Hearts & Minds: Lies, damned lies, and the temptation to trash the stats

Donald Trump does not like the employment figures so he fires the head of the bureau responsible for collating the statistics. The US president is not alone. Other country leaders, notably those of Argentina and Greece in the recent past, have discredited officials because the numbers did not sit with their message. Dissing the data is always a comms option. But it tends to be the preserve of politicians. In the corporate world it is not a step to be taken lightly, if at all. Why? Because the market may kill you.

Still, the temptation sometimes to rubbish, to claim the source is biased, incompetent, incomplete, is tempting. Fundamentally, shooting the messenger because that is what you are doing, is never a good look. A story that may have been already moving away, the shares might have dipped but that is all, can take on a different aspect. Journalists, analysts, commentators, will pile in. The spotlight that shone on the stats could start to feel extremely glaring and harsh.

The trouble with this approach, too, is that you cannot keep repeating it. Do it once and you may, just may, get away with it. Do it again and a pattern begins to build and your reputation is fast disappearing.

The corporate world contains plenty of examples of folks who go on the attack. There was the bank CEO who, in front of a wincing PR, would lambast a piece of negative research. When the bank hit the buffers, he was toast and no one jumped to his support.

There was a well-known retailer who would always slam the analysis when it did not show him in a favourable light. Posing questions to him, knowing the answer would be a stream of invective accompanied by a trademark snarl, became media sport. Of course, when things were going well, when the percentages and volumes were heading in the right direction, he was boastful and now he would be beaming. Even so, his face would cloud over. Why? Because he complained that he was not being taken seriously enough, he was not receiving the credit he merited. He stayed in post because he could – the business was private, the shares were his. He did run a public company but vowed never again. He said it was too difficult; too many hurdles had to be crossed, people got in his way. Funny that.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.