Fallen Stars Shooting Themselves in the Foot on LinkedIn - The Puzzling Post by Former WW International CEO Sima Sistani

 Has long-form "sharing" on LinkedIn during a time of personal branding/organizational distress become a badly calculated risk? 

BARING ONE'S SOUL

Six months ago Cloudflare video-whistleblower Brittany Pietsch let it all out on her LinkedIn profile about being unemployed and in financial peril. After being terminated from Cloudflare another job quickly went poof. She noted how she had gone through all the usual hoops of a job search by creating proposals and more.

952 comments came in. Not all were supportive. Some such as Brian Mintzer's brought attention to her "short stints" (red flags) and Alexander Guizzotti's singled out her taking refuge in a victim identity. I joined them in being critical. Here is my post.

Well, Pietsch did land her on feet, at least for now, as regional sales director at Navisite. Of course, there will continue to be too much attention focused on how that is going. A very high profile can be a faustian bargain.

WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?

Now this. As the business world knows, WW International and its leader Sima Sistani parted ways. On her LinkedIn profile Sistani posted a long-form statement. 

It is a puzzling one. That's primarily because it ranges from a rehash of her vision (which lost out in both sales and stock price) for a "new moment in health care" to her hand-off to her "dear friend" (investors don't give a damn about any friendship ties) Tara Comonte, the next leader. Sistani also notes this about her change-agent leadership (which some business experts assess as part of the reason for the stock price plunge to below a buck): "I'm so proud of our team for embracing the change." 

Many of the over-100 comments to Sistani's statement are not positive. For example, Lillian Mondaro posts, "I hope you learned a great deal about how not to run a business." Mondaro advocates a shift from telehealth to in-person meetings. She also hopes that those kinds of communities will be rebuilt.

In my own intuitive coaching/tarot reading services, repeat sales have surged, churn has decreased and I am building a caring network since I have invested in renting space to do more in-person consultations. Those spaces are in centers which have reputations for strong community participation and suppport. I am blessed to be able to loop into that aura. (Those centers screen who will be appropriate contractors on-site.)

PRE-INFLUENCER OLD-LINE PUBLIC RELATIONS FUNDAMENTALS. 

So, here we are. There is plenty of wisdom in the oldest public relations fundamental of creating a pause - that is, adopting a low profile - after a negative professional development. 

New York Magazine star reporter Olivia Nuzzi, now on mandated leave, should do just that after the sexting scandal. 

Prominent financial player Leon Black, only now experiencing a social comeback, might have been able to restore his reputation sooner had he not kept creating new headlines with legal actions. Those directed attention to his alleged past actions. 

No surprise, everything from cognitive psychotherapy to spirituality exercises reinforces the importance of being fully there in the now.

A smart strategy for Paul Weiss law firm associate Matteo Godi, outed by Politico in 2022 in the Wiki hacking, has been to shield himself from the media, not lean into the drama. Wearing my blogger hat, twice I contacted him for interviews. That didn't happen. Meanwhile he has held on to that high-paying position at that elite law firm. Here is his profile on the Paul Weiss website. 

Incidentally Paul Weiss is a genius in its own organizational positioning and packaging. How its recent disruptive initiatives have been orchestrated have dominated coverage in influential media such as Bloomberg Law, Financial Times, The New York Times and even the offbeat Abovethelaw.

EASING THE PAIN, ENGINEERING GOOD OUTCOMES

It really does come down to this: Transitions are rarely an adventure. Typically they are soul-wrenching.

The pain, however, could be reduced and the odds of success increased by pausing to assess what have been proven over and over again to be effective communications crisis strategies in very specific situations and explore the fit for your own woes. O'Dwyer's Public Relations newsletter provides useful case studies, especially for this era of social networks, influencers and back to in-person. Professional anonymous network Reddit Public Relations is another source.

What panned out for Bob Iger after his initial stumbles during his second round as Disney CEO could be counterproductive for some other professionals. The same applies to organizational resets. 

Overall, IBM resumed tech leadership not by flash but by sticking to its knitting. 

On the other hand, flash could result in extraordinary funding for OpenAI. 

Paul Weiss fuses aggressive/innovative with measured rhetoric. 

Life is hard. Business is even more difficult these days. Get answers – and relief. Jane Genova is a results-driven intuitive coach, tarot reader and content-creator related to careers. Complimentary consultation (please text/phone 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)