Finally, after nearly three weeks of observing this colossal
PR blunder, Robert Greifeld, CEO of Nasdaq OMX, offered an apology to the
financial industry. Perhaps some investors too, but that wasn’t really
clear.
Nasdaq obviously bungled the IPO listing of Facebook on May 18th.
But two days later said, “We definitely call it a success.” Some early
introspection and an acknowledgement of screwing up would have helped fill the
void of Nasdaq’s voice and perhaps tempered some of the attacks by
Nasdaq’s clients and thus, the media.
Nasdaq followed its apology by offering a sort of
reimbursement package to clients that lost money from the mistakes made with
the Facebook IPO. The response was not
kind. Statements by its clients,
including Knight Capital calling it “unacceptable” and those made by rival
NYSE saying it was “wholly inconsistent with fair practice” would indicate that
the compensation package was conceived in a bubble. This is going to invite a lot more negative press for the exchange.
In life, when people make mistakes that hurt others, lie,
cheat or steal, the best thing to do is acknowledge the error, say “sorry” and
then take the appropriate steps to make the injured party whole. In business, at least have a public relations
strategy that acknowledges the issue, quickly get out and make the appropriate
statements publicly and then consider key stakeholders and their responses when
offering to address or compensate for those errors. And do it quickly, not three weeks later.
Three weeks is an eternity in this environment.
You’re doing a heck of a job Mr. Greifeld.
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