Honesty, What a Concept

The Sunday, May 18, 2008 issue of the New York Times features the following article:

Doctors Are Beginning to Say ‘I’m Sorry’ Long Before ‘I’ll See You in Court’

Within the article it details how doctors are beginning to reject the typical “deny and defend” option proffered by hospital lawyers in the event of a mistake. Instead they are opting to full disclosure, immediate reconciliation and a sincere apology. For instance, this apology from Dr. Tapas K. Das Gupta, a 76-year old oncology surgeon, who mistakenly removed a sliver from a patient’s eighth rib instead of the ninth:

After all these years, I cannot give you any excuse whatsoever. It is just one of those things that occurred. I have to some extent harmed you.

How is that for complete honesty? That is not easy news to give and certainly not easy news to hear, but wouldn’t you still prefer that to not having this mistake revealed to you? I believe it is better to appreciate this level of honesty and work through a sensible resolution. Apparently the statistics agree with the honest approach. According to the article hospitals are reporting decreases in their caseloads and saving in legal costs along with a decline in malpractice premiums.

Looking at marketing and communications, it is sad that this level of honesty would really stand out. I can only think of a couple examples. One is JetBlue’s written and video apology after their operational mistakes.

Another is the tagline that rests at Russell’s blog “we’re as disappointed as you are.” I can’t seem to find the article right now, but I believe it was an idea W+K UK pitched to an airline client as a way to bring back customers and work toward a better future. The last is for a shoe manufacturer that ran an apology ad stating that due to an accounting error they had not received new calendars since the eighties, which was why they had not updated their styles. Now that they had the new calendars they would be working on updating their look. That’s taking a humorous spin on honesty, but no one ever said honesty had to be depressing all the time.

What I like about all of the communications is that they are authentic. If you have a problem with your company don’t just try to stick a smiley face on it and pretend everything is okay (the very definition of insanity, by the way). The first step toward resolution is admitting you have a problem. I suspect that just as the medical patients who suffered an accident, your customers will respect your honesty and enjoy looking forward to a brighter future, perhaps even helping you along the way.