The worst video media disaster of July
A company mishap is made even worse after its chairman waits too long to speak out on the accident—and then says all the wrong things.
The accident, Canada’s deadliest in almost 150 years, was horrific—some people sitting in a café, for example, reportedly burned alive after fleeing, while others jumped from a building’s third floor to escape the inferno.
Edward Burkhardt, the chairman of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railways (whose train was responsible for the damage), managed to make matters worse. He waited several days before showing up and giving a press conference—and when he did, he made an even bigger mess of things.
Burkhardt came across in this press conference with the analytical nature one might expect from someone in a more technical profession. In so doing, he demonstrated that there is a mile-wide chasm between intelligence and emotional intelligence—and while he might have a lot of the former, it’s clear that he has little of the latter.
This press conference is a good example of what not to do. It’s worth watching in its entirety.
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