The Technology Symposium’s at PRSA's ICON 2020 virtual conference had session titled “Learning from Microsoft’s Anti-Trust Battles” with Mark Murray, Founder of M Squared Strategy and a former Microsoft corporate communications leader. In a Q&A with Amy Fisher, APR, Vice President of Padilla, Murray talked about what we need to consider when facing crisis like the Microsoft Anti-Trust cases.
Tech Anti-Trust Now and Then
Although there have been big changes since the “Microsoft Battles” occurred, Murray explained that we can find similarities with the industry’s regulatory issues nowadays. One big similarity that Murray mentioned: “The tech industry and the government live in different worlds. They speak different languages. They often speak past each other. It can be really difficult for people in the technology companies to make themselves heard and understood by the government. In a similar way, it can be very difficult for policy makers or investigators to make themselves heard and understood by technology companies.”
On the other hand, Murray said that “I think technology is even more progressive today than it was back then.” The Founder of M Squared Strategy thinks that companies have learnt a lot form the Microsoft case. In comparison with the past, he stated that “tech companies have really invested in their government relations and invested in being a part of the policy making conversation.”
Additionally, he said that Congress is also playing a leading role in the current investigations. “Congress was not a central player in the Microsoft case. Today there's a more bipartisan concern about the role of technology instead.”
However, Murray also mentioned how profound is this process: “when you're dealing with a government investigation, that government entity has access to internal documents. They've got a lot of information from inside the company that they're poring over and looking for evidence of wrongdoing. That could be potentially damaging to the company.”
Anti-Trust Communications Advice
So, if we're talking about a technology company that may be experiencing a crisis what are the most important things that they need to think about?
Murray stated that one of the most important things is the Communication team´s involvement in it: “You've got to have your communications team not just waiting outside the door for the policy to be communicated, but at the table as the policy is being shaped. If you don't have your communications specialists at the table, you are going to make bad strategic decisions. You're going to make decisions that are going to make your efforts to turn the crisis around counterproductive.”
“Another principle is that you can't let the crisis dominate everything that you're doing in communications,” he added. Murray explained how important is organize your teams and keep communicating about the business while you deal with the crisis: “we can't allow ourselves to become distracted by this crisis.”
Facts and perceptions
A common mistake companies make, Murray explained, is that “people often will believe that the facts are more important than the perception.” He explained that facts are critical to the work, but perceptions are obviously key, as well. “Don't let yourself get so focused on the facts of your case that you lose sight of the bigger perspective,” he added.
And what about the employee communication? How can communication professionals deal with this during a crisis?
Circle of Trust
Thinking about the impact that social media has nowadays and how this can cause them to have questions about the company, Murray advises “making sure that you're putting useful, highly credible and authentic information. So, they can make their decisions about whether the company has behaved in a responsible manner.”
Another point he made was about misinformation or lack of information: “You can run into situations where someone inside the company believes that the company is not being honest and they may have incomplete information that causes them to believe that the company isn't telling the truth, or isn't being square with regulators or the media.” Murray explained that the most crucial action is to build that “circle of trust” through authenticity and values.
Put It on Video
To close the session, Fisher asked Murray about the right channels to communicate. “During some of the most difficult times that I've had, either within a corporation or assisting clients, that ability to speak directly to people through video, and lay out who you are, what you stand for, and the tone that you bring can be a very powerful tool,” he concluded.
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