Tony Chapelle, Agenda, May 18, 2018
Details continue to emerge about consulting deals that Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen sought after the 2016 election in return for perspective on the incoming president’s viewpoints. As the plot twists get more labyrinthine, some governance observers say companies that paid Cohen could suffer more reputational damage in the weeks ahead.
Still, even with the payments out in the open, the companies — and boards, by extension — have faced questions about flat-footed responses to the payments’ disclosures, and why the companies made internal changes only after the payments were made public.
“These companies tended to get their responses correct the second time, not the first,” explains Davia Temin, who heads a public relations and crisis management firm, Temin and Company. “By now, you’d think they’d get it right the first time. Own it, apologize, put in fixes and then move forward quickly.” […read more]