Belo’s problems continue with a whole raft of shareholder lawsuits. So what do you do when you have a problem? You solve them.
So, when Belo admitted to the inflated circulation, it set out to solve the problem. They did that by finding guilty parties and firing them, and they made restitution to their advertisers. And in focusing on the problem they made a big (and excruciatingly common) mistake. They didn’t look for the external challenge that is the root cause behind all these problems.
What’s the challenge? The company’s Success Formula has become obsolete and they are struggling financially. So, is firing some guilty parties going to solve that? No. Maybe those people should have been fired. Fine. Now what? What will Belo do about the challenge?
Just as I wrote about Merck’s crisis, Belo has the opportunity to really take advantage of this situation. They could create a disruption by seeing this as an indictment of their strategic assumptions and decide to reinvent them. However, if they stick with the actions they’ve taken thus far, this whole unsavory event will amount to a mere disturbance—an annoyance that the company has to deal with so they can get on with business as usual. And if that happens, we may not have to wait long for the next negative headline…
