Want to see CEO media hubris in action?

Have a look at this BBC interview in which Warren East, CEO of Rolls Royce, announces 9000 job cuts due to the Coronavirus.

Good to see this chap from Rolls Royce can see the funny side of making 9000 workers redundant…
Ah well, it's not happening to HIM, is it?https://t.co/FpRApEvJlG

— The Prole Star (@TheProleStar) May 20, 2020

Some thoughts:

1. He smiles (not great on the empathy score chart in case you needed telling);

2. He gets distracted and his eyes wander (which makes him look unprofessional and shifty);

3. Clearly no one warmed up with him in advance because his eye contact and body language are all over the place which suggests thinking on the spot. (And thinking looks messy which is damaging for credibility).

4. That camera angle is awful. (No one wants to look up your nose. Stick some books under the laptop, man.).

Lots of senior people resist media training and proper warm ups because they think they don’t need it as they’ve done media loads of times.

His later interviews were better, so this is not a question of ability. But the damage is done: a bad interview will follow you and your company around far longer than four good ones and has reputational consequences.

So do a warm up, or get trained, particularly if you have to do a crisis interview on Zoom. It’s not nearly as easy as it looks.