Target Marketing

You will be automatically redirected to targetmarketingmag in 20 seconds.
Skip this advertisement.

Advertisement
Advertisement
 
 

Toyota: A PR Catastrophe Made Worse

Beware the poisonous use of 'we,' 'us' and 'our'

Vol. 6, Issue No. 5 | March 5, 2010 By Denny Hatch
13
Get the Flash Player to see this rotator.
 

IN THE NEWS

Toyoda Rues Excessive Profit Focus
Car Maker's President Blames Flaws on Corporate Change in Priorities
BEIJING—Akio Toyoda said a key reason for Toyota Motor Corp.'s quality problems was an excessive focus on market share and profits among "some people" in the company, some of his bluntest words yet in assessing the flaws that led to widespread safety recalls ... Mr. Toyoda in his recent statements has repeatedly blamed excessive focus on growth for Toyota's woes, but his comments Monday were more pointed. Toyota's rapid expansion in recent years "attracted much praise from outside the company, and some people just got too big-headed and focused too excessively on profit," said the 53-year-old executive, a grandson of Toyota's founder.

—By Norihiko Shirouzu, The Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2010


The In the News story at right is a stunning admission by the president of Toyota—a dozen words that describe his giant corporation being totally out of control:

Some people just got too big-headed and focused too excessively on profit.

Who are “some people"?

Let’s call them a cabal, which the OneLook Dictionary defines as “a clique (often secret) that seeks power, usually through intrigue.”

Since 1999, this cabal has been responsible for a reported:

  • 2,262 instances of unintended acceleration
  • 815 crashes
  • 52 deaths.

“We did realize that it was not good that pedals were not returning to their proper positions,” said Toyota’s quality control chief, Shinichi Sasaki, “but we took some time to consider whether we needed to take market action.”

Parse that. “We did realize ... but we took some time ..."

The message here to all businesspeople—from lone wolves to the CEOs of giant corporations:

For Pete’s sake, if you're CEO of anything, don't hide behind the words “we,” “us” and “our.” Don’t use them in copy. Don’t use them in speeches.

“We,” “us” and “our” are code for, “It wasn’t my decision alone, so I don’t have to take responsibility.”

Or, in the words of the late Freddie Prinze Sr., "Eez not mai yob."

When the Philippines fell to the invading Japanese armies in 1942, Gen. Douglas MacArthur didn't say something half-baked and corporate such as, “We shall return,” or “America shall return”—meaning if the Japanese won the war, it wasn’t his fault.

He electrified the world with three iconic words:

“I shall return.”

A Decade of Carnage
After 10 years of deceit and denial, Toyota management was finally forced to bite the 6.5x50mm Arisaka bullet and level with the world about its massive customer betrayal. The record was horrifying: As of Feb. 3, 2010, the 3.8 million models recalled included:

  • Toyota Avalon — 2005-10 models
  • Toyota Camry — 2007-10 models
  • Toyota Prius — 2004-09 models
  • Toyota Tacoma — 2005-10 models
  • Toyota Tundra — 2007-10 models
  • Lexus ES 350 — 2007-10 models
  • Lexus IS 250 — 2006-10 models
  • Lexus IS 350 — 2006-10 models

Not included in the list was an unspecified number of Pontiac Vibes built for GM by Toyota.

Takeaways to Consider

  • “Our” is a weasel word.
  • For Pete’s sake, if you're CEO of anything, don't hide behind the words “we,” “us” and “our.” Don’t use them in copy. Don’t use them in speeches.
  • "We," "us" and "our" are code for, “It wasn’t my decision alone, so I don’t have to take responsibility.”
  • "We," "us" and "our" set the speaker apart from the listener or reader. They're used when speaking ex cathedra or making public pronouncements on behalf of the government. This is imperious and impersonal communication, rendering the speaker or writer faceless and, ultimately, weak.
  • For Toyota to have a chance at winning back the American driving public, Jim Lentz must project the image of a strong and impeccably honest guy who's been ordered to take charge and is personally committed to making things right for Toyota drivers, cleaning up the company and keeping it clean.
  • When the Philippines fell to the invading Japanese armies in 1942, Gen. Douglas MacArthur did not say something half-baked and corporate such as, “We shall return,” or “America shall return”—meaning if the Japanese won the war, it wasn’t his fault.
  • He electrified the world with three iconic words: “I shall return.”
  • When two guys show up in your office and say, “We’re from corporate, and we’re here to help,” polish your résumé and start calling in markers, pronto.

Web Sites Related to Today's Edition

Toyoda Rues Excessive Profit Focus
http://url2it.com/chop

Toyota Unintended Acceleration Complaints Update
http://url2it.com/chor

Toyota Has Pattern of Slow Response on Safety Issues
http://url2it.com/chpb

Secretive Culture Led Toyota Astray
http://url2it.com/cdmp

Toyota investigates Corolla steering problems
http://url2it.com/chos

Toyota oil hose fix to reach 1.6 mIn cars globally
http://url2it.com/chot

Regulators Hired by Toyota Helped Halt Acceleration Probes
http://url2it.com/chom

Toyota saved $100 million by limiting recall
http://url2it.com/chon

Toyota calls in Exponent Inc. as hired gun
http://url2it.com/choq

Senate panel to review Toyota recalls
http://url2it.com/chpd

Jim Lentz, official biography
http://url2it.com/chsm

Toyota secretive on black box crash data
http://url2it.com/cifk

Toyota set to slam critics in US
http://url2it.com/cihj

Japanese Crash Victims Brutalized by Toyota and Gov't
http://url2it.com/cihi


 

Companies Mentioned:
13

COMMENTS

Click here to leave a comment...
Comment *
Most Recent Comments:
Dave Culbertson - Posted on March 09, 2010
Bravo, Denny. I wonder if Toyota will make a comment on your article since they're clearly tracking articles about them as their comment here reveals:

http://url2it.com/citm

My guess - they won't respond to a "rock star" like you.

Karin - Posted on March 09, 2010
Denny, when listing damages that Toyota has been responsible for, don't forget the man who may be serving prison time for an accident that he swears was not his fault: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35589163/
Marc - Posted on March 09, 2010
The first thing that went through my head after reading Denny's article was a line from Shakespeare's Henry VI that went something like: "The first thing we do, is kill all the lawyers."

Seems to be a good starting point for a revolution then and now. Call me brutal, but we've got nothing to lose at this point in history from following the Bard's suggestion to the letter.
Dev. Kinney - Posted on March 09, 2010
This sort of thing and all the mea culpas of the banking industry remind me too much of the old "Gang of Four" show trials in China. All PR and no solutions. Toyota was probably forced to concede the car market in order to prop up US sales.
Lawrence Hansen - Posted on March 09, 2010
Two years ago I bought a new Toyota Camry, rather than the Acura TSX I really wanted, because it was less expensive and had a reputation equal to the TSX's for quality, reliability, and oh yeah, resale value. Figured I'd keep it for a few years, and when I was done with some important house expenses, maybe I'd be able to trade it in for that TSX--you know, 'cuz Toyotas have great resale value. Now, I'm thinking of some friends of my parents who owned a British Sunbeam sports car back in the '60s. Had terrible trouble with it--the thing was a lemon. One day, they show up with a brand-new Sunbeam. My mom asked why they bought another when the first one was so bad. "Because the Sunbeam dealer was the only one who'd take a trade-in." Toyota's fixes--grinding down the gas pedal and putting a metal strut on the acclerator linkage--are basically guesses at solutions for the problem. Kind of like DeHavilland Aircraft not knowing why their Comet jets were blowing up in the early 1950s, making a shotgun set of fixes that they figured would eliminate whatever was causing the problem, and then still having their planes blow up. (Turned out to be explosive decompression at altitude due to metal fatigue--the fuselages were splitting open.) Later on, DeHavilland redesigned the Comet from the ground up, and it was completely safe. But by then their reputation was destroyed and everybody who wanted a jetliner was buying Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s. You screw up, and the competition eats your lunch!
Mat Weller - Posted on March 09, 2010
Completely agreed. It's a basic tenet of business that as you move up the ladder in a company, you do less 'work' and in return take on more responsibility. At the top level, it's pretty much just responsibility and golf -- and that's 100% fine, provided that you actually take responsibility when the time comes. It makes me so ill to see that it has become standard practice for those at the top of the biggest companies to refuse the responsibility when IT'S THEIR ONLY JOB! If they can't do that much, they're basically taking a salary for being a bum -- worse than a bum, actually, because at least a bum isn't a leech on the salaries of more deserving people lower on the ladder.
Adelino de Almeida - Posted on March 09, 2010
Actually, this is more a good example of a cultural misunderstanding or cultural misalignment than anything else. Mr. Toyoda took personal responsibility for the situation (an admission of guilt that is seldom seen in the West where we tend to hide behind "the devil made me do it"), and it seems that Toyota kept trying to solve the problem behind the curtain instead of announcing a recall. The company is culturally more likely more apt to solve a problem and then announce a solution (which acts as a face-saving action) than in acting brashly and admitting that something is wrong with their product, which leads to a loss of face and of public consideration. Even though it has been a strong presence in the West for many decades, it seems like what Toyota needs is some cultural sensitivity training.
Dave Busch - Posted on March 09, 2010
Spot on Denny!
It's human nature to try and forgive when someone personally admits wrong.
It's also easy to condemn the large corporate "we" or "us" by turning it to "them".
I would have been more direct with the closing line and focus on the future:
"More than anything, I am focusing like a laser on making the vehicles Toyota builds, to be once again, among the safest, most reliable in the world."


Tim - Posted on March 09, 2010
Richard you are right on the money. The car in CA was not part of the recall, if the President had used Denny's letter he would be in serious trouble, it isn't the pedal, or floor mats alone that are causing all these problems. When is Toyota going to be held accountable by our government? Does anyone remember the Ford Pinto, it is amazing all these years later we still can't rely on big business nor the government to keep us safe.
Kathleen Brackeen - Posted on March 09, 2010
Am I the only one who recalls the 60 Minutes report at least 10 years ago about uncontrollable acceleration by some Toyotas? They featured a woman who ran through her garage wall and incurred bruises on her shins from pressing the brake pedal so. There was no credible explanation back then either as they blamed it on driver error.
Martyn Whittaker - Posted on March 09, 2010
In England we call it the 'Royal we' because the Royals' proclivity for using 'we' rather than 'I'. I notice there is a rather article about the phenomena in Wikipedia. They say it is a "plural pronoun to refer to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch, bishop, pope, or university rector." Perhaps that is how CEOs see themselves? I like the Mark Twain quote: "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we.'
Richard Tooker - Posted on March 09, 2010
It just gets worse every day for Toyota. Yesterday, Brian Williams broke into his national newscast with real-time helicoptor footage of an out-of control Prius that had been going 90 MPH on a Los Angeles freeway. The driver called 911, and a cop got in front of the Toyota, let it rear-end him, and braked them both to a stop. The cop looked like a hero. My wife has one of those cars, and now she's afraid of it.
Apryl Parcher - Posted on March 09, 2010
Right on the money, Denny! I love how you edited the letter and showed just how much more powerful and inspiring it could be to excise the weasel component and replace with positive, "the buck stops here" prose.

They should have hired YOU as their PR person. Would have saved them millions in lost trust.
Click here to view archived comments...
Archived Comments:
Dave Culbertson - Posted on March 09, 2010
Bravo, Denny. I wonder if Toyota will make a comment on your article since they're clearly tracking articles about them as their comment here reveals:

http://url2it.com/citm

My guess - they won't respond to a "rock star" like you.

Karin - Posted on March 09, 2010
Denny, when listing damages that Toyota has been responsible for, don't forget the man who may be serving prison time for an accident that he swears was not his fault: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35589163/
Marc - Posted on March 09, 2010
The first thing that went through my head after reading Denny's article was a line from Shakespeare's Henry VI that went something like: "The first thing we do, is kill all the lawyers."

Seems to be a good starting point for a revolution then and now. Call me brutal, but we've got nothing to lose at this point in history from following the Bard's suggestion to the letter.
Dev. Kinney - Posted on March 09, 2010
This sort of thing and all the mea culpas of the banking industry remind me too much of the old "Gang of Four" show trials in China. All PR and no solutions. Toyota was probably forced to concede the car market in order to prop up US sales.
Lawrence Hansen - Posted on March 09, 2010
Two years ago I bought a new Toyota Camry, rather than the Acura TSX I really wanted, because it was less expensive and had a reputation equal to the TSX's for quality, reliability, and oh yeah, resale value. Figured I'd keep it for a few years, and when I was done with some important house expenses, maybe I'd be able to trade it in for that TSX--you know, 'cuz Toyotas have great resale value. Now, I'm thinking of some friends of my parents who owned a British Sunbeam sports car back in the '60s. Had terrible trouble with it--the thing was a lemon. One day, they show up with a brand-new Sunbeam. My mom asked why they bought another when the first one was so bad. "Because the Sunbeam dealer was the only one who'd take a trade-in." Toyota's fixes--grinding down the gas pedal and putting a metal strut on the acclerator linkage--are basically guesses at solutions for the problem. Kind of like DeHavilland Aircraft not knowing why their Comet jets were blowing up in the early 1950s, making a shotgun set of fixes that they figured would eliminate whatever was causing the problem, and then still having their planes blow up. (Turned out to be explosive decompression at altitude due to metal fatigue--the fuselages were splitting open.) Later on, DeHavilland redesigned the Comet from the ground up, and it was completely safe. But by then their reputation was destroyed and everybody who wanted a jetliner was buying Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s. You screw up, and the competition eats your lunch!
Mat Weller - Posted on March 09, 2010
Completely agreed. It's a basic tenet of business that as you move up the ladder in a company, you do less 'work' and in return take on more responsibility. At the top level, it's pretty much just responsibility and golf -- and that's 100% fine, provided that you actually take responsibility when the time comes. It makes me so ill to see that it has become standard practice for those at the top of the biggest companies to refuse the responsibility when IT'S THEIR ONLY JOB! If they can't do that much, they're basically taking a salary for being a bum -- worse than a bum, actually, because at least a bum isn't a leech on the salaries of more deserving people lower on the ladder.
Adelino de Almeida - Posted on March 09, 2010
Actually, this is more a good example of a cultural misunderstanding or cultural misalignment than anything else. Mr. Toyoda took personal responsibility for the situation (an admission of guilt that is seldom seen in the West where we tend to hide behind "the devil made me do it"), and it seems that Toyota kept trying to solve the problem behind the curtain instead of announcing a recall. The company is culturally more likely more apt to solve a problem and then announce a solution (which acts as a face-saving action) than in acting brashly and admitting that something is wrong with their product, which leads to a loss of face and of public consideration. Even though it has been a strong presence in the West for many decades, it seems like what Toyota needs is some cultural sensitivity training.
Dave Busch - Posted on March 09, 2010
Spot on Denny!
It's human nature to try and forgive when someone personally admits wrong.
It's also easy to condemn the large corporate "we" or "us" by turning it to "them".
I would have been more direct with the closing line and focus on the future:
"More than anything, I am focusing like a laser on making the vehicles Toyota builds, to be once again, among the safest, most reliable in the world."


Tim - Posted on March 09, 2010
Richard you are right on the money. The car in CA was not part of the recall, if the President had used Denny's letter he would be in serious trouble, it isn't the pedal, or floor mats alone that are causing all these problems. When is Toyota going to be held accountable by our government? Does anyone remember the Ford Pinto, it is amazing all these years later we still can't rely on big business nor the government to keep us safe.
Kathleen Brackeen - Posted on March 09, 2010
Am I the only one who recalls the 60 Minutes report at least 10 years ago about uncontrollable acceleration by some Toyotas? They featured a woman who ran through her garage wall and incurred bruises on her shins from pressing the brake pedal so. There was no credible explanation back then either as they blamed it on driver error.
Martyn Whittaker - Posted on March 09, 2010
In England we call it the 'Royal we' because the Royals' proclivity for using 'we' rather than 'I'. I notice there is a rather article about the phenomena in Wikipedia. They say it is a "plural pronoun to refer to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch, bishop, pope, or university rector." Perhaps that is how CEOs see themselves? I like the Mark Twain quote: "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we.'
Richard Tooker - Posted on March 09, 2010
It just gets worse every day for Toyota. Yesterday, Brian Williams broke into his national newscast with real-time helicoptor footage of an out-of control Prius that had been going 90 MPH on a Los Angeles freeway. The driver called 911, and a cop got in front of the Toyota, let it rear-end him, and braked them both to a stop. The cop looked like a hero. My wife has one of those cars, and now she's afraid of it.
Apryl Parcher - Posted on March 09, 2010
Right on the money, Denny! I love how you edited the letter and showed just how much more powerful and inspiring it could be to excise the weasel component and replace with positive, "the buck stops here" prose.

They should have hired YOU as their PR person. Would have saved them millions in lost trust.