Problems with Medical "Professionalism"

The challenge of what professionalism means and how definitions affect different groups has met the medical profession. The topic may interest business communication students, who will see similar issues in their own fields.

Professionalism as a work standard has been criticized for some time for its vagueness and disparate impact. Ideas about professionalism, for example, focusing only on work and not bringing personal (non-work) issues into the workplace, vary by culture and may be unevenly applied to women and men. Others think of professionalism as sameness or conformity and lash out at the inherent privilege and impact of demands about “image, dress, politeness and emotional regulation” on the working class. Some view professionalism as a racial construct, for example, in the legal profession: “While professionalism seemingly applies to everyone, it is used to widely police and regulate people of color in various ways including hair, tone, and food scents.”

A retracted article illustrates the issue in the medical profession. The October 2019 Journal of Vascular Surgery article, “Prevalence of Unprofessional Social Media Content Among Young Vascular Surgeons,” was retracted in August 2020. The retraction notice includes this explanation:

In addition, the methodology, analysis and conclusions of this article were based on published but not validated criteria, judging a series of behaviors including attire, alcohol consumption, controversial political and religious comments like abortion or gun control, in which significant conscious and unconscious biases were pervasive. The methodology was in part predicated on highly subjective assessments of professionalism based on antiquated norms and a predominantly male authorship supervised the assessments made by junior, male students and trainees. The authors did not identify biases in the methodology, i.e., judging public social media posts of women wearing bikinis on off-hours as “potentially unprofessional.” The goal of professionalism in medicine is to help ensure trust among patients, colleagues and hospital staff. However, professionalism has historically been defined by and for white, heterosexual men and does not always speak to the diversity of our workforce or our patients.

If students don’t relate to the potentially discriminatory impact of a professionalism standard, they might feel the effect of their social media accounts being used to determine whether they measure up. As we encourage students to be their authentic selves, this story highlights some of the potentially negative consequences.

Image source.

Topoi in the Business Communication Class

My friend and colleague, Christy McDowell, has an article in Business and Professional Communication Quarterly about using topoi in class. With Annette Holba, they describe topoi as a framework for arguments—different ways to “use logic so that an audience can follow our reasoning.”

Topoi can deepen students’ understanding of logical arguments, and Christy and Annette provide examples and a class activity for instructors to use. I like the framework because it’s easily applied. Students could identify topoi used in a recent business message. As the authors explain, when you bring an example for students to analyze, in addition to the audience, communication objectives, and use of logos, ethos, and pathos, analyzing topoi is a deeper dive into how the writers use logic to reach the audience and what other approaches might be more effective.

Students also could develop their own argument, choosing relevant topoi for the context and audience. The authors provide several examples for this assignment.

I see topoi introduced in any class that includes rhetorical approaches and, particularly, in persuasive communication classes.

Miami Beach Tries to Break Up With Spring Breakers

Like last year, Miami Beach is trying humor to avoid the deluge of college students during spring break. Students will have fun analyzing this one. If they traveled, what was their decision process for spring break? Does the Miami Beach humor work for them? Did it affect their decision?

The video is a parody of a break-up, with a few characters explaining, “We just want different things.” It’s a cute concept: The actors (presumably representing Miami Beach residents) prefer quiet and relaxation, while the partner wants “to get drunk in public and ignore the laws.” This is the city’s way of warning people to expect curfews, extra security, restricted beach access, and parking fees. The message seems clear, although the headlines in the middle go quickly.

In addition to the plans mentioned in the video, the Miami Beach website lists far more restrictions, including fines for short-term Airbnb rentals and extensive traffic deterrents.

A few interesting projects emerge from this situation. I’m curious why fewer students went to Miami Beach, which seems to be the case. Were they concerned about the restrictions, or could they not get a place to stay? Students could assess Airbnb hosts’ response to the campaign.

Students also could identify measures to evaluate whether the campaign is working. In this CBS report, two aerial shots of the beach compare this year and last, but students might question whether the videos were taken on the same day of the week, at same time of day, and with the same weather conditions. Business owners say sales are significantly down, but how do we know whether this is a common experience or the experience of only the two interviewed? Students should be able to find more data to assess whether the campaign achieved its goal.

If the campaign was successful in Miami, the impact on the rest of Florida might be negative. Spring breakers in Ft. Lauderdale have caused the city to increase security. Perhaps students should consider this and other negative consequences, in addition to the business impact, to advise Miami on future campaigns.

---

(Thanks to Bambi Van Horn at University of Nebraska at Kearney for sending this example—and last year’s.)

British Royal Family and the "Information Vacuum"

The British royal family (which, I just realized, has its own website), is facing pressure because of edited photos and secrecy about health issues.

News outlets have retracted a photo of the Princess of Wales, aka Kate Middleton, hugging her three children on U.K. Mother’s Day. The princess is an amateur photographer, as she explains in her apology, which came more than a long day after the news broke. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the retraction is unusual but happened because the photos were so obviously edited. The family didn’t share the original photo, raising questions about what exactly was changed.

The reporter described the family’s secrecy regarding recent health issues as well. The princess underwent “abdominal surgery,” while the king is undergoing treatment for cancer. The vague descriptions seem only to fuel speculation. As the WSJ reporter says and business communicators know happens, in an “information vacuum, conspiracy theories have come to rest.”

He also raises ethical and regulatory issues, reminding us that “this is a partly taxpayer-funded monarchy, and they have constitutional roles . . . to uphold.” They need to balance individual privacy with their obligation to keep the public informed about their health.

A Princeton sociology and public policy professor has a different take, questioning the “We pay, they pose” mentality. She also challenges a double standard between calls for Catherine’s privacy and no similar respect for Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. These differences could be explored with students as well.

Still, the princess’s photo was an attempt to show that everything is alright, perhaps even perfect, which is why people doctor images—to delete imperfections. But her editing has revealed the opposite: that everything is, literally, not right. The situation raises issues of integrity and trust, integrity meaning wholeness and consistency. When the family releases photos in the future, they will be scrutinized more closely.

Does a Brand Have a Soul? Does Starbucks?

Starbucks Founder Howard Schultz wrote a letter to Board about preserving the “soul” of the brand. Students can analyze his letter and discuss whether a company or a brand has a soul. Does Starbucks?

The context of Starbucks’ unionization efforts likely drove Schultz’s thinking. (All three Starbucks in Ithaca, NY, have come and gone because of unionization efforts, the company’s response, and local backlash. Costco may be a better role model for accepting and negotiating with unions. A useful project for students would be to analyze the effects of unions in the past several decades.)

Schultz writes that this definition of soul is from Webster, but it doesn’t match what I see in the dictionary listing, which is worth comparing. Here’s his list:

a) the moral and emotional nature of human beings
b) the quality that arouses emotion and sentiment
c) spiritual or moral force

Schultz then writes, “Webster did not anticipate the necessity to define soul in business terms for the very reason I am addressing it. It rarely exists, and it’s almost impossible to define.” Or, perhaps a business or brand cannot have a soul. Perhaps his view is an overreach, reflecting the exact arrogance for which Starbucks is criticized. After all, the company sells coffee. This is a cynical view, and students may believe, or feel, otherwise.

Also worth analyzing is the purpose of the letter. What are Schultz’s communication objectives? In addition to the Board audience, he forwarded the letter in an email to those of us on his former Schultz-for-president distribution list. After reading the letter, will the Board feel inspired, and if so, to do what, exactly?

Image source.

Wendy's Bungles Pricing Announcement

During an earnings call, Wendy’s CEO announced a new “dynamic pricing” strategy. The media spun it as “surge pricing” and riled up consumers.

Sherri Kimes, a former Cornell colleague analyzed the communication issue in a blog post and referred to the initial statement as “pretty innocuous.” In addition to the brief mention during the earnings call, the strategy is a small part of the earnings visuals—just a few words on one slide about several ways to use technology for higher margins.

Kimes describes prospect theory and suggests companies frame these decisions as benefits to consumers—in this case, saving during certain times of the day rather than paying more at peak times. Her advice is consistent with corporate communication strategies.

We have an issue of audience, as we typically see in business and corporate communication. The earnings call was intended for investors, and the language was appropriate for that audience. But Wendy’s leadership failed to consider how the media might retell the story.

Here’s the earnings call text:

We expect our digital menu boards will drive immediate benefits to order accuracy, improve crew experience and sales growth from upselling and consistent merchandising execution. Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and day-part offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling. As we continue to show the benefit of this technology in our company-operated restaurants, franchisee interest in digital menu boards should increase further supporting sales and profit growth across the system. We will continue setting the pace in generative AI and now have rolled out Wendy’s Fresh Ai in several restaurants where we see ongoing improvement in speed and accuracy.

Good Morning America offers one of many examples of the media spin. The story opens with the headline, “Wendy's announces Uber-like surge pricing model,” and ends with, “Some experts say customers could see more menu pricing changes ahead at other fast food chains, including McDonald’s and Burger King, especially if Wendy’s sees a boost in its bottom line after implementing dynamic pricing.” This sounds like a slippery slope fallacy, as though Wendy’s will start an inevitable sequence of events. Of course, this may be true, but the conclusion also supports the media’s hysteria.

Context matters. Inflation is high, and people are particularly price sensitive, an important topic for the upcoming election. The media draws attention by inciting fear about yet higher prices, even at fast-food restaurants, where we expect prices to be low.

In a statement, Wendy’s is doing damage control. They focus on menu display and discounts, which may follow the prospect theory, but will the impact on consumers still be higher prices? They promise, “We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most.” But will they raise all prices, and then provide a discount during low-demand times? If that’s the case, the media reports are not entirely wrong. Reports used inflammatory language, but the result is the same for consumers. Or, on average, will customers pay less, as comments on Kimes’ LinkedIn post suggest, with increased volume bringing more revenue to the company?

Still, I’m curious about the impact on different demographics, for example, for those with a less-flexible schedule. Low-wage workers have fixed times for lunch and dinner and might not be able to choose when they go to Wendy’s. Many workers eat between two jobs and grab something quickly for themselves or their families. Although this impact might not be the company’s concern, it could cause media—and consumer—backlash.

Regardless of the pricing impact, from a corporate communication perspective, Wendy’s should have been more careful and followed Kimes’ good advice.

ChatGPT Accepted My Apology

New research shows that being polite to LLMs gets better responses. I’ve struggled with prompts that don’t include “please” but reminded myself that AI wasn’t influenced by niceties. I was wrong.

The study explores a range of responses in different languages. Authors conclude that rude prompts yield poor responses—or refusals to answer. But “overly polite” prompts don’t necessarily yield better responses.

In one regard, the conclusion isn’t a surprise. Humans train AI, after all. But Ethan Mollick, who writes extensively on AI, suggests more research to test more examples of politeness. One LinkedIn commenter on Mollick’s post suggests that overly polite prompts might not be clear, and she could be right. When we look at the study prompts, the prompt rated most highly for politeness doesn’t ask for reasons.

Of course, I never called it names, but I apologized to ChatGPT for failing to say “please” in my prompts. It was gracious, as proven by the multiple exclamation marks:

No need to apologize! As an AI, I don't have feelings or emotions, but I'm here to assist you in the best way possible. Politeness can indeed influence human interaction positively, even if it's just with an AI. If there's anything else you'd like assistance with, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to help!

By coincidence, my next prompt was about ingratitude for a new book I’m working on. I did say “Thank you.”

Comms Around Capital One's Discover Acquisition

If the deal is approved by regulators and shareholders, Capital One’s acquisition of Discover Financial will create the largest credit card company. Here are two positive-news messages for students to analyze, as much for what’s said as for what’s not said:

• Capital One press release. As expected, the release explains the benefits primarily to investors. A few throw-away lines are included for other stakeholders: something about “making a positive difference in our communities” and “great deals for consumers.”

• Capital One CEO’s video message to employees. Posted on Capital One’s website under “Newsroom,” the video is as much an external as an internal statement. Students might comment on the CEO’s big arm movements and natural, well-paced delivery (although they might think it’s too slow and too long).

As of now, nothing is posted on Discover’s website, which is surprising. When the Marriott Starwood merger was announced, Starwood associates received a separate email and a video message from both CEOs.

Messages are consistent, but other reasons help us understand the decision. The acquisition is a protective move for Capital One. New regulations might make it difficult for credit card companies to enjoy the high fees they’re accustomed to charging. Discover’s payments network helps Capital One compete against larger players and growing fintechs that offer greater convenience and charge lower fees. Instead of paying “tolls” across Visa and Mastercard networks, Capital One would charge fees from all transactions over Discover’s network.

Real benefits to consumers are unclear. Other than more places that accept the cards and a few extra perks, the acquisition bets on increasing credit card debt. Capital One already has a large share of high-interest-paying customers who are among the most likely to default.

Yale's "Test-Flexible" Policy and Rationale

Like other schools after the pandemic-era hiatus, Yale is again requiring a test in the admissions process. But the school will accept AP or IB scores instead of the SAT or ACT. Yale’s rationale is worth analyzing.

Yale’s explanation is carefully considered in a message posted on the website. Because tests, particularly the SAT, have been so controversial, school officials explain the evidence they gathered about the effect of not requiring scores during the past four years. They write that the elimination of scores placed emphasis on other parts of an application, which we might expect to favor students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, but the opposite happened. They theorize that these students tend to be from lower-resourced schools, with fewer advanced courses and extracurricular options and more taxed teachers who write generic recommendation letters (my paraphrase, particularly noted here). The message includes goals of increasing diversity, without mentioning specific demographics, for obvious reasons.

Officials acknowledge: “Students’ out-of-school commitments may include activities that demonstrate extraordinary leadership and contributions to family and community but reveal nothing about their academic preparedness.” They seem to admit that, for example, working or taking care of younger siblings, doesn’t count for much—or at least not enough. They conclude:

[T]est scores are the single greatest predictor of a student’s future Yale grades. This is true even after controlling for family income and other demographic variables, and it is true for subject-based exams such as AP and IB, in addition to the ACT and SAT.

Students might be interested in evaluating Yale’s recommendations to applications, including the following:

Advice on Selecting Scores to Include

When considering which scores to include with your application, consider the following questions:

• Do the scores indicate my preparation for college-level coursework?

• Do the scores reflect areas of academic strength?

• Do the scores help showcase my academic range?

• Do the scores supplement the courses and grades on my high school transcript?

• Do the scores stand out as especially notable in my secondary school?

• Am I proud of the scores as a reflection of the effort I put into preparing for the test(s)?

The admissions team does offer quite a bit of guidance, including these podcasts.

Expedia CEO Email About Bathroom Cameras

Facing an unusual company situation, Expedia CEO Peter Kern tried to reassure employees they are safe at work.

Although cameras were reported in December, security officers didn’t remove them, thinking they were a battery or music player. Employees were angry about the six-week delay between the time the cameras were reported and when they were notified. The cameras might have been planted by an employee who has a history of recording others and at least 33 devices in his home.

Kern’s email is below. I wonder whether he overuses “we” and “us.” Is he really concerned for his own safety? Does he use that bathroom or a private one?

What Kern does well is acknowledge employees’ feelings and the violation of trust. But he doesn’t address the company’s violation of trust because of its poor response—only the spying employee’s.

The third paragraph seems an odd mix of criticizing news reports about the company and allowing remote work. In this sentence, Kern equates employees’ frustration and disappointment with errant news reports rather than failing company actions. Lacking more accountability and humility, he doesn’t explain company actions—or admit failings. Without a paragraph break after this sentence, he seems to further correlate bad news reports with employees’ need for space and support.

I know that reading incomplete news stories about our team’s significant efforts to protect employees and identify the individual responsible has been frustrating and disappointing during a disturbing time.

What a strange situation for a CEO to have to address. I don’t think it’s related, but this incident comes during a transition back to a former CEO.

---

Dear Team,

I know this has been an incredibly challenging week for our Seattle campus community and those who have visited. The news that one of our own colleagues invaded our collective privacy is highly disturbing. It has left many of us angry and feeling vulnerable. There really are no words that I can offer to make those feelings go away for any of us — it has happened despite our vigilant efforts to make sure our people, our Seattle campus, and all our offices are safe places to work and visit. It happened because one of our own, whom we trusted, abused that trust. Our team identified and fired this former colleague, collaborated with law enforcement to bring them to justice, and gratefully the Seattle Police Department has arrested the individual responsible for the pain we are all feeling.

Some of you may have observed or heard that Seattle police were in the office yesterday to execute an additional search to make sure there was no other relevant evidence to the case. They did remove some items that may be relevant to the case (mentioned in our Chief Security Officer Kurt John’s message), but no additional recording devices were found. With that done we will be closing the Seattle campus this weekend through Monday to take additional security precautions as our teams continue to work to prevent anything like this from happening in the future. We’re closing campus as we do this work as an additional precaution. The best thing we can do now is help the authorities in every way possible, use resources to heal, and learn from this experience to put additional preventative measures in place.

Let me just end by saying that while we are not the first nor sadly the last company that will likely face something like this, the violation of our collective trust is real and will take time to heal. I know that reading incomplete news stories about our team’s significant efforts to protect employees and identify the individual responsible has been frustrating and disappointing during a disturbing time. While everyone responds to events like this in their own way, I want to reassure you that if you need some time and space, we understand and want you to care for yourselves. If you need some additional time to work remotely you can do so, including during Expedia Week. I urge you to use all the resources we are making available as we continue to ensure you are supported.

I am sorry for any distress this has caused you and can only say that our teams are working tirelessly to make sure you all feel safe and secure on our campuses.

Peter

Image source.

President Biden's Foray Into TikTok

President Biden needs to connect with younger voters and prove wrong the justice department’s label of him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” But is TikTok the right platform?

His new account, bidenhq, is managed by his campaign staff, not by him personally (in case that isn’t obvious). The profile picture of Biden—with explosive, red-light glasses—might not be the image he wants to portray. If I didn’t know this was real, I might think it was a parody account.

The account is a strange mix of videos. Of the 20 videos posted so far, 12 are about former President Trump, and two compare Trump and Biden. Some of them show Trump “confused on stage” and describe Trump as “rambling incoherently.”

In the first video posted on the account, Biden is doing his best to be cool. In a clearly edited, fast-paced Q&A, Biden answers popular-culture questions. The caption reads, “lol hey guys."

During his first show back as The Daily Show host, John Stewart found his target. In addition to multiple jokes about both candidates’ age, he showed a clip from that first TikTok video. When asked whether he prefers Jason Kelce or Travis Kelce, Biden said, “Mama Kelce. I understand she makes great chocolate chip cookies.” Stewart made him look silly and, as always, the clip out of context looked worse.

At this point, the account has 156.2k followers, not a great showing compared to, for example, Taylor Swift with 24.8 million. Although Biden wants to reach younger voters on TikTok, the medium is an odd choice. The app is banned on government-issued devices so, in a way, this feels like an integrity issue. Despite security concerns that prevent the president himself from having the app on a phone, he’s using the app for his campaign.

Taylor Swift's Missing Apostrophe

So few of us care about apostrophes—until Taylor Swift gets grammar policed. Maybe students would be interested in debating how her new album title is, or isn’t, punctuated.

We know the arguments. In The Tortured Poets Department, as it stands, without an apostrophe, poets is an adjective describing the department. A New York Times writer reminds us the same construction was used for Dead Poets Society (although he puts the album and movie titles in quotes; shouldn’t they be italicized?). With an apostrophe before the “s,” the department belongs to one poet; with an apostrophe after the “s,” it belongs to more than one.

I confess to delivering an Association for Business Communication presentation on the apostrophe a few years back. I was aghast and then became obsessed with an apostrophe in the possessive its in early drafts of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (see below). Not my best presentation but probably not my worst either. (Spoiler alert, as though you’re on the edge of your seat: Thomas Jefferson was what Bill Bryson called an apostrophist. The word is, after all, possessive. More here, by William Safire in 1986.)

In Taylor Swift’s case, consensus seems to be that poets as an adjective works just fine—and that Swift can do whatever she wants.

Image source.

Lyft CEO Takes Responsibility but Is Casual About Typo

Lyft CEO David Risher said “My bad” for a typo that caused shares to lift dramatically, and then fall. The error is a good example for students to see the importance of proofreading, and the company response illustrates accountability, to a point.

An extra zero found its way into a quarterly earnings release, so the company reported growth of 500 basis points (5%) instead of 50 basis points (.5%) for the year, indicating a higher margin from bookings. The error still appears on the release. A statement was added to the top, which is an appropriate way to correct an error, rather than simply changing the original:

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fifth bulleted list, third bullet of release should read: Adjusted EBITDA margin expansion (calculated as a percentage of Gross Bookings) of approximately 50 basis points year-over-year. [instead of Adjusted EBITDA margin expansion (calculated as a percentage of Gross Bookings) of approximately 500 basis points year-over-year.].

Lyft leaders do what we expect leaders to do: They are accountable for errors. The CFO first announced the mistake on an earnings call, and the CEO took a Bloomberg Technology interview.

Risher’s word choices and speech patterns are interesting to watch. He uses colloquial speech to say, “My bad,” but then, within a second, transitions with the time-honored “but” to enthusiastically compliment the company’s good work. He also uses the classic crisis communication strategy of downplaying, as though the error is no big deal. Apology criteria include acknowledging the impact of the mistake, which he failed to do. People made investment decisions based on bad information and lost money. Typos happen, but this one caused an errant $2 billion in market cap.

The first interviewer pushed, asking whether they used AI to create the release. Risher laughed and said “no way.” Another interviewer asked whether the CFO “is safe.” Risher responded, “It’s an unacceptable error, but . . . the team is taking it super-seriously.” That’s good, but Risher didn’t present it that way initially: His word choice and demeaner don’t match the seriousness of the event.

Of course, Risher’s response could be worse. He could not take an interview, or he could blame the CFO or others, who are ultimately responsible for proofreading. Instead, he said he’s ultimately responsible for all company communication, which is true.

Stanley Responds to Lead Concerns

Stanley cups are all the rage, but a recent lead scare caused the company to respond. People are posting their home lead tests online, which raises questions about evidence.

The company responded to concerns with a short statement on its website, which students can analyze. The main point is somewhere in the middle, after the explanation. They acknowledge using lead according to industry standards but assure us that it’s “inaccessible.”

TikTokers and others are showing positive home tests, but a BBC article quotes NYU Public Health Professor Jack Caravanos, who confirms Stanley’s claim:

“There appears to be lead, according to the report, but I had trouble detecting it and wasn’t able to detect it using state-of-the-art equipment." He says this is probably because the lead was "too deep inside the unit," meaning it would be very tough to be exposed to it or ingest it.

He does express disappointment that Stanley is using lead at all. The company isn’t complying with California’s Proposition 65, which requires companies to disclose any amount of lead. In the statement and on the website FAQs, Stanley attests, “all Stanley items comply with Prop 65 and FDA requirements,” but they didn’t specifically disclose that products use lead—until they posted the statement addressing concerns.

Students might have their own experience with Stanley cups and can discuss how they reacted to videos. Are they swayed by them? Has fear driven them to discarded their custom-engraved, nail-polish-matched Quencher? Does a public health professor’s test change their opinion?

Despite the company’s lack of complete transparency, it would be unfortunate if sales take a hit because of false information. Maybe the dramatic sales increase for Stanley—a little-known thermos company turned $750-million internet craze—made it vulnerable to deceptive claims.

Image source.

Videos of the Layoff

First, we read employees’ public posts about their layoff, commiserating with others. Now, we watch videos leading up to and during layoff.

In one video with 3.8 million views, we see jewishmillenial, a tech employee, await her layoff meeting at home. What’s useful to organizational leaders is to see the other side of the process—the employee’s perspective. We see her dread after receiving a “mysterious” 30-minute meeting scheduled with her boss’s boss and others in her group, one by one, “disappearing off of Teams.”

She gives us a periodic countdown to her being laid off, at one point, wondering why the company doesn’t just schedule a meeting for everyone instead of multiple individual meetings they have to wait for. Others complain about mass layoff meetings and having all technology immediately cut off. They believe the layoff is “inconsistent” or random and not performance based.

No one approach is perfect for everyone. A performance-based layoff at Cloudfare and other companies are also criticized. The Cloudfare one didn’t include the employee’s manager—just HR people—so that didn’t go over well. The HR representatives couldn’t answer her questions about why she was laid off or what the performance metrics are. The CEO did admit that managers should be involved in these meetings and that employees shouldn’t be blindsided by news of their underperformance. Of course, we don’t know how clearly performance feedback has been communicated in these cases, but we could say that the immediate manager lacks accountability. More typically, managers are involved in these meetings, whether performance based or not.

What makes us watch these videos? The voyeuristic pleasure of the layoff meeting is undeniable, and perhaps we feel a mix of empathy for the person, gratitude for still having a job, and fear of losing our job. For business communicators, they’re a reality show for one of the more difficult meetings a manager (or HR) will have, and we can learn how to plan and facilitate these interactions better.

Zuckerberg Impromptu Apologizes, Defends Progress

Tech CEOs faced senators’ tough questions and accusations about child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on their platforms. Rarely do we see an impromptu apology, but Mark Zuckerberg directly faced families during the hearings.

Lawmakers held little back with the CEOs of six major tech companies. One of the harshest was Sen. Lindsey Graham, who said, “You have blood on your hands.” Several families were present, holding photos of children who were harmed or killed as a result of online abuse.

At one point, Sen. Josh Hawley asked if Mark Zuckerberg “would like to apologize to the victims who have been harmed by your platforms. [To the audience] Show him the pictures. [Back to Zuckerberg] Would you like to apologize for what you have done to these good people?” Understandably, Zuckerberg looked hesitant and awkward, as photographers swarmed around him. He turned around to face the families and said, “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered, and this is why we invested so much.” The scene is both heartbreaking and farcical.

Parents didn’t seem to appreciate the apology; one said, “He had a gun to his head,” meaning it wasn’t sincere. But after Hawley’s insistence, he would have looked callous to refuse an on-the-spot apology. He was set up. Considering the situation, he did OK.

Although Zuckerberg’s view is that they have “invested so much,” people want to see more. An internal email revealed that Zuckerberg rejected a request to add 45 staff to the effort.

At least a couple of lawmakers blamed themselves for not passing legislation after dozens of hearings. Some blamed the tech companies’ resistance and lobbying efforts. Zuckerberg’s position is that the data, “on balance,” shows positive outcomes of the platforms. He also said, “Overall, teens tell us this is a positive part of their lives.” As we teach in business communication courses, averages are not always the most useful information.

The conversation is tiring after all these years. Zuckerberg’s integrity is damaged because of his failed promises and because internal documents are inconsistent with them. But the senate hearings aren’t inspiring much movement—and are becoming a circus.

Soccer Players "Walking Off" After Racist Comments

Not a sports watcher, I’m fascinated reading how soccer players handle racist comments during the game. Some players are walking off the field amid calls for greater penalties.

A writer for The Athletic explains what led to the AC Milan (the football team) to walk off:

[Mike] Maignan led his AC Milan teammates off the pitch at Udinese on Saturday after being racially abused twice from the stands. [Kasey] Palmer was racially abused by a Sheffield Wednesday fan towards the end of Coventry City’s 2-1 win at Hillsborough.

AC Milan posted support on X: “There is absolutely no place in our game for racism: we are appalled. We are with you, Mike. #WeRespAct”

Of his experience, Palmer said, “I’m black and proud, and I am raising my three kids to be the exact same. I’ll be honest, it feels like things will never change, no matter how hard we try,” and “Couple fans doing monkey chants don’t define a fanbase. I appreciate all the love and support I’ve received.”

Maignan called on authorities to do more. He also posted these thoughts on X:

It was not the player who was attacked. It's the man. He's the father of the family. This isn't the first time this has happened to me. And I'm not the first this has happened to. We issued press releases, advertising campaigns, protocols and nothing has changed. Today, an entire system must take responsibility. . . .

The FIFA president made a statement condemning racism, including, “No to racism! No to any form of discrimination!” But many are calling for harsher punishments in addition to the current process:

FIFA’s guidance follows a “three-step” policy: at the first incident of racism, the referee should report it to the “home club safety officer via the fourth official”; at the second, the referee may suspend the match “allowing the safety officer and police to deal with the perpetrators”; it’s only at the third incident that the referee is empowered to abandon the match.

As we can expect, not everyone agrees, with some calling for players to do the equivalent of “man up” but with more literal expressions I had to look up and won’t write. Students could weigh in on this situation, and a discussion could lead to, but doesn’t have to, what’s acceptable on college campuses.

This situation raises issues of integrity for the league. A writer for The Athletic says of FIFA’s president, “Now it’s time for him to follow up his words with action.” This is a call for words and deeds to match, or for consistency, a key component of integrity.

The Visual Pull of Tech Stocks

Line charts show how the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla—affect the S&P 500. Students can analyze the potential audience and objective of each of these visual displays, find others, or create their own. Hover over for comments about each, and click on the slide for the original source. The data represents different timeframes, so the charts aren’t quite comparable.

This simple line chart compares returns of the total S&P 500 to that of the seven and the other 493 stocks. Note the typo in the first date on the X axis.

Dating back to October 2022, this line chart shows the downward pull of the seven in addition to the recent upswing. We can almost feel the effect both ways—the drag and the lift.

With this detail, we see the contribution of each stock. This would work better without the separate legend.

This tree map shows the market value of each stock, which explains why a rise in, for example, Microsoft, more significantly affects the S&P.

The donut is more graphical but conveys less than the tree map does.

This infographic/bubble chart has visual appeal (but weird color combinations) -- and does convey more information (including both market cap and return) than the others do.

This one is pretty but conveys little.

Students also might be interested in evaluating whether Tesla should remain part of the Magnificent Seven. Some believe it’s lackluster performance makes it unworthy of the designation.

Niecy Nash Thanks Herself in an Emotional Speech

The Emmy award audience and viewers love watching emotional speeches. Niecy Nash thanked herself in her acceptance speech, which students can analyze, given the context.

Nominated for five Emmys for her work in 2023, Nash won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. When we assess character, particularly an aspect of character like humility, we consider the entire context. Nash is crying as she begins her speech, saying, “I’m a winner, baby!” She was nominated for several Emmy awards over the years and won the last one in 2010. It’s been a while.

During her interview with Gayle King and Charles Barkley on CBS, she got emotional describing the work it took for her to be successful and how she felt proud of herself. Her difficulty is clear from her speech, too, when she thanks her “better half, who picked me up when I was gutted from this work. Thank you.” Then she says, “And you know who else I want to thank? I want to thank me.” She describes believing in herself and closes by acknowledging Black and brown women who went “unheard but over policed.” She mentions a few by name.

The context of her speech also is the historic underrepresentation of women of color in film, in TV, and as entertainment award winners. Humility can be defined as being neither below or above others. Nash expresses gratitude for being at a high competitive level and for being rewarded as she deserves to be. From another actor, the speech could certainly sound arrogant. But hers is taken well, and we see the audience enthusiastically applauding her.

China Changes Youth Unemployment Measure

After a five-month lapse, China reported youth unemployment data, which looks better because of new metrics. The change raises questions about data integrity and reporting.

According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate of people between 16 and 24 years old dropped from a high of 23.1 in June to 14.9 in December. But the rate doesn’t mean more young people are employed. The Bureau now excludes students enrolled in school, even if they’re seeking part-time employment. Reports also will now separate people between 25 and 29 from those between 25 and 59. A record number of college graduates are having a particularly difficult time finding jobs, partly because of restrictions on tech, real estate development, and education fields and because of a slow recovery from the pandemic, which Chinese officials seem reluctant to admit.

The youth data change might not have been as alarming if China hadn’t stopped reported data after that record high in June.

Students might discuss the significance of these changes and compare how China reports jobless data to U.S. methodology (see U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). This situation is a good project for students to dig into the data and also analyze, for example, differences between urban and overall rates.

Students also can find or create charts to visualize the change over time. They’ll likely find mostly line charts like the one at right that shows the urban rate over the past two years. As many do, this chart has a truncated Y axis, exaggerating the differences (and yet, one percentage point is a lot of people out of work).