one (of 10) counts of insider trading.
-- Current status: Free until Sept. 11 sentencing. Faces maximum 185 years in prison.

-- The case: Same as above
-- The verdict: Pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy. Sentenced to maximum 10 years. Agreed to testify against Lay and Skilling.
-- Current status: Due to start sentence in July. His wife, Lea Fastow, pled guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and completed a one-year sentence in July.

-- The case: In the biggest corporate fraud in history, WorldCom imploded in 2002. The bankruptcy wiped out stock in a company worth $115 billion at its peak. Prosecutors said Ebbers cooked the books to the tune of $11 billion in fake earnings.
-- The verdict: Guilty on all nine counts of conspiracy, securities fraud and filing false reports with regulators. Sentenced to 25 years.
-- Current status: Free pending appeal.

-- The case: Prosecutors said Kozlowski, along with former Tyco CFO Mark Swartz, looted some $600 million from the manufacturing conglomerate to fund their lavish lifestyles. Testimony about opulent parties and $6,000 shower curtains enlivened the trial.
-- The verdict: Guilty on 22 counts of grand larceny, conspiracy, securities fraud and falsifying business records. Sentenced to eight years, three months to 25 years in prison. Swartz also guilty.
-- Current status: Incarcerated in Mid-State Correctional Facility, Marcy, N.J. With good behavior, eligible for parole six years, 11 months from September 2005 start of sentence.

Frank Quattrone, 50 | CONVICTION OVERTURNED
Investment banker, Credit Suisse First Boston

-- The case: Prosecutors said Quattrone obstructed justice when he encouraged his employees to clean up files while the firm was being investigated for allegedly dispensing shares in IPOs to important clients.
-- The verdict: Guilty of obstruction of justice; sentenced to 18 months in prison in second trial after first ended in hung jury. Conviction overturned in March by appeals court, which said judge gave erroneous jury instructions.
-- Current status: Has remained free during appeals process. Case assigned to new judge for retrial. His lawyers filed papers this month asking for a delay while they negotiate with prosecutors to avert a third trial.

-- The case: Prosecutors said Rigas and sons Timothy and Michael looted $100 million from the TV cable company and hid $2.3 billion of debt. Adelphia ran so low on cash that it declared bankruptcy.
-- The verdict: Guilty of 18 counts of conspiracy and securities and bank fraud. Sentenced to 15 years in prison.
-- Current status: Free, pending appeal. Timothy, sentenced to 20 years, is also free pending appeal. Michael pleaded guilty to making false financial entry; sentenced to 10 months home confinement.

-- The case: Chain of rehabilitation and medical services centers overstated earnings by $2.7 billion over seven years starting in 1996. Scrushy blamed 15 former HealthSouth execs who pleaded guilty.
-- The verdict: Acquitted on all counts of conspiracy, false reporting, fraud and money laundering. Former HealthSouth CFO Bill Owens was sentenced to five years in December.
-- Current status: On trial for allegedly paying $500,000 bribe to former Alabama governor in exchange for seat on state board. Remains one of HealthSouth's largest shareholders.

-- The case: Stewart sold stock in biotech company ImClone just before it nose-dived. Prosecutors said she was tipped off by her buddy, ImClone CEO Sam Waksal and then lied about it.
-- The verdict: Guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
-- Current status: Released March 2005 after five months in Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. Served five months and three weeks of home confinement.

Both Lay and Skilling have been freed on $6.5 million bond ahead of sentencing on September 11, 2006 and are set to appeal.

Thou shall not steal.
Ken Lay needs to remember this important commandment before he tries to spin the world with his false pride masked behind his broken faith. God will ultimately hold him accountable for his many corrupt lies and years of immoral and unethical decisions.

It is time for Ken Lay to stop lying to himself.
In my opinion, Ken Lay has been lying to himself and others for many, many years. He now has to live with the consequences of his actions. Prison will bear down on him and give him many years to face the truth head on. It will eat at him like a disease until he faces reality.

A lesson for us all.
The entire Enron tragedy and the corrupt leaders within it offer valuable lessons for us all. It is an excellent time to review our own hearts and decisions because the slippery slope is a short ride away. What are you doing to avoid becoming a Ken Lay?

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Royal Caribbean’s Reputation In Further Crisis – Another Person Goes Overboard and Presumed Dead!

Comments from Coast Guard Petty Officer Dana Warr on learning Royal Caribbean’s digital cameras saw Daniel DiPiero go overboard about 8 hours before officially contacting law enforcement.

According to the Associated Press, the air and sea search for a 21-year-old cruise ship passenger who fell overboard while the ship steamed from Florida to the Bahamas was called off Wednesday afternoon.

Security camera footage from the Royal Caribbean ship Mariner of the Seas showed Daniel DiPiero falling overboard about 2 a.m. Monday. A review of ship camera footage last showed DiPiero Monday on the fourth deck, leaning on a rail near the front of the ship, Coast Guard Petty Officer Dana Warr said.

Warr said search efforts for DiPiero, 21, of Canfield, Ohio, ceased at 2:47 p.m. Wednesday. “We found no evidence of survival.”

DiPiero's friends notified ship personnel at 11 a.m. Monday that he had not slept in his stateroom.

Warr said the Coast Guard received the "man overboard" report around 7 p.m. "I don't know why the eight-hour difference," he said.

Royal Caribbean spokesman Michael Sheehan said Royal Caribbean waited to alert the Coast Guard because it first wanted to make sure the missing passenger was not on board the Mariner, which can carry up to 3,100 passengers, or on the company's private Coco Cay island, where the ship docked Monday.

"It takes time to determine the person isn't on ship or on a known location," he said.

Two planes - a C-130 and a HU-25 Falcon jet - along with the Dolphin, a Coast Guard cutter, had been searching for DiPiero since Monday evening with the help of the Bahamian Air and Sea Rescue Association.

Trace Kirk, FBI resident agent in charge on St. Thomas, boarded the ship with four agents and four U. S. Coast Guard officers when it docked at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Havensight.

"The area we searched based on the time the camera recorded is deep ocean. There's no island out in that area," Warr said.

The team spent four hours on board interviewing DiPiero's six friends who boarded the ship with him at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

They reviewed the digital footage from the ship's security systems. The recording showed DiPiero alone on the starboard side of the ship on Deck 4 between 12:12 and 2:16 a.m. Monday. Investigators confirmed that the young man went overboard at 2:16 a.m. Monday.

During the interview process, investigators learned that waiters served DiPiero five drinks between 8 p.m. and midnight. During dinner, DiPiero shared one and a half bottles of wine with friends.

The young man and his friends brought additional liquor aboard the ship, Royal Caribbean spokesman Michael Sheehan said.

Sheehan said DiPiero and his three roommates took three bottles of liquor aboard the ship concealed in their luggage. The alcohol was transported in two large mouthwash bottles. A bottle of rum hidden in luggage also was brought aboard. Sheehan also said the smuggled liquor was a violation of Royal Caribbean policy.

The four men began drinking the alcohol after they boarded Sunday and captured the private party on personal video, investigators said.

The FBI boarded the ship Wednesday to review the case and close the cruise line's investigation, Sheehan said.

Members of the DiPiero family were to arrive Wednesday evening and meet with officials aboard the ship before it departed for St. Maarten.

Ed Thomas, CEO of ship's agent West Indian Co., said the Mariner of the Seas changed departure time Wednesday to 11 p.m. from 8 p.m. to wait for the arrival of DiPiero's parents and two younger sisters.

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding Royal Caribbean’s latest crisis:

• Time is precious when a person is missing on a moving ship and 8 hours is far too much time to wait to inform law enforcement of a man overboard.
To best build trust, credibility and a lack of cover-up, Royal Caribbean should have contacted law enforcement within the first hour of searching for the missing passenger, especially after being in a crisis for a similar tragedy within the same year. If Royal Caribbean's current security takes more than an hour to determine life or death, they need help.

• Perception is reality. Do the right thing to avoid a lack of trust and a reputation in crisis.
Where were the security officers or alarms when he went over board at about 2 am? Drunk or not, why did the passenger go over board? Why isn’t there better technology to help located passengers outside on the deck, especially at night? How much alochol did Royal Caribbean serve him and why didn't security find the smuggled alcohol befroe they entered the ship? What kind of security is that? These questions must be answered honestly and humbly by Royal Caribbean to best improve their reputation.

• Admit mistakes and take full responsibility for poor security or continue to be in crisis.
Royal Caribbean has a few simple choices to make: admit your mistakes and fix them or continue in crisis. Also, reputations are not built with laws, reputations are built with excellent reputation management experts who help both individuals and businesses to be more transparent, accountable and honest. It is time to realize these facts today before it is too late. The truth will set you free.

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The Da Vinci Code: Reputation As Fact-Filled Book Irritates Some Biblical Scholars

“My hope for The Da Vinci Code was, in addition to entertaining people, that it might serve as an open door for readers to begin their own explorations and rekindle their interest in topics of faith.”

Experts agree: Dan Brown got most of his facts wrong. According to the Dallas Morning News, yes, it’s fiction, but author’s “fact” claims irritate scholars.

Religion scholars have been whacking The Da Vinci Code like a low-hanging piñata. The swings have come from establishment Christianity – the Vatican and the Archbishop of Canterbury – and from the fringes of the faith – a member of the liberal Jesus Seminar and the agnostic historian Bart Ehrman.

At least 44 books debunking The Da Vinci Code are for sale at Amazon.com, several written by serious academics or well-known pastors. And with the movie starring Tom Hanks scheduled to open in a little over a week, surely more are in the pipeline.

Why do serious people take the book so seriously? The Da Vinci Code is fiction. A novel. It says so right on the cover. That means the writer is allowed to make stuff up.

The critics have at least 46 million reasons to want to set the record straight. That's the number of copies Mr. Brown has sold worldwide. And the movie may play to an even larger audience.

But popularity alone can't explain the cascade of criticism, even if you figure that many of the authors are trying to sell their own books by hitching their wagon to Mr. Brown. Star Wars was an international blockbuster, and physicists didn't fill bookshelves explaining that there's no such thing as a light saber.

George Lucas never claimed there was anything real in Star Wars, though. Mr. Brown has tried to have it both ways. Charles Gibson, host of ABC-TV's Good Morning America, pressed the author on the point in 2003.

"If you were writing it as a nonfiction book," Mr. Gibson asked, "how would it have been different?"

"I don't think it would have," replied Mr. Brown, who almost never grants interviews.

"I began the research for The Da Vinci Code as a skeptic. ... [A]fter numerous trips to Europe, about two years of research, I really became a believer ... "

A believer in what? The book's plot revolves around a centuries-old conspiracy to hide the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene – and their descendants. The conspirators included Sir Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci, who cleverly hid clues to the secret in his paintings. (Hence the title.)

The very first sentence in the book implies this is more than a mere tale. "Fact: The Priory of Sion – a European secret society founded in 1099 – is a real organization." This arcane society, according to Mr. Brown's telling, has been the keeper of the secret about Jesus and Magdalene.

But the "fact" is almost certainly wrong. Last month, 60 Minutes piled up evidence that a Frenchman – an anti-Semite with a history of criminal fraud – "created" the Priory as a hoax in the 1950s.

The book reeks of truthiness and smartiness – the appearance of being truthful and smart without necessarily being either. The protagonist is a Harvard professor (in a department that doesn't exist). The fast-moving plot is propelled by a series of clever puzzles based on famous works of art.

The glass pyramid at the Louvre has 673 glass panes, not 666. The Dead Sea Scrolls were written by Jews and say nothing about Jesus. They were discovered in 1947, not the 1950s. The irrational number Phi is not precisely equal to 1.618.

If the figure to the left of Jesus in The Last Supper is really Mary Magdalene, as the book claims, then Leonardo left out an apostle. If it's really John, as most art historians claim, Leonardo was neither the first nor the only artist to paint him as a beardless, long-haired young man.

Mr. Brown's best "proof" of a romance between Jesus and Mary Magdalene comes from the Gospel of Philip, one of the Gnostic gospels. In The Da Vinci Code, the quote reads: "The companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth."

But Dr. Ehrman, a text scholar, says the only manuscript we have of that gospel is full of holes. And that all we have of that passage is "The companion of the [gap] Mary Magdalene [gap] more than [gap] the disciples [gap] kiss her [gap] on her [gap]."

If Mr. Brown can't get inarguable facts right, the experts say, what faith can readers place in his conclusions about the nature of Christianity?

Some critics say they're intent on tearing down the credibility of the book because many people, mostly ignorant of what is known of the early years of Christianity, accept Mr. Brown's fictions as gospel truth.

"In our experience, readers are taking it as true," said Dr. Ehrman, a religious studies professor at the University of North Carolina and the author of Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code. "Historians care about what happened in the past, and it's important ... to separate the fact from the fiction."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is so concerned about the book that it's created a Web site, jesusdecoded.com, with official Catholic responses to the issues Mr. Brown raises in the book.

"A bishop came to me and said, 'I never had to read a novel because my parishioners came up to me to say I should read it,' " said the Rev. Francis Maniscalco, communications director for the conference.

Mr. Brown is muddling people's thinking in ways that could shake faith and affect the reputation of real institutions, said the Rev. Timothy A. Friedrichsen, a New Testament professor at Catholic University.

"Brown's work only confuses the matter, and in this reader's opinion, intentionally," he said. But Dr. Friedrichsen joked that Mr. Brown need not fear worldly retribution from the Vatican. "He can, however, look at the bright side: The dark chapter in the church's history of the Inquisition is long past."

Last year, pollster George Barna reported that 53 percent of American adults who finished the book said it had been helpful in their "personal spiritual growth and understanding." Whatever that means.

A Canadian survey commissioned last year by National Geographic showed that 32 percent who read The Da Vinci Code believed its theories.

And last week, in a Catholic Digest poll, 73 percent of American Catholics said the book "did not affect their faith or opinion of the church in any way." Which means that up to 27 percent – about 14 million Catholics – may be vulnerable to having their faith affected by Mr. Brown's tale.

"It's a book about big ideas, you can love them or you can hate them," he said in a speech in Portsmouth, N.H., last month. "But we're all talking about them, and that's really the point."
That discussion is good news, even from the critics' perspective.

"As a scholar I'm very grateful to Dan Brown. People like me are in demand right now in a way we have never been before," said Gail Streete, a religious studies professor and expert on Mary Magdalene at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. "Most of the time nobody pays any attention to what we do."

Mr. Brown has made Darrell Bock of Dallas a successful author on several continents. Dr. Bock, a professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, is the author of Breaking the Da Vinci Code . The book has hit best-seller lists in Australia, Brazil and Germany, he said. He's become a sought-after speaker at church and college events.

"People are finally engaging these topics, and want to engage on the level of substance," he said.

Robert Price is a member of the Jesus Seminar, an academic group that has tried to sift the Gospels for "historical truth" by rejecting accounts of miracles and other supernatural elements. He's also the author of The Da Vinci Fraud. He's not angry at Mr. Brown for casting doubt on the official histories of Christianity. He's mad, he said, because Mr. Brown did it so badly.

For Dr. Price, the success of The Da Vinci Code is evidence that people are willing to entertain doubts about theology. "It must mean people are a lot more open-minded than I ever figured they would be about it," he said.

The Rev. Kendall Harmon, an Episcopal theologian in South Carolina, compares Mr. Brown to Celsus, a second-century critic of Christianity. Celsus inspired early Christians into thoughtful responses, he said.

"A Christian who reads The Da Vinci Code and can explain to his or her friends why The Da Vinci Code is wrong is a more effective Christian," he said. "As Celsus strengthened the early church, so Dan Brown is strengthening us."

• If you liked the book, you should really take the time to read the Bible.
Start with the 4 Gospels in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If you are on a spiritual journey and truly seeking the truth, you will really find it here. Do you know what book is the best selling book in the world year after year? The answer is the Bible. More people buy and read the Bible every year than any other book in the world. The Bible makes The Da Vinci Code looks like a rank amateur in overall sales. The history within the Bible is amazing and the truth within it will change your life forever.

• If you haven’t read the book, read it and also watch the movie and then use them both as a research project to dig further into what is fiction and what is truth.
In fact, there are many excellent books that offer the truths not mentioned in The Da Vinci Code book and movie. For example, check out Darrell Bock’s book, Breaking The Da Vinci Code.

• Check out various events around the world discussing the facts and fiction in the book.
For example, in NYC, my firm is providing media relations for a national debate at the NY Hilton and also live video streaming via the Internet on Monday, May 15th at 7 p.m. EDT. For more information, go to www.davincidebateny.com.

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Comment from: Jessica Rubin [Visitor]

I agree. So many of us love to read a book of fiction, but won't even take a look at our bibles. I plan to read mine starting this week! Thanks.

May 9, 2006, 7:18 am

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“I accept full responsibility for everything that happened at Enron. Having said that, I can’t take responsibility for illegal acts that I had no knowledge of.”

Comments from Ken Lay on trial in refuting others who have testified he knew of the wrongdoing going on before Enron collapsed.

According to the Morning News, the big, bad media did it again. By reporting about Enron's financial dealings and unusual partnerships, it brought down an entire corporation, zapped billions of investor dollars into oblivion and put hundreds of people out of work.

That, according to Ken Lay, is what happened to Enron, the company at the center of the largest corporate collapse in U.S. business history.

Lay and another former Enron honcho, Jeff Skilling, are on trial in Houston for fraud in connection with the collapse of the once-revered energy trading company. Lay took the witness stand in his own defense this week and laid a big part of the blame for Enron's implosion on negative stories published in newspapers -- specifically, the Wall Street Journal.

Oh, there were a few other factors along the way that caused problems for Enron, Lay testified. For one, he hired a crook as a chief financial officer. That would be Andrew Fastow, who has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and turned state's evidence against Lay and Skilling. And, Lay says greedy stock traders sold Enron shares "short," creating a financial crisis in the company.

Yep, there's a believable story to stick to: That anti-business, liberal, populist and sensational rag, The Wall Street Journal, went after this guy's poor, innocent behemoth of a corporation in a malicious effort to destroy it. That's almost as credible as Lay's assertion that the failure of his business hurt him more than the deaths of loved ones. We wonder what the jury makes of a man who grieves more for a business than he does for his family.

Of course, nowhere in his testimony has Lay alleged that what the Journal reported about the questionable structure of many of Enron's business partnerships was inaccurate.

In other words, it was the truth that damaged Enron. Not bad publicity, not The Wall Street Journal and not the media.

• Either you take full responsibility as leader of the corporation or you don’t. There is no other option.
Ken Lay wants to have it both ways and he can’t. Leaders take responsibility for their organization in both good times and bad. In my opinion, Ken Lay was totally in the loop regarding fraud within Enron because he personally was leading the strategy of fraud and lies within the company.

• True faith in Jesus Christ should have humbled you to take full responsibility for your actions.
As I said in a past blog post, Ken Lay is the son of a preacher and a trustee in his Methodist church. Former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers was a deacon in his Baptist Church. Both are held to a higher standard as leaders within their faith for their deceit, lies and unrepentant hearts. Ken Lay still has an opportunity to seek the Lord’s face and repentant of his sins. He can also still be honest with himself first to take full responsibility for Enron's crimes under his leadership. In doing so, he would be taking the first steps in repairing his reputation by getting the truth out.

• The media sought the truth and found the truth and Ken Lay doesn’t like that at all.
Thank God for the media. The media is holding many corporate criminals accountable for their actions in the court of public opinion. In my opinion, Ken Lay and other corporate criminals’ reputations are all in crisis because of their corrupt decision making. No one else made them do it. Ken Lay’s own heart continued to slide on the slippery slope and he hoped he didn’t get caught, but he did. What they don’t like is the media’s ability to find the truth, provide the needed transparency they should have had themselves, and multiple millions around the world with consistent messages of the truth. As a result, the court of public opinion is as important as the court of law – even though most attorneys will never admit it. Remember, your reputation is everything! It is why seasoned reputation management and crisis PR consultants are paid equally to top attorneys in the world.

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Comment from: Harry Smithen (NYC) [Visitor]

Ken Lay should have hired you for crisis PR. His reputation is now mud. False pride, fraud and an ego a mile long killed his reputation. I think he will get 20 years in prison.

May 4, 2006, 3:13 pm

Comment from: Jennifer Carter [Visitor]

You have great insight. I agree with your comments. Thanks for sharing.

May 2, 2006, 10:27 am

Comment from: Thomas Errington, Esq. (Houston) [Visitor]

I must admit, as an attorney, I have a lot to learn about reputation management. These big cases are really waking me up. I will continue to read your blog to learn more. Thanks.

May 2, 2006, 5:46 pm

Comment from: Herry [Visitor]

Kenneth Lay, former CEO and chairman of Enron Corporation, was indicted for his role in the collapse of the energy dealing giant on July 7, 2004. It was claimed that Enron had used off-the-books deals to hide billions of dollars in debt and to inflate profits. Lay supposedly had occupied in months before Enron Corporation's impressive meltdown in December 2001. Lay has without all charges.
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Aug 6, 2009, 6:29 am

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“I'm worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it and was wondering if you had any advice as to how to spin this to my advantage.”

According to AP, the head of a New York public relations firm said his company will not be representing the second exotic dancer at a Duke men's lacrosse team party on the night another dancer said she was gang-raped and beaten by three members of the team.

Ronn Torossian said 5W Public Relations, known mainly for its representation of a few Hip-Hop music artists, would not be representing Kim Roberts on any sides in the lacrosse scandal, which has received nationwide attention in the media. Ironically, the above statement came only after Torossian released a private e-mail from his potential client, Ms. Roberts, to the entire media world. It seems 5WPR was more interested in publicity for itself in being considered for the assignment than in confidentiality.

Last week, in an interview with The Associated Press, Roberts said she sent an e-mail to the firm, which specializes in "crisis communication."

"I've found myself in the center of one of the biggest stories in the country," she wrote. "I'm worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it and was wondering if you had any advice as to how to spin this to my advantage." The e-mail was signed "The 2nd Dancer."

Roberts, like the accuser, a divorced single mother who is black, took umbrage at the notion that she should not try to make something out of her experience. She is worried that once her name and criminal record are public, no one will want to hire her. Ironically, Ms. Roberts gave an exclusive interview to AP instead of saying no to the request.

"Why shouldn't I profit from it?" she asked during an interview with the AP. "I didn't ask to be in this position ... I would like to feed my daughter."

Defense attorneys for some of the lacrosse players said that Roberts initially told them that she doubted the accuser's allegations of rape, but said in the AP interview that she could never be sure because she was not in the bathroom where the alleged rape occurred.

"In all honesty, I think they're guilty," Roberts said. "And I can't say which ones are guilty ... but somebody did something besides underage drinking. That's my honest-to-God impression."

Roberts also acknowledged that she made a phone call to Durham County 911 during which she complained she had been called racial slurs by white men gathered outside the house where the party took place. She said she made the call because she was angry.

Roberts drove herself to the party and said she could have left anytime, but she said, "I didn't want to leave her with them."

Roberts then drove the accuser -- whom she had just met that night -- to a grocery store and asked a security guard to call 911. The accuser was described later by a police officer as "just passed-out drunk."

• Taking advantage of a tragedy for self gain is never a good thing. Spin is a four-letter word for a reason.
5WPR seems to specialize in entertainment PR and communications for consumer goods. Many PR firms say they do crisis communications, but few firms actually have enough experience in the crisis PR specialty to truly call themselves experts. As for the 2nd Dancer, Ms. Roberts, trying to profit from another person’s tragedy is absolutely disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking about it, but to put these thoughts and desires in an email was an even bigger mistake. Both 5WPR and the 2nd Dancer need to be reminded that reputation management and crisis PR in this case is serious business with lives on the line. There are true victims in this case and they do need crisis PR and reputation management to best defense their reputations. Sadly, the 2nd Dancer and 5WPR are now both negatively linked to a global crisis story only because they proactively put their own feet in their mouths.

• The 2nd Dancer should move on with her life and find a more acceptable career, and not seek to take advantage of a tragedy.
If the 2nd Dancer is truly seeking crisis PR and reputation management advice, here is some sound advice from the Reputation Doctor: learn some lessons from this tragedy and immediately seek a new career, consider gaining a sound education to better yourself and clean up your life. Seek excellence in your life and focus on improving your own situation through education, hard work and a life free of crime and inappropriate behavior.

• Confidentiality is crucial in the crisis PR and reputation management world and any true expert would have learned that fact on their first day of work.
As I said in a Fox News Channel interview last Friday on this subject, confidentiality is extremely important in crisis PR and reputation management. Any PR firm which releases an email to the global media from a potential client should have their head examined. Current clients must be questioning your confidentiality of their documents and emails. Other potential clients must question how you might also treat their requests. The PR firm itself created a crisis for its own reputation and those working for the firm. Learn from this example: trust and integrity are never, ever created by spin. Spin is a four-letter word for a reason. Spin is a lie. Excellent reputations are built with the bricks of truth, honest, accountability, transparency, humility and consistency. Taking advantage of a tragedy is never a good idea for anyone, especially a so-called expert. There are true victims in this case and they do need crisis PR and reputation management counsel. Their lives hang in the balance and their reputations continue to take hits on a daily basis. Winning a case in the court of law, but losing your reputation in the court of public opinion for the rest of your life is never a good thing. Think O.J and think again.

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Comment from: Chris Goldstein (NYC) [Visitor]

I couldn't agree with you more! They asked for it and they got it.

Apr 25, 2006, 10:37 am

Comment from: Ann Reynolds (Duke student) [Visitor]

Thanks for your blog. I am learning so much from it. As you can imagine, there are many opinions regarding the case here on campus. The truth is the goal. I agree with all you've had to say with this case and other reputations in crisis in the news. Thansk for sharing. I like your integrity.

Apr 25, 2006, 10:43 am

Comment from: John Willet, Esq. (D.C.) [Visitor]

Great analysis. Great advice. Keep it up.

Apr 25, 2006, 11:58 am

Comment from: Sue Fosterson [Visitor]

You really know your stuff. This case already seems like it has been around for years, but it has only been weeks. All involved could use your advice.

Apr 26, 2006, 12:45 am

Comment from: website for non profits [Visitor] · http://www.gachisites.com/

This case already seems like it has been around for years, but it has only been weeks.

Dec 31, 2009, 2:21 am

Comment from: Mark [Visitor]

Duke, the 2nd Dancer, 5WPR and Reputations in Crisis as a father to two unbelievable daughters, the thought of rape repels me outside words. People trying to make money from rape, accusations of rape or anything connected with it might be inferior.
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Jul 29, 2009, 1:21 am

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Comments from Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong after defense attorneys and others ask the district attorney to drop the case against the Duke lacrosse players.

According to the Associated Press, Police took two Duke University lacrosse players into custody early Monday morning, a jail official said.

This comes less than a day after a grand jury charged two players in indictments that remain sealed, a defense attorney said, and more than a month after a stripper told police she was raped at a party thrown by Duke University's lacrosse team.

"This is a tragedy," attorney Robert Ekstrand said Monday after the indictments. "For the two young men, an ordeal lies ahead. ... They are both innocent."

Ekstrand, who represents dozens of players, did not say which players were indicted or what charges they faced.

It wasn't clear if the players turned themselves in Tuesday, or if authorities had planned to arrest them.

A 27-year-old black woman told police she was attacked March 13 by three white men in a bathroom at a party held by the lacrosse team.

The racially charged allegations have led to near daily protest rallies. The school canceled the highly ranked team's season and accepted the resignation of coach Mike Pressler after the release of a vulgar and graphic e-mail that was sent by a team member shortly after the alleged assault.

An attorney for Ryan McFadyen, the player who sent the e-mail, said his client was not among those indicted. Butch Williams, who represents team captain Dan Flannery, also said prosecutors told him that his client was not among those charged.

Defense attorneys have urged District Attorney Mike Nifong to drop the case, saying DNA tests failed to connect any of the 46 team members tested to the alleged victim.

Nifong has said 75 percent to 80 percent of rape prosecutions lack DNA evidence. According to court records, a medical examination of the woman found injuries consistent with rape.

Defense attorneys have said time-stamped photos taken the night of the party show that the alleged victim was injured and impaired before she arrived.

The charges come two weeks before Nifong, appointed to the job last year after nearly three decades as a lawyer in the district attorney's office, is up for election. On Monday, he repeatedly declined to comment on the case.

Also Monday, school officials said the lacrosse coach was warned last year that his players had too many violations of the campus judicial code and he needed to "get them in line."

Duke athletic director Joe Alleva said the university's executive vice president reviewed the lacrosse team's disciplinary record last year, then discussed his findings with Alleva.

"He said there were too many incidents, but there's not enough incidents to make a drastic change in the program at this point in time," Alleva told The Herald-Sun of Durham.

Alleva then met with Pressler, telling the coach that "his team was under the microscope, and he had to do everything he could to get them in line and to not have any more behavior problems," he said.

The review by Tallman Trask III, Duke's executive vice president, was spurred by reports of "boorish behavior" by the lacrosse team, Alleva said.

Sue Wasiolek, Duke's dean of students and assistant vice president for student affairs, said the review showed the lacrosse team had a "disproportionate" number of violations of the campus judicial code. None was particularly serious, but administrators were concerned about the cumulative record and the fact that some players had several violations, she said.

About half the team had campus records for alcohol violations, disruptive behavior, disorderly conduct and similar infractions, Wasiolek said. "There was a level of concern and frustration," she said. "We just didn't seem to be turning a corner in terms of making a difference."

Her office contacted Pressler several times before the formal review, and the coach "did not take our concerns lightly," Wasiolek said.

"He said he would look into these violations and he would take action where appropriate," she said. Pressler declined comment on the report of the review. Trask could not be reached for comment.

A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding the recent indictment of the two Duke Blue Devils:

Like everyone else, I hope the full and honest truth is uncovered in this case. The truth will bubble to the top eventually and it is best for the truth to come out sooner rather than later.

Remember this: in the court of public opinion, there is a new verdict/opinion each and every day and it can be very damaging to a reputation. In the court of law, it may take many months for a final verdict from the courts and it still fills many people with doubt after a final court decision. Just look at the O.J. case as an example.

The reputations of all in the Duke case currently have mud all over them and many reputations are already in crisis because all those involved have experts in one court, but no one, thus far, has true experts in the other.

The court of public opinion is where valuable reputations are built, maintained and repaired and attorneys are not the experts in that court.

Only seasoned crisis PR and reputation management counselors are experts in the court of public opinion, especially in high profile cases like this.

Mike Paul is editor of The Reputation Doctor blog. The Reputation Doctor is a nickname given to him by various clients. Mike's blog is located at www.ReputationDoctor.com. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, BBC, and others as a weekly contributor and expert in the global news regarding leaders, celebrities, athletes, corporations and other organizations with reputations in crisis. Mr. Paul is also president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR (www.mgppr.com), a leading strategic public relations and reputation management firm based in New York. For interview requests, speeches, senior counseling or other business opportunities with Mr. Paul, call 212-595-8500 or email info@mgppr.com.

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Comment from: Dan Miggio (LI) [Visitor]

I like your insight. Really made me think about their reputation and my own. Great advice.

Apr 20, 2006, 12:22 am

Comment from: Jill Foxworth (Duke) [Visitor]

I knew my reputation was important, but this is a whole new level for me. I guess your reputation really is everything! thanks.

Apr 20, 2006, 12:27 am

Comment from: John Flanigan (L.A.) [Visitor]

You are right. These guys are getting beat up in the press and their attorneys are saying more coming May 15th in court. Well, at this rate, their reputations will be gone by then! As a former lax player myself, someone needs to defend them now in the media and court of public opinion. They need to hire you. I like your blog. Keep it up.

Apr 20, 2006, 9:10 am

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Duke Lacrosse Group Hires Clinton Attorney for Crisis PR and Reputation Management?

“It is unfortunate that members of the Duke community, players and families are being judged before all the facts are in," Bennett said in a statement. "A lot of innocent young people and the families are being hurt, and unfortunately this situation is being abused by people with separate agendas. It is grossly unfair, and cool heads must prevail.”

Comments from former Clinton attorney Robert Bennett, recently hired as a PR spokesman for the Committee for Fairness to Duke Families, a group paid for by supporters and family members of the Duke lacrosse team.

As reported by the Associated Press, a small group of boosters and others close to the Duke University lacrosse team have hired President Clinton's former lawyer as part of an aggressive public relations effort to argue that the players did not rape a woman at an off-campus party.

Bob Bennett, a former federal prosecutor and Washington attorney who represented Clinton in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case, is serving as a spokesman for a group calling itself the Committee for Fairness to Duke Families.

He is not expected to represent any players, but he has joined the chorus of those who fear for the reputation of the team and the university.

"It is unfortunate that members of the Duke community, players and families are being judged before all the facts are in," Bennett said in a statement. "A lot of innocent young people and the families are being hurt, and unfortunately this situation is being abused by people with separate agendas. It is grossly unfair, and cool heads must prevail."

The group has asked to meet with Duke President Richard Brodhead. Neither Brodhead nor Bennett returned calls for comment.

No charges have been filed while District Attorney Mike Nifong presses on with his investigation of allegations that a stripper was gang-raped at a team party March 13. Earlier this week, lawyers for the players said that DNA tests failed to connect any members of the 47-man team to the alleged attack.

The players' parents -- initially silent -- have also started to speak out. Brian Loftus, who has two sons on the team, wondered Wednesday why Nifong was continuing with the case.

As he has for days, Nifong refused a request for an interview. He is running for another term in May and took part in a candidate forum Wednesday evening, where he reiterated he believes a crime occured based on a medical exam of the alleged victim.

"The fact is, I didn't pick the crime. I didn't pick the time," Nifong said at the forum. "But I'm going to do the case right, because you deserve that."

Meanwhile, attorney Bill Thomas, who is representing one of the team's captains, said Wednesday he is positive that Nifong plans to present the case to a grand jury that is meeting Monday.

"We are convinced one or more of these young men is going to be charged," Thomas told WTVD-TV in Durham.

The family of Devon Sherwood, a freshman goalie and the team's only black member, said the DNA results should have ended the investigation of the highly ranked team. The Blue Devils played for last year's national title and were considered a favorite this season before Duke canceled the season.

"I'm just glad that that ordeal is over with and hopefully as we progress with the case, it will show that all of the players will be exonerated ... of any wrongdoing at all," said Sherwood's father, Chuck, of Freeport, N.Y.

Sherwood was not tested because he is black, and the alleged victim, a black woman, had said her attackers were white.

Concern about how Duke -- an expensive, private school with tough admissions standards -- has been portrayed during the investigation isn't limited to those with close ties to the lacrosse team.

At a campus vigil Wednesday, the dean of Duke Chapel, the Rev. Sam Wells, said the event -- which included readings from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Jewish texts -- represented "the diversity of Duke."

"A lot of time, in the last few weeks, Duke has been portrayed as one thing: rich, white, male," Wells said. "You won't see that today."

Adam Schlossmann, a Duke junior from Pittsburgh who passed by as the event was ending, said descriptions of Duke as a racist and sexist institution aren't close to the truth. "'The university has a culture of rape' -- that is just ridiculous," he said of one report. But he's leery of the decision to hire Bennett and start an active campaign to defend Duke's image.

"No matter who you put on to defend Duke, the fact is (the lacrosse players) are being portrayed as a microcosm of what Duke is," he said.

But his friend David Bartz, a Duke senior from Winston-Salem, said just sitting back and not saying anything isn't any better.

"You should have some way to counter," he said, "to offer another portrayal of the school."

A few reputation management tips from the Reputation Doctor for Bob Bennett:

• The court of law is not the court of public opinion.
Bob Bennett's comments already show he is not an expert in the court of public opinion. He needs to learn in the court of public opinion verdicts come in every day from the public and the media. The law does not lead in this court.

• Crisis PR and and reputation management are professions equal to the legal profession, but not the same.
Attorneys believe they should take the lead in all communication situations. However, they are not trained to communicate before the media and don't realize their reputations and the reputations of their clients can be severely damaged without proper training in the court of public opinion. Seasoned crisis PR and reputation management consultants make as much or more than top attorneys for a reason: they are very good at what they do and their expertise is worth the investment.

• Resign as a PR spokesman before it is too late. Stick to law.
Reputations take a life time to build, but can be lost in seconds with inexperienced counsel in the court of public opinion. Because you have chatted with the media with big legal cases in the past from a legal perspective does not qualify you as a PR spokesman. It makes as much sense as a PR counselor defending a client in the court of law or an attorney actually trying to perform surgery on a patient because they saw ER a few times on T.V.

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Comment from: John Tunnes (Duke grad student) [Visitor]

I could not agree with you more. Why is an attorney acting as a PR spokesman? I don't think they really know what they are doing. Love your blog. Thanks for your thoughts.

Apr 14, 2006, 10:13 am

Comment from: Jake Cassidy (L.A.) [Visitor]

What is Bennett doing in Durham? Is he trying to turn this into another Paula Jones case? A message to the President at Duke University: the reputation of Duke is splattered with mud and getting worse on a daily basis. An attorney is not the expert needed. A seasoned crisis PR expert, like Mike Paul, is needed as soon as possible to best repair Duke's reputation. Great blog Mike. I look forward to reading your next update.

Apr 14, 2006, 12:39 pm

Comment from: Gratis Spielautomaten [Visitor] · http://www.gratis-spielautomaten.de

What if this time the top bosses have something extra ordinary and therefore they want it that way. If not that than we already are expecting another disastrous result.I agree. Hard news in the a.m. show seems to be limited to sleep diets and blue dye cancer cures. Of course that's what Stephanopoulos deserves.

Feb 24, 2010, 3:02 am

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“They need presidents, they need administrators, they need faculty, to tell them that it was wrong behavior and that they are not going to be coddled because they are athletes, because they come from privileged backgrounds, because they have money.”
Comments from Duke graduate student Michelle Christian complaining that Duke University officials continue to downplay the alleged rape and beating of an African-American woman by three players on the Duke lacrosse team.

Duke University's highly-ranked lacrosse team was recently suspended from play while many of the team's members face an ongoing rape investigation.

The police inquiry stems from allegations made by an exotic dancer who says that she was raped, choked and beaten by three members of the lacrosse team during a private party held by team members. The woman said that the incident occurred on March 13 in a university-owned home that is occupied by three of the team's four captains.

Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, one of the officials investigating the incident, said that the dancer, a single mother attending North Carolina Central University, was paid $400 to perform at what she believed would be a small bachelor party. When she arrived at the house, however, the party was significantly larger than she had anticipated and had as many as 40 men in attendance, Nifong said.

According to a police statement made by the three team captains who lived in the house, all of the party's attendees were Duke lacrosse team members.

PHOTO: Duke University President Richard Brohead, left, and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva field questions from the media after announcing the university's suspension of future men's lacrosse games until there is clearer resolution of the legal situation involving team members at Duke University in Durham, N.C. on Tuesday, March 28, 2006. The action follows allegations of a sexual assault of a woman hired as a private dancer to a party attended by team members March 13.

The Duke administration has been mired in controversy regarding its handling of the incident. Much of the criticism the university has faced involves its decision, as of March 31, not to conduct its own investigation into the matter. Instead, the Durham Police Department has handled the incident.

Forty-six of the 47 lacrosse team members were subjected to DNA tests by court orders. The 47th member of the team was excluded from the DNA test because he is black and the woman -- who is also black -- said that her three attackers were white. She has also said that during her time at the party several of the men shouted racial slurs at her.

In an unrelated incident, which also occurred on March 13, a different black woman called 911 after a white man allegedly shouted racial slurs at hear near the Duke campus.

According to several news reports from the area, the racial implications of the attack have illuminated the tensions between Duke and the city of Durham, N.C., where the university is located.

Slightly more than 11 percent of the undergraduates at Duke University in the 2004-05 academic year were black. Based on the 2000 census 44 to 45 percent of the residents of Durham are black.

PHOTO: Demonstrators listen to a response from Duke University's President Richard Brohead following a news conference held to announce the university's suspension of future men's lacrosse games until there is clearer resolution of the legal situation involving team members at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Additionally, tuition for Duke can run above $40,000 a year, while roughly 15 percent of Durham residents live below the poverty line. Even before the alleged incidents on March 13, the Princeton Review listed Duke as the fifth worst university in the nation with respect to town-gown relations.

According to crime statistics published by Duke in accordance with the Clery Act, there were eight incidents of forcible sexual assault there in 2004. Statistics for the 2005-06 year have not yet been compiled. Duke has 6200 undergraduate students.

A few reputation management tips from the Reputation Doctor regarding the Duke crisis:

• Duke’s president should be repeating a much stronger statement daily regarding zero tolerance for rape, racial slurs and inappropriate and illegal behavior on campus by any student or employee at Duke.
President Brohead has been much more protective than proactive in his overall communication regarding the alleged rape and beating by several members of the Duke lacrosse team of an African-American woman. He is learning the hard way that a tone of compassion towards the woman harmed, as well as an unwavering and blunt attitude in communicating a zero tolerance policy for all in non-legal terms are both needed in a national, public crisis like this.

• Duke University needs to understand in a national crisis the court of public opinion is more important than the court of law.
Duke officials, their attorneys and PR staff are leaning so heavily on the law they don’t even see the University’s reputation covered in mud. Labels like rapist and racist are not easy to repair. Sadly, the court of public opinion has already spoken and the leaders are asleep at the wheel.

• Duke needs a seasoned crisis PR firm to help them through the crisis.
Currently, Duke has not hired a crisis PR firm to help them through the fire. They believe it is best handled internally. Unfortunately, the Duke PR staff and current consultants are not experts in handling this type of crisis. This crisis is a racial, class, sports, university and legal crisis. The longer they wait to get help from true professionals in crisis communications, the more reputational damage will be done.

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Comment from: Mark [Visitor]

Sounds like one for Mr. Paul! Good advice sir, let's hope they take it.

Apr 4, 2006, 12:10 pm

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”It tries to reduce Jesus to a great religious figure, one among many, rather than being a unique figure who is uniquely divine.”

Biblical scholar Darrell Bock, author of Breaking The Da Vinci Code, commenting on the best-selling book, The Da Vinci Code.

The Da Vinci Code movie, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, is set for box office release by Columbia Pictures on May 19. The upcoming movie is seen by many Christians as an opportunity to both educate the masses regarding the truths within the bible and to best defend the reputation of Jesus Christ. In fact, Christians believe Jesus’ reputation is on the line if many of the assumptions within the best-selling book and upcoming movie are not debunked in the near future. However, the only way to truly debunk the myths within the book and the movie is to educate the masses regarding the historical reliability of the biblical gospels.

According to best-selling author Dan Brown's Web site, The Da Vinci Code is a murder mystery. A cryptographer and symbologist join forces to gather clues that were left behind by the murder victim, but to some, it is not that simple. The book has sparked debates about the legitimacy of Western and Christian history. The central claim Brown's novel makes about Christianity is that “almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.”

Darrell Bock's book, Breaking The Da Vinci Code, is one of the few formal responses to Brown's novel. Bock, a professor of spiritual development and culture at Dallas Theological Seminary, appeared on ABC’s Nightline and Good Morning America when his book was published and has served as a spokesman within the evangelical Christian community regarding the theological issues raised in Brown's book.

Brown writes on his Web site that his hope in writing the novel “was that the story would serve as a catalyst and a springboard for people to discuss the important topics of faith, religion, and history.”

In an article in Christianity Today, Bock wrote that he thinks it's important to investigate the claims of the book. “Many Christians have become so worked up in the cultural war metaphor that they risk losing the ability to engage the culture at all,” Bock's article states. “The popularity of both the book and the special points to our culture's continuing fascination with Jesus. And even when that curiosity borders on the perverse, we need to be engaged in the conversation—if not on TV specials, certainly in our neighborhoods, schools, and offices, wherever the topic of conversation comes up—talking about the real Jesus in a constructive way.”

A few tips in seeking the truth vs. lies within the Da Vinci Code book and movie from author and biblical scholar Darrell Bock:

Basic to the storyline is the claim that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and that many in the Church knew (as did people like Leonardo Da Vinci later on in history). The evidence for this claim comes from two extra-biblical Gospels, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and The Gospel of Philip. Both contain remarks that Jesus had a special relationship to Mary or that he loved her more than any of the twelve disciples. In addition, there is an appeal to a text where Jesus is said to kiss Mary on the lips. So the inference is that if he kissed her in public he must have been her husband.

Now the facts are these. First, almost all scholars question whether these extra-biblical Gospels contain anything of value in terms of the historical Jesus. However, even if they did, the texts noted do not actually affirm that Jesus was married. In fact, the famous kiss on the lips text actually has a blank in the original manuscript right at the point where it describes where Mary was kissed. So it could be the lips or the cheek, which would simply refer to a kiss of fellowship. More than this, we have volumes of texts about Jesus from the first five centuries. I have a series in my library of 38 volumes from this period. They are small print, single space, double columned texts of several hundred pages each. They include traditional orthodox texts and those that were rejected as heretical. In all of these materials not a single text describes Jesus as married and most assume he was not, as that was a basis for some arguing that priests should be single. In 1 Corinthians 9, the argument appears that spouses of those married should be supported. Had Jesus been married, Paul could have clinched his argument by noting this fact. All of this leads to the conclusion that Jesus was single.

John Crossan and I were both asked to write articles for beliefnet.com about whether Jesus was married when the novel came out. He is a liberal; I am a conservative. We both agreed that Jesus was single. I tell my classes that when a liberal and a conservative believe something is true about the historical Jesus, then it probably is true. In sum, there is no evidence Jesus was ever married. If this is so, then the entire backdrop to the novel collapses.

But one final point needs to be made. The novel claims that a married Jesus would need to be covered up by the Church because it would expose the fact that Jesus was not divine. However, it is not at all a given that, had Jesus been married, this would have resulted in a question about his divinity, because the Church has always confessed the full humanity of Jesus and the status of marriage would fit in nicely with such a claim. Thus, even the premise of the theological problem the novel sees for a married Jesus is false.

The novel also claims that the four New Testament Gospels were chosen late to be a part of the Bible because they had a divine Jesus as opposed to other Gospels that had a human Jesus. Once again, we are at a place where liberal and conservative scholars agree. The study of what is called the canon (or the recognition of the books that comprise the New Testament) is a complex area when it comes to the compilation of the entire New Testament. Athanasius in AD 367 is the first figure we have who lists the 27 books of the New Testament as we have them today. It may be that Dan Brown rested his view on this fact, although he never mentions it. However, this does not take into account the fact that the books which were under discussion in the third and fourth centuries were some epistles (e.g. 2 Pet, Jude, 2 and 3 Jn) and Revelation, and not any of the Gospels.

Scholars of the canon agree that by the end of the second century the fourfold Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) was recognized as authoritative. This is a full 125 years before Constantine and the Nicean Council came on the scene to do the defining work for orthodoxy according to the novel.

(1) Irenaeus’ majestic description of the gospel needing to have four Gospels like the world has four zones and there are four winds. This text appears in his Against Heresies 3.11.8, a famous and oft-cited text from the end of the second century;

(2) The attempt of Tatian to combine the Gospels into one running account in AD 170 in his Diatessaron failed. This effort on the surface appeared to make sense, but it failed because the four Gospels were already too well established in the Church to be replaced, even by a seemingly more efficient way to present the Gospels;

(3) We also have a citation from Origen in the early third century that Gospels such as Thomas are not read in the churches because they are not seen as having authority;

(4) Justin Martyr’s description of the Gospels in the middle of the second century explains why they were so highly valued. He calls them the “memoirs” of the apostles, a description that notes they are rooted in testimony that goes back to the apostles. Thus, the idea that the Gospels emerged as a reflection of orthodoxy about the time of the fourth century around the time of Constantine and the Nicean council is just bad history.

Problem 3 – Did a belief in Jesus’ divinity receive its decisive sanction through a “close vote” at Nicea in AD 325?

This claim is probably the worst of the three problems. What we know about Nicea is this. It gathered not to determine the divinity of Jesus but to discuss the Arian view of Jesus, who saw Jesus as Son and even divine, but appointed to that role rather than having it from before his birth. So the debate was the type of divine Jesus in view, not whether Jesus was divine. Constantine did call this council together because he wanted peace and unity in the Church. The council had about 200 bishops from around most of Christendom in attendance, but the vast majority were from the East. There was no close vote. What the bishops did was sign a statement and only two out of the entire group refused, so the “vote” was hardly close. There was pressure to accept this confession at the council, as originally 17 opposed it, but when Constantine threatened exile, that number reduced to two. However, even if we take 17 as the number opposed, this is still a significant minority of less than 105 of the total in attendance. Brown’s claim, then, is false here as well.

It also ignores the fact that the acceptance of the divinity of Jesus is something fundamental to the earliest documents we have from Christianity. One can look at the writing of Paul (1 Cor 8.5–6; Phil 2.9–11), the unknown author of Hebrews (Heb 1.3), the author of Revelation (Rev 1.1–7 and chapters 4–5), the Gospel of John (Jn 1.1–18), or even Jesus’ own testimony at his Jewish examination (Mk 14.62–65 and parallels) to see that the claim was that Jesus was at the side of God in a position of status equal to his, receiving worship as he does. When one adds to this the testimony of Pliny the Younger, writing as a Roman governor to the Roman Emperor Trajan in around AD 115 speaking of Christians singing hymns to Jesus as a god, we can see that even non Christian texts corroborate the views we see in the earliest Christian texts. The belief in Jesus as divine was a core belief of the earliest Church. It was not the result of a close decision in the fourth century.

There are a host of other problems with the “historical backdrop” of the novel.

(1) The idea that Mary was an apostle to the apostles misquotes Hippolytus, a church father of the later second century. When he made this remark, Hippolytus was not describing an office that Mary held. Rather, he used the phrase to describe all the women who saw the resurrected Jesus and reported his resurrection. In this sense, all of these women were apostles in a generic sense, namely, commissioned messengers sent on behalf of another, rather than being members of a church office. In fact, the exact phrase in the singular “apostle of the apostles” comes from the ninth century at the earliest.

(2) The other Gospels that the novel claims have a human Jesus in most cases have a more divine Jesus than the biblical Gospels. What do I mean? Well, Jesus is so transcendent that he cannot be completely human. So some of these Gospels portray Jesus as laughing from heaven because they think they are crucifying him or else they describe him walking on the beach but leaving no footprints. So Brown’s description of these other Gospels is quite misleading.

(3) Leonardo Da Vinci would never have painted a Last Supper scene and replace one of the twelve disciples with a woman. An art historian whose work we included in the latest editions of Breaking The Da Vinci Code made this point to me, originally in an email. He notes that when Mary is present at the scene she is placed at Jesus’ feet. This scene is so stereotyped in the period of this painting that there had to be twelve apostles present as that is the content of the biblical account the paintings reflect. In a lecture given by three art historians at the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, in January 2004, the experts on the period present said simply that Dan Brown had got his art history wrong.

It is my view that the interest in this novel shows a few things about contemporary culture. There is a keen interest in things related to the origins of Christianity and there is a spiritual hunger of sorts out there. However, it is not a very discerning kind of quest. This makes it all the more important that ministers of the gospel today know the roots of the early history of Christianity and communicate some of that to their parishioners, who in turn can have informed discussions with their inquisitive neighbors. The fact that this book has put this history into the public square is a good thing, if Christians know their history well enough to explain what really happened. For those who wish to know about the history of the canon, Bruce Metzger’s The New Testament Canon is quite helpful. For those wanting the details of the acceptance of the Gospels as Scripture, Martin Hengel’s The Four Gospels and The One Gospel of Jesus Christ is a good starting point. For more details assessing The Da Vinci Code, see my Breaking The Da Vinci Code or one of the many other critiques of the novel. Perhaps if Christians are well equipped, there may be opportunity for the more than 40 million people who have bought this novel to find the real code that opens up the way to life. The reputation of Jesus Christ and all Christians is involved, but more importantly, the gain of eternal life for those who have faith in Jesus.

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Comment from: Mitch Glaser [Visitor]

Good work on the blog!

Mar 29, 2006, 6:14 am

Comment from: Sam Ingram (L.A.) [Visitor]

Thanks for the excellent explanation. Great blog. The truth will set us all free!

Mar 29, 2006, 3:09 pm

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And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No"; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

According to Os Hillman, a Christian marketplace ministry expert, the value of words is an important concept for us all to grasp. As an evangelical Christian myself, and a business and communications professional, these principles are really important. However, they should be important to all of us.

Imagine for a moment that you are living in biblical times when the scripture above was first spoken. It is before Jesus has begun His public ministry. He is a carpenter in your local town of Nazareth. Now imagine you have asked Jesus to make a table for you. You're on a deadline and you must have it in a week. You agree on the price of $100 for the table and the date of one week for completion.

A week later you arrive to pick up the table. You lay your money down on the table and Jesus says, "Mr. Johnson, I am sorry but the table is not ready. I ran into complications. Also, I can no longer honor the price I gave you. It is now $150 instead of $100." Two years later you hear about this same Jesus who is preaching to the local townspeople.

How are you going to view this Jesus? You probably won't give much credence to His message because of your personal experience. Our lives have an ability to reinforce the message we stand for, or they can violate it and make it totally ineffective. This literally happens all over the world today in different settings. Our message becomes ineffective because we have not done what we said.

I know people who, when they tell me they plan to do something, I can expect them to follow through about 50 percent of the time. I am sure you have had the same experience. Words and commitments are made with little meaning behind those words.

However, I know others who will follow through almost every time. The only time they don't is when something falls outside their control. I quickly learn whose words have substance behind them.

There are times when we are unable to perform or deliver what we promised due to outside influences. The key to turning these potentially negative circumstances into an amazing opportunity is communication. If we are unable to pay a bill on time, we must communicate with those we owe and make a good faith effort to resolve it within our means. In these cases, God's purpose and personal reputation management are both being performed if we seek to do the right thing. Everyone, including the author, can learn from this reminder.

A few reputation management tips from the Reputation Doctor regarding your word and your reputation:

• Do your words mean anything to those who hear them?
Be brave and seek feedback from others. Choose three honest and trustworthy people who really care about you for their feedback. Be willing to hear areas which need improvement because it will really help your reputation.

• Do you make commitments and fail to follow through on them?
Your word is your bond. You communicate to others you are not trustworthy when you don’t keep your word. Be aware of the promises you make with others. Your words are communicators of promise.

• Pray to the Lord today to show you how you are doing in this area.
God created us in His image and He seeks only one thing: our faith in His Son Jesus Christ as the only way to Him by believing and receiving Jesus as our personal Savior. If you want to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ today, pray this prayer like I did in 1997 that changed my life - eternally: Lord Jesus Christ, I admit I am weaker and more sinful than ever before believed, but, through you, I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you for paying my debt, bearing my punishment, and offering forgiveness. I turn from my sins and receive you as Savior. Amen.

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“Doctors ought to quit worrying about what ballplayers are taking. What players take doesn't matter. It's nobody else's business. The doctors should spend their time looking for cures for cancer. It takes more than muscles to hit homers. If all those guys were using stuff, how come they're not all hitting homers?”
Comments from Barry Bonds in 2002 regarding his alleged use of steroids.

According to USA Today’s Jon Saraceno, Hank Aaron doesn't want to talk about it, at least not for public consumption. Neither does Frank Robinson, another Hall of Famer whose opinion matters.

Baseball fans, however, aren't nearly as reluctant to discuss how they feel about Barry Bonds' assault on the record books, given the latest allegations that he was a pill-gulping, syringe-sticking, steroidal cream-smearing doper who was jealous of the accolades given in 1998 after Mark McGwire smashed 70 home runs and Sammy Sosa 66.

Spring training normally is filled with fans talking about the new second baseman or whether the bullpen will hold up. This is not a normal spring for baseball, nor was it last year after Jose Canseco's book. A whiff of something else remains in the air — the scent of scandal. It is the lingering issue of what steroids has done to the game's cherished record book and what baseball intends to do about Bonds and his pending historical achievements, if anything.

"It absolutely makes me angry. In my heart of hearts, I feel Barry cheated," said Jeff Smith, a Braves fan from St. Cloud, Fla., who grew up in Atlanta watching Aaron use those incredible wrists to drill line-drive home runs. "I'm not anti-Barry Bonds — I'm pro-Hank Aaron. It must be a tough thing for someone who is as soft-spoken as Hank. He learned to hit baseballs by hitting bottle caps with broomsticks. He never was given anything. He worked for every ounce of that record.

Fans, like team owners, genuinely might not care if players ingest anything and everything — booze, uppers, downers, "juice" — but they do care about statistics. His late-career power surge has left Bonds pounding on the door of baseball immortality as he chases Aaron's career record of 755 home runs. Third all-time, Bonds' 708 total puts him seven behind Babe Ruth and 48 shy of shattering Aaron's standard.

"It cheapens the whole thing," said Jerry Hubbell of Crystal River, Fla. "It means records are no longer going to be worth anything. They are useless."

"There should be an asterisk if his name is in the record books," said Mark Kolb of Port Orange, Fla. "He definitely had an advantage, I guess you could say, with chemical engineering that Hank didn't have."

The fans' consternation is understandable. Still, Bonds has his defenders (including Stanley Burrell, aka MC Hammer. He advised the player on his website that he is too legit to quit because of critics. "Don't let the bloodhounds shake you," Hammer said.)
Bonds has his apologists, but I couldn't find any during a Braves exhibition game.

Unscientific as my "polling" was, everyone I spoke with is disgusted with what he or she thinks is a charade. Not only by Bonds, but by the commissioner's office. They want Bud Selig to do something about the long shadow cast upon the integrity of statistics that serve as the game's lifeblood.

"I don't know what the MLB can do, but I know what I would do," said J.R. Kelly of Panama City, Fla. "First, you investigate. If (proven) he used steroids, I'd strip him (of any records). I don't think they should have a record under false pretenses. Babe Ruth didn't use steroids. ... Beer, maybe, but not steroids."

If Bonds is guilty of undermining the spirit of the game, would a simple mea culpa have sufficed? James White of Atlanta believes so.

"You can only pull the wool over the eyes of the American public so often," he said. "A guy like (Jason) Giambi got up and said, 'I did it' (before a grand jury). Now they're cheering him. It was a wake-up call. I can accept a guy who says, 'I tried something; I was wrong.' If Barry is a man of his word, he's going to have to step up to the plate one day" and admit if he used steroids.

Whether you believe what you read or your own eyes when looking at Bonds' physique, one thing cannot be debated: his numbers.

Since he was 35, Bonds has whacked nearly 300 home runs, an unprecedented total. When he was 31, he hit 33 in 506 at-bats. When he was 39, he connected for 45 round-trippers in 390 at-bats.

Freak season? Or steroid-freak season? Best player ever ... or unrepentant cheater?

"He's a pansy," said Phil Stimmel, 12, a Little Leaguer from Orlando. "He's just showing off because he wants more money and fame. I like to watch what players can really do — not what drugs can do for them."

A few reputation management tips from the Reputation Doctor regarding Barry Bonds:

• To lie this long, you must convince yourself your truth is the truth.
I believe Barry Bonds made a pact with the devil. I believe he convinced himself that his truth (or lie) is the truth. When he decided to take steroids, he convinced himself that he would never tell the truth to anyone, not even himself. His greatest fear has been getting caught and Barry is now caught in his on web of lies.

• Bonds can still do the right thing, but it will take real courage to do so.
To tell the truth after lying this long takes real courage. It takes a real man. It also takes faith in something greater than himself. Does Barry have it in him to do the right thing? If he really loves his family, he will.

• Barry can turn a huge negative into a positive by leaning on the truth for the first time in a long time.
Making such a decision is not head work, but heart work. Barry Bonds has a heart of stone that needs to be softened. He has convinced himself he is invincible. He is not. He is at a huge fork in the road. I truly believe to change his behavior he must lean on God to get his life back on track. Faith in God is one of the greatest tools in building a reputation. After all, who do you think created truth, honesty, accountability, transparency and excellent reputations in the first place? I talk to my clients often about their faith because faith soften hearts and faith should come first is all of our lives. Once hearts are softened, behaviors can change and changing behavior is what reputation management is all about.

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Comment from: John Sampson [Visitor]

Your comments are so true. Thank you for sharing your counsel with us all. We can all learn from this example. I love you blog!

Mar 14, 2006, 6:59 pm

Comment from: Angela Wright (SF) [Visitor]

I agree. Barry is in sinking sand. I hope the MLB listens to your reputation advice. I have learned so much from you. Keep the advice coming.

Mar 15, 2006, 5:04 pm

Comment from: Jim Reynolds (ABC) [Visitor]

If Bonds were smart, he'd hire you now. Excellent points and suggestions.

Mar 16, 2006, 9:45 am

Comment from: Cameron Sandra [Visitor]

Barry Bonds' reputation took a hard blow with this scandal breaking out. I was aware of his history of legal steroids use in his teens, before turning pro, but I always thought he'd know better than to do steroids now.

Feb 23, 2010, 4:01 am

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“Michael couldn't survive one day in prison - he would commit suicide.”
Comments from Jermaine Jackson regarding his younger brother, Michael Jackson.

Jermaine Jackson feared his kid brother Michael might be guilty of child molestation, but backed him at trial because he thought the pop star would commit suicide in prison, according to a bombshell book proposal obtained by the New York Daily News.

In a tell-all outline shopped to publishers just weeks after Michael's arrest in November 2003, Jermaine described the Pop King as a sometimes out-of-control drug and booze abuser with a calculating mean streak and "a thing for young children."

The eight-page proposal for "Legacy: Surviving the Best and the Worst," lists Michael Jackson's preferred substances as Vicodin, Demerol, codeine, Percocet, cocaine, Jack Daniels and wine.

"I don't want to tell you my brother's innocent. I am not certain that he is," Jermaine said in the tome-teaser drafted by author Stacy Brown, who co-authored "Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask" with the singer's former publicist, Bob Jones.

But Jermaine's still-unpublished tale is the ultimate insider look at the troubled star.
He admits that the family has protected Michael Jackson’s image and says that Jackson also cheats, lies and even changed the color of his skin.

Even the pop star's behavior with his own nephews has left his family "shaken," according to Jermaine. He recounts the family coming together after the death of brother Tito's ex-wife in the mid 1990s and finding Michael sitting on a bed with Tito's young sons and holding them in a disturbing manner.

Jermaine also dished about the singer's bizarre behavior shortly before he surrendered to authorities to face charges in November 2003.

Holed up in a Las Vegas hotel room, Michael calmly watched a "Pinocchio" DVD with his three children in his lap, but he later flew into a rage, trashing the room and breaking every glass, lamp and dish in it.

The protective big brother vowed to help Michael beat the rap because "Michael couldn't survive one day in prison ... He'd commit suicide."

• That during the Jackson 5 days, Michael's brothers feared he was gay. The brothers met lots of women while touring and all eventually fell in love. "But Michael, well, he wasn't interested. We used to quietly say that we couldn't have a gay brother."

• Michael hates Jews because he thinks Hollywood moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen stole the idea for Dreamworks studio, including the boy-on-the moon logo, from him. "But the Jews are the powerful ones and they have done a lot to put my brother in his place ... just another n-----."

• That a devious and calculating Michael squashed his brothers' solo musical careers.
But the family stood behind Michael despite pain, doubts and misgivings, unwilling to give up on "our little brother."

Michael Jackson threw a raging fit and made drastic threats when he found out his brother Jermaine was drafting a tell-all book, so his shaken older sibling pulled the plug on the project, the Daily News learned.

Michael vowed to toss Jermaine out of the Jackson family home and sue him and anyone else who had a hand in writing or publishing the proposed tome, "Legacy: Surviving the Best and the Worst," said author Stacy Brown, who had been slated to ghostwrite the project.

In a shocking tome-teaser detailed in Sunday's Daily News, Jermaine, 51, said Michael, 47, has "a thing for young children" and that he feared his kid brother might be guilty of the child molestation charges he faced in late 2003. A jury found the oddball entertainer not guilty of the charges last June.

Jermaine also dished about Michael's alleged drug and alcohol abuse, claimed that Michael's two older kids were fathered by a sperm donor and suggested that their father, Joe, molested their sisters Rebbie and La Toya when they were kids.

In an exclusive interview yesterday, Brown said he was "surprised and caught off guard" when the Daily News obtained the book outline more than two years after it was shopped to publishers as Michael faced child molestation charges. "The experience of writing the proposal ... and then having Michael go nuts, Jermaine crying, and the family going into chaos mode was draining and weird, and one that I wouldn't want to deal with again," said Brown, who co-wrote "Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask" with the pop star's longtime front man Bob Jones.

A few reputation management tips from the Reputation Doctor regarding Michael Jackson:

• Running from your mistakes, lies or problems only makes things worse.
An excellent reputation is built on truth, transparency and accountability. These are three things Michael Jackson is lacking in his reputation. However, he needs to come clean with himself before he can ever come clean with others. He is in huge denial of his behavior.

• Jermaine’s reputation is better than Michael’s today and as a result, we view Jermaine's opinion with more honesty and credibility.
Michael’s reputation is a mess. He is trying to create another image, but you all know I think an image is a lie and will blow in the wind like straw. A reputation is built with a concrete foundation of truth or not at all.

• When your own family is turning on you in public, your reputation is definitely in crisis!
Another family member speaking out against you in public is anyone's nightmare. The truth always bubbles to the top and sometimes directly from the "inner circle" by a family member. Michael Jackson needs to seek seasoned crisis PR help today. His reputation has mud all over it and his reputation will only be repaired with complete truth from his own lips. At the second he finally speaks the truth is when he finally begins repairing his reputation. It will also lift a huge burden from his shoulders because lying is always a big burden. Lying also fills one with a lot of guilt. It is time for Michael to seek the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, not just for himself, but for the sake of his entire family before it is too late.

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Comment from: Jim [Visitor]

Find god MJ.....its his only hope.

Apr 10, 2006, 2:08 am

Comment from: Michel chari [Visitor]

Although seeing pop star Michael Jackson meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C., to discuss HIV/AIDS was "odd," it is difficult to determine RH302 exam "which side is taking a bigger risk to its reputation," syndicated columnist Clarence Page writes in a Baltimore Sun opinion piece (Page, Baltimore Sun, 4/7). RH202 exam While in Washington last month to receive an award from the African Ambassadors' Spouses Association for his work on HIV/AIDS, Jackson met with several CBC members to discuss the HIV/AIDS pandemic and a proposed trip to Africa later this year. Jackson has proposed heading a trip to Africa to better leverage his celebrity status and bring attention to the pandemic. MB2-633 exam

Oct 20, 2009, 1:40 am

Comment from: amadi muuta muhammad [Visitor]

Listen here u dummy's... that has nothing to do with this manner. you know Micheal did not do anything with those children.I get soo angry when you dummy's think he did that... But guess what the truth is going to come out you white crackers... yea i said it what you gonna do?? That's exactly what i thought nothing!!!!!!!!!! soo shut up sit down cause u aint getting nothing from Micheal... His true fans and people who believe Micheal didn't do it knows the truth. My mother told me about yall WHITE crackers. yall always trying to make nothing out of something and put it on the news and in the magazines....Guess what i kno the truth in I WILL DEFINITELY, DEFINITELY SPREED IT AROUND.

Apr 27, 2009, 8:00 pm

Comment from: kendall [Visitor]

you are sooooooooooooooo un fair

Jun 28, 2009, 2:47 pm

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“For the last 11 years, it has been my privilege to be associated with RadioShack. At this time the board and I have agreed that it is in the best interest of the company for new leadership to step forward so that our turnaround plan has the best possible chance to succeed, as I know it will.”
Comments from RadioShack's embattled former president and CEO, David Edmondson, regarding lies on his resume which brought him down.

Maybe you're a few credits shy of what you needed to graduate. Maybe you carried the duties of a supervisor without the title or the pay.

It may be tempting to dress things up on your resume, say you got the degree, or held a certain title, but look at what happened to the CEO of RadioShack.

An investigation by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram discovered Dave Edmondson didn't hold degrees in theology and psychology, despite what his resume and corporate biography said. This month, Edmondson resigned as CEO amid an internal investigation of his credentials.

He admitted recently that he had "clearly misstated" his academic record, claiming that he had received a bachelor-of-science degree when he had not.

You can call it exaggerating, polishing or embellishing, but human resources experts, employers and ethicists call it one simple word: lying.

Overstating your qualifications on a resume may be tempting to some, but it's become more prevalent now that companies receive hundreds of applicants for each position. Resume lies can sit undetected indefinitely, or you can get caught and potentially lose your career and your credibility.

But beware: Getting caught lying on a resume can ruin years of genuine hard work, achievement and your overall reputation, which is everything. And the chances of getting caught are greater these days, as companies take a closer look at their candidates, scrutinizing backgrounds and checking all the references.

• George O'Leary resigned as the Notre Dame football coach five days after being hired, admitting he lied about his academic and athletic background. He didn't have a master's degree and never even played football in college.

• U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, who was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, had apparently plagiarized passages in speeches and interviews as well as inflated his academic record.

• Michael Brown, who headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency when Hurricane Katrina hit, came under heavy criticism for his performance. He was replaced after an investigation by Time magazine found discrepancies in his online legal profile and official bio.

Sadly, surveys indicate that as many as one-third of all job seekers lie on their resumes. In a poll of 150 HR executives at large companies, the executives estimated that nearly 30 percent of all job candidates lie on their resumes.

According to a San Francisco lawyer who has investigated hundreds of resumes while defending companies against former employees, people lie about 90 percent of the time.

A Society for Human Resource Management study found that only 30 percent of all people hiring verify the authenticity of references in letters provided by candidates.

• Education
• Job title
• Compensation
• Reason for leaving
• Accomplishments

Even though it seems so common and perhaps acceptable these days, and the likelihood is you won't get caught, you don't need to take chances with your career. Whether you're a senator, a football coach, a stockbroker, professor or a CEO, do not lie on your resume. Your resume can be written in such a way that it remains truthful yet downplays your weaker areas and highlights your talents.

Resume fraud is not a victimless crime. If one lies on his or her resume and gets the job, then a truly qualified candidate didn't get it.

Professional managers say that a person who is known to have lied on their resume would be very hard to promote "because you could never totally trust them again".

In addition, RadioShack posted a 62% drop in fourth-quarter net income and announced a sweeping restructuring plan that could include closing up to 10% of stores in an effort to counteract its inability to tune in quickly enough to some of the technological advances in personal electronics.

A few reputation management tips from the Reputation Doctor regarding your resume:

• Learn from the mistakes of others.
The list of those caught lying on their resumes continues to grow. Decide today for yourself. Don’t ever join the list of fradulent resume writers. It is never worth it. Your integrity and character should not bend in the wind.

• Background checks are easier than ever today with technology.
The internet is an amazing resource for doing quick background checks. Computer databases, excellent software and other cutting-edge technologies also offer consulting firms specializing in background checks very powerful tools. Don’t fall victim to these tools of accountability for seeking the truth.

• Your resume is the introduction of your character to your potential employer.
What employer will hire you if you are caught and positioned as an untrustworthy interviewee? Answer that question before you attempt to stretch the truth on your resume. Hopefully you want a reputation as the most trustworthy employee at your new job. If so, you will move up the ladder quickly, but more importantly, you will live an honesty life and become a much happier human being for doing so.

Mike Paul is editor of The Reputation Doctor blog. The Reputation Doctor is a nickname given to him by various clients. Mike's blog is located at www.ReputationDoctor.com. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, BBC, and others as a weekly contributor and expert in the global news regarding leaders, celebrities, corporations and other organizations with reputations in crisis. Mr. Paul is also president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR (www.mgppr.com), a leading strategic public relations and reputation management firm based in New York. For interview requests, speeches or business opportunities with Mr. Paul, call 212-595-8500.

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Comment from: Smith [Visitor]

There are some CEOs successively major companies in their 40s and 70s, and those interviewed say that period has little to do with achievement and headship. What subjects distant more, says 49-year-old Rich Templeton, who became CEO of Texas Instruments at 45, is whether executives see the heart of their career and activities ahead of them or following. RadioShack Corp. was to open a smooth rotunda-shaped flagship stock up Friday that will feature an interactive acting, games, and the newest in electronic tools and toys. 650-180 exam , EX0-101 exam , 640-460 exam

Aug 4, 2009, 5:41 am

Comment from: jeux de casinos gratuits sur Internet [Visitor] · http://www.paris-sur-internet.fr/

RadioShack was the first U.S. retailer to start selling mini-laptops known as netbooks with built-in 3G wireless Internet. Last December, RadioShack started selling netbooks for $50 with a two-year contract.I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well.

Mar 11, 2010, 1:49 am

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“We knew there were always wheat and dairy derivatives in there, but they were not the protein component,” she said. "Technically, there are no allergens in there. What this is an example of is science evolving.”
Comments from Cathy Kapica, McDonald’s director of global nutrition, regarding McDonald’s french fry crisis.

At least three people in the U.S. have filed lawsuits against McDonald's because the fast food giant's french fries contain milk and wheat ingredients, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The lawyer for an Illinois woman with celiac disease says his client's condition is set off by eating gluten, a protein found in wheat.

McDonald's said Feb. 13th that wheat and dairy ingredients are used to flavor its fries. Those substances can cause allergic or other medical reactions in food-sensitive consumers. Earlier this month, McDonald's also acknowledged that its fries contain a third more trans fats than it previously knew, citing results of a new testing method it began using in December.

Jack Daly, McDonald's senior vice president, said in a statement the company has not reviewed the case yet and is testing its fries for gluten through a food allergy research program at the University of Nebraska.

Debra Moffat of Lombard, Ill., is seeking unspecified damages, claiming her suffering heightened gastrointestinal symptoms after eating the fries.

Nadia Sugish of Los Angeles is also suing. She says she's a vegan and would not have eaten the fries if she had known they contained dairy products.

Mark and Theresa Chimiak of Jupiter, Fla., allege in their suit that their five-year-old daughter, Annalise, became seriously ill from eating the fries because she has an intolerance to gluten.

"If they're saying there's wheat and dairy derivatives in the oil, as far as anyone with this disease is concerned, there's actually wheat in it," said New York resident Jillian Williams, one of more than 2 million Americans with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten.

"They should have disclosed that all along," she said. "They should never have been calling them gluten-free."

It's not the first time McDonald's forthrightness has been called into question concerning what's in its famous fries.

The company paid $10 million in 2002 to settle a lawsuit by vegetarian groups after it was disclosed that its fries were cooked in beef-flavored oil despite the company's insistence in 1990 that it was abandoning beef tallow for pure vegetable oil.

Last February, it paid $8.5 million to settle a suit by a nonprofit advocacy group accusing the company of misleading consumers by announcing plans in September 2002 to change its cooking oil but then delaying the switch indefinitely within months. Reluctant to change the taste of a top-selling item, McDonald's has continued to maintain for the past three years that testing continues.

The fast-food giant, which previously said its fries were free of gluten and milk or wheat allergens, added a ''contains wheat and milk ingredients'' postscript to its website's fries listing this month.

A few reputation management tips from the Reputation Doctor for McDonald’s:

• Lying destroys trust in a corporation locally and globally.
Stretching the truth is a lie and lying destroys trust. These are rules we teach our kids before kindergarten. Adults know better, but sometimes adults still choose deceit. In addition, adults run global corporations and many global corporations, not just McDonald’s, are in crisis.

• When a corporation is caught lying, it creates a Pinocchio complex.
Pinocchio told so many lies no one trusted him when he eventually spoke the truth. McDonald’s is in danger of the same mistake. Without trust, customers will not enter their doors. McDonald’s has a simply choice make: truth or lies? Pride and fear sometimes prevent us from doing what is right.

• Humility is needed to get back on track.
McDonald’s attorneys must work closely with their corporate communications executives and their outside crisis PR consultants. There is much more here to lose in the court of public opinion vs. potential gain in the court of law. Humility is an important tool to help fix the problem - even among the attorneys.

• Empathy for those with celiac disease is important to be included in McDonald’s message.
McDonald’s endangered the lives of those in our society with celiac disease. I have friends with the disease. It is not pretty and it requires having trust in those who claim to provide us with food without any trace of gluten or diary products. McDonald’s breached that trust. Their deceit also sends a shockwave to all McDonald’s customers. Empathy for those hurt by the crisis is necessary within the first 24 hours. To do so, McDonald’s must choose communications advice over legal advice today. Let’s see which they choose.

Remember, do the right thing when your reputation is in crisis and seek the counsel of an experienced reputation management expert. It will be difficult, but ultimately the rewards will be great. Why? Because Your Reputation Is Everything! ™

Mike Paul is editor of The Reputation Doctor blog. The Reputation Doctor is a nickname given to him by various clients. Mike's blog is located at www.ReputationDoctor.com. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, BBC, and others as a weekly contributor and expert in the global news regarding leaders, celebrities, corporations and other organizations with reputations in crisis. Mr. Paul is also president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR (www.mgppr.com), a leading strategic public relations and reputation management firm based in New York. For interview requests, speeches or business opportunities with Mr. Paul, call 212-595-8500.

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Comment from: Laura Martin (L.A.) [Visitor]

Great information re: McDonald's. I look forward to your analysis, tips and commentary in the news on TV and on your blog on Enron's trial, the ongoing Martha Stewart and Donald Trump wars and more. I am learning so much about reputation management. As you say, because your reputation is everything! Thank you.

Feb 23, 2006, 12:14 pm

Comment from: Jackie Tynsdale (Chicago) [Visitor]

Wow. McDonald's has a crisis on their hands! They need to hire you. Thanks for the great tips.

Feb 20, 2006, 3:51 pm

Comment from: therealfoodclub [Visitor]

Dear Mike

I hate McDonalds and when I read that their new spokesperson was Sarah Fergurson I almost wet myself laughing and how on earth can McDonald's along with either Pepsi or Coke become the major sponsors of the Olympics. Sport represents Fitness and healthy eating...The whole world has gone corporate mad and things need to change... As for their French Fries well there is nothing french about them. One thing is for sure they are FRIED Yuk!!!!!

Feb 20, 2006, 11:40 am

Comment from: Herry [Visitor]

Yeah, some time ago, McDonald's sued two environmentalists for distributing a pamphlet critical of the food served by the fast-food chain. Then business was hostile to sue environmental group Blue water Network, which was distributing a print and internet campaign that depicted Ford's chairman and chief executive, Bill Ford, as Pinocchio. 350-029 exam , 646-363 exam , 640-816 exam

Aug 6, 2009, 7:18 am

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"I’ve felt like the last three days I’ve defended myself over something that absolutely, unequivocally, I was not involved with."
Wayne Gretzky, reiterating that he never bet with the gambling ring allegedly financed by friend and Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet. Gretzky’s wife, Janet, allegedly made many bets in the gambling ring.

According to AP, Phoenix Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky will subject himself this afternoon to another round of questions from reporters about an alleged illegal gambling ring that police say was financed by his assistant coach, Rick Tocchet. The gambling ring had a connection with organized crime in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. Gretzky, considered hockey's greatest player, is in his first season coaching the Coyotes and is a part-owner of the team.

"First of all, my wife is my best friend," Gretzky said in a recent interview. "My love for her is deeper than anything. The reality is, I'm not involved, I wasn't involved and I'm not going to be involved. Am I concerned for both of them? Sure there's concern from me. I'm more worried about them than me. ... I'm trying to figure it all out."

Gretzky, also the executive director of the Canadian men's Olympic hockey team, is expected to join the team in Toronto this morning. But rather than lay low in an airport hotel, the Great One plans to attend the team's practice, making himself available to the media for the third time since the Tocchet story broke last Tuesday.

His decision was made amid reports over the weekend that he was visited at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, before the start of the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 by two New Jersey police officers and a local law enforcement official to discuss the alleged involvement of his wife, Janet, in the alleged betting ring.

Gretzky was speechless when police informed him of the allegation, the reports say, and he told them that he had no knowledge of the alleged gambling operation in a conversation last Monday. Later that day, it is believed, he telephoned Tocchet to see whether there was any way his wife could avoid being implicated. Sources have said the Gretzky-Tocchet conversation was recorded during a New Jersey state police wiretap, the day after Gretzky’s wife allegedly won money betting on the Super Bowl, sources said.

“Published reports that Gretzky had spoken to Rick Tocchet about his concern for his wife prior to police appearing at Gretzky’s house last Monday are completely ludicrous,” said Gretzky’s attorney, Ron Fujikawa. “It’s absolutely balderdash.”

The wife of hockey Hall-of-Famer Wayne Gretzky said she never placed bets for her husband, while her spokesman said she may have to testify about a $1.7 million sports-gambling ring with alleged ties to organized crime.

The NHL is also taking the allegations very seriously. "We understand that Mr. Tocchet's conduct in no way involved betting on hockey," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. "And, while betting on football or other sports may be the pervasive issue, it in no way justifies poor judgment or otherwise alleged inappropriate conduct."

Gretzky’s wife, actress and dancer Janet Jones, said in a statement that "at no time did I ever place a wager" on behalf of Gretzky, the National Hockey League's all-time scoring leader and now coach and part- owner of the Phoenix Coyotes. "Other than the occasional horse race, my husband does not bet on any sports,'' Jones said in the statement, released by Evan Jenness, her Santa Monica, California-based attorney.

The Newark Star-Ledger, citing unidentified law-enforcement officials, reported that Jones placed $500,000 in bets with the ring over the last six weeks -- including $75,000 on the Feb. 5 Super Bowl -- and that Gretzky spoke of the ring on a wiretap. There is no evidence Gretzky placed any bets, the newspaper said.

Janet Jones has been spending a lot of time in Los Angeles with her daughter, while her husband, Gretzky, has been spending much of his time in Arizona with his new team. As a result, his wife, Janet, had a lot more time without her husband and one of the ways she spent that time seems to be gambling.

A few reputation management tips from the Reputation Doctor for the Gretzkys:

• Hot water melts ice.
The NHL is still trying to come back from its strike crisis and now the Great One and his wife are in crisis. Bad for pro hockey, bad for the Canadian Olympic team and bad for the Gretzky family. Hot water melts ice and these hockey crises are causing reputation problems for everyone in the sport.

• Gambling is highly addictive.
Janet needs help to kick her habit. The needs to find the best gambling anonymous program in the country. It is a disease and she is definitely addicted. She likes the gambling rush and she needs help to kick it and she needs help now. She will need the consistent support of her husband, family and friends.

• We all need accountability.
Janet Jones is not exempt from accountability and transparency. In fact, because of her famous husband, the public demands the truth and it will come out sooner rather than later. The only way to repair the family name is with honesty, transparency, accountability and consistency in changed behavior and then with humble communication.

• The court of public opinion is much more important than the court of law in this situation.
If your attorney leads in the court of public opinion, you will lose in the end. Attorneys are not trained to handle the media onslaught in a situation like this. Hire a seasoned crisis PR pro with a lot of experience dealing with public crises. If your attorney helps prevent you from going to jail or paying a price for your misdeeds, but your reputation is still in the gutter, you're still in crisis. Think O.J. Simpson. Your reputation is everything!

• Sins of the wife will damage a public husband’s reputation and all audiences associated with them.
The Gretzkys need to understand any misdeeds within their family are open to public scrutiny. I always tell my clients when you first sign a contract in sports, entertainment, as a top executive in corporate America, elected to public office or a leading post with a top nonprofit, your personal life is now public and that includes your entire family.

Mike Paul is editor of The Reputation Doctor blog. The Reputation Doctor is a nickname given to him by various clients. Mike's blog is located at www.ReputationDoctor.com. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, BBC, and others as a weekly contributor and expert in the global news regarding leaders, celebrities, corporations and other organizations with reputations in crisis. Mr. Paul is also president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR (www.mgppr.com), a leading strategic public relations and reputation management firm based in New York. For interview requests, speeches or business opportunities with Mr. Paul, call 212-595-8500.

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Comment from: typy bukmacherskie [Visitor] · http://www.typy-bukmacherskie.com.pl

Thansk for this informative resource, really interesting !

Dec 14, 2009, 9:06 am

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In our innocence, we didn't know how false that chant was. Bottom line: Names do hurt!

The power of words becomes clear after listening to a powerful speech that leaves you feeling motivated, or when a moving passage from a novel brings tears to your eyes.

But when it comes to causing pain, the power of words may still be vastly underestimated.

"Hurtful words can haunt you all your life and may lead to heart disease, depression, suicide or stress," said W. Penn Handwerker, a medical anthropologist. Not surprisingly, those that have the most impact are words that come from people we admire or who have some power over our lives: teachers, spouses, parents and peers.

And while a bruise will eventually disappear, "words can hurt your soul," said Stephen Wessler, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Hate Violence at the University of Southern Maine.

Studies have found that when it comes to bullying, verbal assaults are even more painful than physical ones. "Words create fear and can be construed to contain the promise of future violence. The emotional impact on victims can range from low-level anxiety to paralyzing fear," Wessler said.

It is estimated that 160,000 students miss school everyday because they're afraid of being harassed. What's more, name-calling and other forms of abuse are precursors to actual violence in schools. Wessler, who worked as a prosecutor for the Maine attorney general's office, explained that when he was called into schools for cases of violence, it was typically the last stage of a much longer battle.

"The violence had actually begun days or months before with verbal harassment," he said.

Kids are not the only ones wounded by harsh words. In relationships, on the job and in day-to-day life, adults are also bombarded with, and affected by, hurtful words. Spouses who are confronted with regular verbal abuse develop feelings of self-doubt, low self-worth, hopelessness and depression. They may become withdrawn and angry and start to suffer physical effects as well.

Likewise, people stuck in emotionally hazardous work environments, in which their bosses or coworkers use name-calling, belittling words, negative gossip, threats or ultimatums, are more likely to:

• Be absent from work
• Lack focus and concentration
• Use insurance for medical conditions (many of which are brought on by the stress)
• Intentionally or unintentionally sabotage the workplace due to their unhappiness

A few reputation management tips from the Reputation Doctor regarding name-calling:

• You must defend your good name to maintain an excellent reputation.
Some people believe just knowing the truth yourself is enough. This is not true. All reputations, including your own, must be defended when under attack.

• You must hold the name caller accountable to end the cycle.
Accountability is very important. When held accountable, bullying and name-calling usually stops.

• Seek counseling because hurtful words enter the brain and (with repetition) cause severe damage.
The damage is emotional and reputational.

• Teach your children and all around you (young and old) regarding the dangers of name-calling.
We can help stop the cycle of name-calling and bullying. We have all probably experience at least one episode of name-calling in our lifetime. Educating others is an excellent way to prevent the cycle from continuing. Share this news with someone today.

Remember, do the right thing when your reputation is in crisis. It will be difficult, but the ultimate rewards will be great. Why? Because Your Reputation Is Everything! ™

Mike Paul is editor of The Reputation Doctor blog. The Reputation Doctor is a nickname given to him by various clients. Mike's blog is located at www.ReputationDoctor.com. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, BBC, and others as a weekly contributor and expert in the global news regarding leaders, celebrities, corporations and other organizations with reputations in crisis. Mr. Paul is also president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR (www.mgppr.com), a leading strategic public relations and reputation management firm based in New York. For interview requests, speeches or business opportunities with Mr. Paul, call 212-595-8500.

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“He is a snake in the grass, a selfish, greedy man and holier-than-thou.”
Prospective jurors’ thoughts on former Enron chairman Ken Lay.

He is the devil and a high-class crook.”
Comments from prospective jurors regarding former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling.

The corporate trial of the century begins today in Houston. Many reputations within the Enron case are in crisis, especially the reputations of Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. In addition, the reputation of corporate America and the U.S. attorney’s office are also on the line.

Ken Lay, Enron's former chairman, faces seven counts in the trial, including conspiracy and fraud. Former Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling faces 31 counts, including conspiracy, fraud and insider trading. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Lay is either the architect of one of the most intricate and devastating fraud schemes in corporate history or an unwitting and hapless entrepreneur