Firestone tires. Enron and Arthur Andersen. The Catholic Church hierarchy. These crises have dominated the headlines in the past year. As different as they all seem, when looked at from the perspective of crisis management they have a lot of things in common. Each of them made mistakes that extended the crises, damageed their reputations, and hurt untold numbers of people.

Why can't we learn from the mistakes of others? My dad once told me when I had been treated shabbily by someone in a position of authority: "You must take something away from each experience in life: learn either what you should do or what you should never do." For those of you who lead your own organizations - whether you are the CEO of a huge corporation or a sole proprietor entrepreneur - look at what these organizations did or did not do and vow not to repeat their mistakes when you face a crisis.

Face Up to the Problem Immediately

As children, we instinctively tried to deny wrongdoing in order to avoid or at least delay punishment. "I didn't do it." "It's not my fault." "I was just walking by and the vase broke." It may be human nature to try to avoid pain. But we should have learned by now that, when something bad has happened, pain is inevitable. If we or a colleague made a mistake or an error in judgment, if a piece of our equipment malfunctioned, or if someone did or said something insensitive, the best thing to do is to step up to the plate right away. You must acknowledge the problem, take action to make amends, and institute new procedures or policies to try to keep it from ever happening again.

I don't mean to make it sound easy. Discomfort will definitely be involved, whether it is painful to our pride or our pocketbook. But if you have a sticky bandage on a hairy forearm, would you rather pull it off s-l-o-w-l-y and drag it out, or grab it and rip it off in one quick motion?

In Latin America several years ago, there were numerous accidents when Firestone tires failed and caused rollovers, resulting in injuries and fatalities. Yet there was no internal investigation to determine the root cause of the problem. And the blame-game between Firestone and Ford resulted in BOTH of them getting a black eye, the destruction of an enviable business relationship, and serious negative impacts on both their bottom lines.

Similarly, years ago, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church didn't face up to the sexual misconduct of some priests. Inexplicably, they did not remove the offenders from positions where they would come into contact with other young men and send them for treatment. They covered up the problem and moved them to other parishes! Talk about making your problems worse!

The Trouble With Trying to Cover Up

Why haven't we all learned by now the truth of what Steve Hayworth, Vice President of Public Relations for CNN, said: "People will forgive a screw-up but they won't forgive a cover-up!" If he had learned that lesson, Richard Nixon could have probably served out his term of office as President of the United States instead of having to resign in disgrace. Arthur Andersen might still be a respected name in the world of accounting if they had not shredded documents.

It won't be easy to step forward and admit a mistake. There will likely be embarrassment or a substantial fine or both. But you will gain more respect by apologizing for wrongdoing or an accident, accepting your punishment, and moving on to make amends.

Lee Iacocca did it back in 1987. When it came to light that some Chrysler dealers had been driving cars with the odometers disconnected and then selling them as new, Mr. Iacocca called a news conference and publicly stated that these practices were "dumb." As Chairman, he apologized and took responsibility. He recognized that the corporation would have to pay a price. In addition to paying the fine levied by the government, he went further, taking actions to make amends to those who had purchased these cars. Did he find this easy to do? Of course not. Was it the RIGHT thing to do? You bet. Did he save worse damage to Chrysler's corporate reputation? Yes, he did. Several months later, a survey showed that 67% of the public felt that the corporate response had been adequate. Sales remained stable and the stock price did not drop. Contrast this with what has happened to Enron and Arthur Andersen and look at the dramatic impact their less-than-adequate responses have had on their devastated employees and shareholders.

We are not children any more. When something bad happens to an organization, I advise my clients and those groups who take my crisis management workshops, that they need to act with the maturity and knowledge that experience brings. There is a saying that goes, "Learn from experience; you will never live long enough to make all possible mistakes yourself." See how others have badly bungled their crises and vow not to make the same mistakes.

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