I've been a teller of stories all my life - in front of the camera, behind the camera, as an entrepreneur, executive, leader and professor at UCLA for close to four decades. The purposeful story - one that drives your listeners/audience to your goal and incites and excites them to heed your call to action and viral market it as their own - is one of the most potent resources any individual, brand, or company can tap into and have it be their game-changer.
Most of the time...
And sometimes, very often publically, there's the good story that's gone bad. Circumstances might have changed, decisions driven by greed or shortcuts are made, or Mother Nature might have taken control, creating the telling of a new story that is a fabrication of reality or resulting in the complete cessation of telling any story. Both of these scenarios have the power to repel an audience, alienating them from your brand and causing your enterprise to tank.
In my own life, I've experienced trying to remedy a good story gone bad first hand. Sometimes you can't hold fast, you just have to hold on - for dear life! Many years ago, I partnered with a major comedy brand, Woody Allen, a star and director. Just before the release of his new movie, news broke out about Woody's romance with Soon-Yi Previn who was none other than Woody's girlfriend, Mia Farrow's, adopted daughter! Imagine managing a $30 million dollar brand, called unbelievably, "Husbands and Wives" and having his horrible story being told? I couldn't pitch through it and that story struck us out. There was no story I could tell to salvage that brand.
My epiphany was, when brands are hooked up to people and their personal behavior, bad stuff can happen that pollutes the brand's story and becomes the brand's story. In my case, the best business decision was to cut my losses. While the "cutting loss" strategy be can the best last resort decision, many business folks don't have it as an option.
Sometimes you have to confront bad news head on. Recently, these folks and brands have been victims, many self-inflicted, of good stories gone bad.
This post has been corrected from an earlier version.
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a person and I wonder what happened in his life to make him so self destructive.
Steve Jobs is taking some time off. Who cares? Whoever is taking over in his absence would have been hand picked by Jobs, and I'm sure will keep things running smoothly.
Toyota recalls. I don't agree with the way they handled it, lying about the problems for years until they became too big to lie about anymore. But it doesn't change the fact that, in spite of the recalls, Toyota still produces a product that is more reliable than anything produced by the U.S. automobile industry.
Charlie Sheen. Who cares what he does in his personal life? As long as he's not endangering the lives of others by driving while high or something, he should be free to do whatever he wants.
The record industry - Instead of embracing the digital tidal wave, they decided to sue their downloading fans (studies show that downloaders also BUY the most music) and hand over the control of their entire digital strategy to iTunes.
President Obama - Rolls into DC on the 2008 tsunami and immediately proceeds to cede power to the losers who destroyed the nation, angering the voters who elected him to punish them.
And in the celebrity front there's Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods, and any number of sports stars.
wow.