When News is Bad, Change the Subject

Here’s the scenario: you’ve had to make a controversial decision or taken a difficult step, and you’re getting hammered by your key constituencies. What do you do?

The most tried-and-true strategy under most cases is to change the subject. If you’re been criticized because of Decision A, the longer you let people talk about and stew on Decision A without further information or actions, the more the reaction to Decision A will become the storyline.

So try to move people off that news as quickly as possible. You’re walking a bit of a tightrope, because if you announce Decision A on a Monday, and then try to bury it on Tuesday, that will be a little too obvious. But by the following Monday, it’s time to start filling the pipeline with new information, to send the message of “we’re moving on. You can either get on the bandwagon or get out of the way.”

And the more you fill the pipeline with incremental news and actions that demonstrate progress, the more you marginalize the complainers and naysayers, who are still stuck on the original storyline.