Damage limitation
Which is more damaging? Revealing wrongdoings or covering them up? The instinct of the church to hush things up appears stronger than the instinct to do what’s right. That’s doubly damaging, since you now not only have the original transgressions, but heaped on top is the revelation that humanity is not what the church considers to be supremely important, which strikes at the heart of what most people understood to be fundamental.
The damage to the brand is immense. What does the church stand for then, people will ask themselves. And it will be hard to find the answers, when the leadership has miscalculated so badly. But at times like this there is an opportunity to revitalise the brand. The pope should reveal all, and then use the crisis to modernise, striking at the causes of the problem, like celibacy and infallibility. A new, revitalised brand, more relevant to today’s world, might be some recompense to the victims.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
April 1st, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I think we know what the church stands for, but my question is – why did they cover it up, or take so little action. The root of the cause may not be the two suggested.. It just might be that some people are nasty, in the church and outside the church.
April 2nd, 2010 at 8:25 am
Nigel, we are getting brave now! Go for it!
We hear a lot about core values. I have so many memories of sitting in office receptions laughing while I read the “Ten Commandments” of ‘This company’s core values are…..’
9 times out of 10 the service provided in reception alone contradicts and the poster becomes a huge joke.
I somewhat agree with Rob, that we all know what the church stands for; its dynamic Founder’s core values. The problem is that, in all the internal politics, the customer has got forgotten. Maybe the church doesn’t need rebranding; just needs to rediscover its original brand?
But is the brand name shot? Can the church recover its original market impact with this name? All over the world there are “franchise” communities of the most impressive people doing exception things in the toughest situations, all in the name of the Founder. But many hesitate to use the name “church”.
July 14th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Ha ha, I’m not a follower of the world wide cathologies or any such ologies, by deliberate spiritual modification, but the pope – church – come – clean – admit – or – not etc. boils down to one thing, not the original brand, it’s the “follow the money” crux. 10% of nothing is something.