What every CEO should consider before going rogue
FTX founder Samuel Bankman-Fried reminds communicators to discourage leaders from speaking out in the middle of a federal investigation.
A half hour into the interview, reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin asked a question that prompted laughter in the audience at The New York Times DealBook Summit.
“What are your lawyers telling you right now?” Sorkin asked Samuel Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading. “Are they suggesting this is a good idea for you to be speaking?”
“They are very much not,” replied Bankman-Fried as the laughter grew louder. “The classic advice, right? Don’t say anything. Recede into a hole.”
We don’t know why Bankman-Fried ignored the conventional wisdom of crisis communications. But the interview presents an opportunity to review some of the factors any executive should weigh before taking a similar gamble.
If anyone was going to ignore the classic advice, Bankman-Fried did as good a job as possible. Which doesn’t mean he’s not going to pay for it in the long run.
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