Page 252 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

But such dishonesty is the exception, not the rule. I recommend actu-
ally helping reporters out. If they call, on a deadline, looking for some
industry perspective, give it to them. You don’t have to go on the record.
But lend them a hand, including young reporters, because you never know
where they will end up. Otherwise, you
are just another fat cat.
IF YOU ARE ONLY
Of course, you can’t do anything that
AVAILABLE TO A
appears to be an attempt to buy good cov-
REPORTER WHEN
erage. No passing out of baseball tickets!
YOU HAVE A
And when you do have lunch with a
POSITIVE STORY TO
reporter,pick an unpretentious place.The
GET OUT, THAT’S
reporter is going to have to pay, and she
LIKE ONLY BEING
will be relieved not to have to explain a
AVAILABLE FOR A
fancy tab to her bosses.
SATURDAY NIGHT
When it comes to the press, while
DATE.
you don’t have to say yes to everything,
aloof is a bad idea. If you are only avail-
able to a reporter when you have a positive story to get out, that’s like only
being available for a Saturday night date. If you’re not available to help
move the couch, it is not a relationship. A reporter who has no relation-
ship with you will have no compunction about ruining your reputation.

REGULATORS AND PROSECUTORS—MORE COPS
PATROLLING MORE ALERTLY
Regulators and their close allies in the offices next door, the prosecutors,
have long had a lot of power over big organizations. Until recently, how-
ever, they didn’t use it often.
But two important things happened to change that. First, federal reg-
ulators, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission, were
embarrassed in 2002 to have been caught snoozing while enormous
accounting frauds and stock research scandals brewed.

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