大公司CEO向公众道歉经典案例(双语)
爱思英语编者按:做错事就要道歉。伟大如苹果前CEO史蒂夫•乔布斯也概莫能外。《财富》为你逐一盘点近些年那些颇为经典的CEO道歉案例。有些起到了很好的效果,有些道歉则公众完全不买账。这里面有什么学问?
不久前,美式连锁餐厅奶昔小屋(Shake Shack)因去掉了炸薯条的波纹向消费者道歉。
然后,波纹薯条又重见天日。排队等候几个小时后,你就可以像以前那样,尽情享用这款美食。尽管该公司CEO兰迪•加鲁蒂并没有为之前的过失真的说一声“对不起”,但他指出,奶昔小屋“没有充分听取大批热爱我们经典波纹薯条的粉丝意见。”
企业道歉并不是什么新鲜事。即使最伟大的公司有时也会道歉。还记得苹果公司(Apple) 前任CEO史蒂夫•乔布斯向遭遇天线问题的iPhone 4用户道歉吗?他说,苹果将“卖命工作”以矫正这个问题,最终为消费者提供了一个解决方案。
这里我们整理了一些企业巨头道歉的经典案例:
Earlier this week, Shake Shack apologized for taking the ridges off their French fries.
That’s right, the crinkles are back, and after waiting in line for a few hours you’ll be able to enjoy them as you did before. Although CEO Randy Garutti never quite said “I’m sorry” for taking them away in the first place, he did note that Shake Shack “never fully heard the legions of fans that loved our classic crinkle.”
Corporate apologies are nothing new. Even the greatest companies have to issue a mea culpa from time to time. Remember Steve Jobs of Apple’s apology to users of the iPhone 4 who experienced antenna problems? He said Apple would “work its butt off” to correct it and offered customers a case to fix the flaw.
Here are a few other classic apologies from corporate giants:
通用汽车公司(General Motors )
自今年1月份出任通用汽车公司新CEO以来,玛丽•巴拉花了大量时间在道歉上。她率领的这家底特律巨头正处于一场巨大的风暴中,涉及数百万辆汽车和多起人身伤亡事故的召回事件令通用汽车付出了高昂的代价。巴拉为此做了大量扎实的工作,对那些因通用汽车点火故障而丧生或受伤的人士不断地表示悔痛和同情。
GM’s new CEO Mary Barra seems to spend a great deal of her time apologizing since she took over at the embattled automaker in January of this year. She stepped into a storm at the Detroit company, which has been plagued by costly recalls this year involving millions of vehicles and a number of deaths. She's done a solid job of it, repeatedly expressing remorse for lives lost and people hurt because of faulty ignition switches in GM's cars.
Netflix公司
2011年秋天,Netflix公司CEO里德•黑斯廷斯不得不先后两次郑重道歉:第一次是为涨价道歉;第二次道歉的原因是,该公司试图给DVD送货服务Qwikster改名。消费者痛恨这两个主意,黑斯廷斯公开承认错误,Netflix的股价在随后几年强力反弹。
In the fall of 2011, Netflix’s CEO Reed Hastings had to make two big apologies: First, for jacking up prices; and then another for trying to rename the DVD delivery service “Qwikster.” Customers hated both ideas, and Hastings admitted his mistakes very publicly — and Netflix’s stock price has rebounded nicely in subsequent years.
乔巴尼公司(Chobani )
集万千宠爱于一身的希腊酸奶制造商乔巴尼公司几年前推出的包装得罪了不少科学家。其酸奶杯的顶端写着这样一行字:“给予我们100卡路里热量的,是大自然,而不是科学家。#实情。”这种说法当然惹得科学界很不高兴,乔巴尼公司随后在Twitter上发帖称,该公司的营销人员“只顾卖弄他们自己的小聪明。”这算是一种道歉吧?
Chobani, makers of everyone's favorite Greek yogurt, had packaging a few years ago that offended scientists. The top of the company's yogurt cups read: "Nature got us to 100 calories, not scientists. #howmatters." There was a backlash from the scientific community, of course, which led Chobani to tweet that the company's marketers were "too clever for their own good." That's kind of an apology, right?
新闻集团(News Corp. )
在一宗电话窃听丑闻席卷他的英国媒体帝国之后,鲁伯特•默多克在多家全国性报纸刊发整版广告,向英国公众郑重道歉。他也接受了一场英国议会委员会的质询,详细解释这起窃听丑闻,并把它称为“人生中最卑微的一天。”许多人认为,这位澳大利亚大亨终于展现了人性的一面。
After a phone hacking scandal engulfed his UK media empire, Rupert Murdoch apologized to the British public, placing full-page advertisements in several national newspapers. He also appeared before a committee of the British Parliament to discuss the hacking scandal and called it “the most humble day of [his] life.” Many thought it humanized the Australian tycoon.
Facebook公司
2006年,马克•扎克伯格发表声明,就Facebook最近一次更新的安全问题郑重致歉。扎克伯格表示,Facebook“真的搞砸了这件事。”这家社交网络巨擘当时还处于起步阶段,但这起事件给Facebook后来与用户互动定下了一个基调。
In 2006, Mark Zuckerberg issued a statement apologizing for security problems in Facebook's latest update. Zuck said Facebook "really messed this one up." That was when Facebook was in its relative infancy, but it set a tone for the social media network CEO's future interactions with users.
苹果公司(Apple )
苹果公司CEO蒂姆•库克似乎很难达到其前任乔布斯的高度。令情况雪上加霜的是,2012年,他不得不为苹果新地图应用的故障道歉。这款应用提供了错误的方向;地点被不当标示,道路未被映射。此外,该应用还因为没有包括其竞争对手谷歌地图(Google Maps)具备的功能而饱受批评。库克表示,公司将竭力修复这个错误。
Apple's CEO Tim Cook was always going to have trouble living up to the legacy of his predecessor Steve Jobs. It didn't help when he had to apologize for glitches in Apple's new Maps app in 2012. The app gave bad directions; locations were labeled improperly, and roads were unmapped. The app was also criticized for not including the same features as its rival Google Maps. Cook said the company had messed up and would try to fix it.
丰田汽车公司(Toyota)
几年前,丰田汽车公司也经历过一场召回丑闻。这起因加速器和刹车问题等安全隐患触发的大规模召回事件涉及全球数百万辆轿车。危机爆发后,这家汽车制造商显得非常笨拙,犹豫不决。这种反应让事态进一步恶化,特别是被媒体曝光后。最终,丰田汽车CEO丰田章男在接受美国国会质询时公开道歉,深刻检讨他的公司犯下的错误。
Toyota went through its own recall scandal a few years ago, which saw the automaker issue a massive worldwide safety recall over acceleration and brake problems involving millions of cars. The carmaker’s clumsy and hesitant response to the crisis had only made matters worse, especially as it played out in the media. Eventually, Toyota’s CEO Akio Toyoda made a public apology before U.S. Congress for his company’s errors.
洛杉矶快船队(LA Clippers )
今年3月份,时任洛杉矶快船队老板唐纳德•斯特林的种族主义言论曝光,激起球迷和NBA球员忿怒,面临重重压力的他不得不卖出球队。在接受CNN采访时,斯特林尝试着为他的不当言论道歉,但没有奏效。他还是没有保住他的球队。(财富中文网)
Former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling came under pressure to sell the team in April after the release of recorded conversations in which he made racist comments, prompting outrage from fans and NBA players. Sterling tried to apologize for his remarks in a CNN interview, but it didn't work. He still lost his team.