It's All About Impressions: An Interview With Wal-Mart's PR Chief
By Kris Hudson
First published by The Wall St. Journal, Dec. 7, 2006
Longtime Democratic strategist Leslie Dach joined Wal-Mart in July, overseeing its lobbying and public-relations work, after a year of leading the PR firm Edelman's work for the retailer. Excerpts from a Nov. 7 interview with The Wall Street Journal:
Q: You have worked as an adviser in five of the past six Democratic presidential campaigns. What aspects of the political arena carry over into your work with corporate clients, and vice versa?
A: It is really all about impressions. In these political campaigns, you try to mold every day, you mold every event. In the end, the American people form an impression about a candidate, and vote on that. I think they do the same thing if it's about a corporation, an individual or a politician.
What people remember are the anecdotes and their overall feeling about a person or company. Do they feel it's good or bad, getting better or stuck where it is? That's what I learned about that -- the importance of an emotional connection with your audience.
One of the things I learned from corporations is the importance of change. I learned that every crisis is an opportunity. The American people understand imperfection. But what the American people want to see is a company taking responsibility and then moving forward.
The way people change their opinions is when they see your behavior. It's not about the press release; it's about your behavior. That's one of the things that's very relevant here to Wal-Mart. People look at how the company behaves and form their opinions that way.
Q: During the 2000 campaign, you prepared Al Gore for debates. We've heard that you left no detail unnoticed, even matching the room temperature during practices to what it would be during the debate.
A: You have to rehearse the body at the same temperature and at the same time of day, because people have body rhythms. And if the debate is at 9 at night, you have to perform at 9 at night.
A funny part of this on the Wal-Mart side: We did a little preparation with Mr. [Wal-Mart CEO Lee] Scott for the Charlie Rose interview [in July]. Mr. Rose has a large wooden table that he does the interviews at. I wanted to do our rehearsal at a similar table. We tried to get a big round wooden table. But Wal-Mart being Wal-Mart, they brought in a small, round white plastic patio table. That's what we used, because of course, Wal-Mart wasn't about to go find a large wooden table when they could buy one at Wal-Mart for $3.98. My first attempt to replicate real-world surroundings at Wal-Mart was a failure.
Q: What factors led you to go in-house at Wal-Mart last summer?
A: What I had was a realization ultimately that government alone isn't the place that is going to solve the big issues that I care about, issues like global warming or health care. Actually, business has not only a leadership opportunity but a tremendous opportunity to cause change. That's what I saw at Wal-Mart. This was a company that on issues like health care, job creation and economic opportunity and sustainability was going to make a big difference.
Q: You report directly to Mr. Scott. How active of a role to you have in shaping Wal-Mart's practices and strategies before they are launched?
A: The company believes, and I do, in multidisciplinary thinking. You get to the right answer by having different perspectives around the table. No one perspective by itself is the right one.
Together, as a team, we are looking at what we can do. What can we do in health care that's good for the business and is good for how people perceive Wal-Mart and in the process is good for people's lives? We're able to do that together and to look at what's happening in the business and identify those things that are good for the business, good for society and therefore good for our reputation.
Q: How about the program to offer generic drugs for $4 per prescription? How early were you involved in that?
A: That idea came from the folks in the pharmacy business. All of us, once we heard it, recognized its impact and then played a role in making sure the company could do it quickly. That idea was so strong that there were very few hurdles that needed to be cleared.
Throughout these things, I find that there is no one author for any of these things, whether it's jobs and opportunity zones or the voter-registration program or work we're doing on sustainability. Those come here as I mentioned through this multidisciplinary process where some times we've seen something and kind of plucked it up, other times it's come from the business and we've helped carry it through. What I hope we've done is create a process where people recognize the value of those ideas.
Q: When you went in-house at Wal-Mart, what opportunities did you find the company neglecting that you decided to pursue?
A: I think what we've learned is that our job is to talk about what Wal-Mart is doing. Our job is not to respond to the critics or let others control the agenda. Our job is to go out there and do good things and make sure people know about it, and have a positive agenda. Yes, we're going to respond when people say something. But our energy is about developing ideas, things in the business, and letting people know about them.
Q: Wal-Mart has shifted more of its contributions in recent years to Democrats. But is the company prepared to work with a Democrat-controlled Congress?
A: Yes, for a few reasons. First, I think members of Congress understand that we have been building relationships on both sides of the aisle, and not just in the last month, but over many years. There is common interest in a lot of these issues, and a common constituency. I understand that those who are professional critics will be on Capitol Hill asking for things. I fully expect there to be more hearings than there would have been in the last four years. But I think ultimately when it comes to both legislation and the issues people care about, there will be a lot of common ground.
Q: Mr. Scott has said that job satisfaction among Wal-Mart employees is higher this year than it was last year. That seems odd, given that Wal-Mart's U.S. stores are going through rapid changes this year, and change often brings anxiety. How is it that employee satisfaction has increased, yet there are signs of employee unrest, such as the recent walkout at the store in Hialeah Gardens, Fla.?
A: We value them tremendously, and they're the reason for our success. In survey after survey, we've talked about it publicly. Eighty-five percent of our employees would recommend Wal-Mart as a place to work. I think what you're seeing in the media is small numbers of people getting good media attention. You could have 20,000 people at a political rally, and the five protestors outside get 20% of the media coverage. I get it, and I'm not complaining.
© 2006 Wall St. Journal
This article accompanied this feature story in the Journal: Behind the wal-Mart PR Machine.
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