If you’re from out of town you may not be familiar with Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, Canada’s largest city. He’s a burly fellow and a volunteer high-school football coach who served on city council for a decade before taking the top job on December 1, 2010. 

Ford is rather infamous around town, known for his temper, girth and outspoken approach. His brother Doug is also a Council member. Together they’ve been dubbed the “twin Ford mayors” by Margaret Atwood who challenged Council over its threat to close libraries across the city. But that’s a whole other story.  

To get a sense of Mayor Ford and his communications style, consider this story from last year’s mayoral campaign. While in Florida in 1996, Ford was arrested for driving under the influence and possession of marijuana, a nasty incident that surfaced during the campaign. Ford initially denied the DUI charge and claimed he was arrested for refusing to give a breath sample. And the marijuana possession charge? It completely slipped his mind. 

There are many things that corporate communicators can learn from Rob Ford (and I suspect this post will not be the last you hear from me on the subject). For starters, here are 5 do’s and don’ts: 

1.       Don’t run when confronted with an ambush interview.

Last week Princess Warrior Marg Delahunty of CBC-TV’s satirical comedy show This Hour has 22 Minutes showed up at Mayor Ford’s Etobicoke home. She has a long record of ambushing the who’s who of Canadian celebrities and politicians. Past interviews (if you can call them that) included Don Cherry, Jean Chretien, Stephen Harper, Joe Clark and more. If you’re not familiar with her particular style you can watch a ‘best of’ tape here:

Instead of embracing the gag, Ford beat a hasty retreat into his home and promptly called 911, fearing for the safety of his family. He explained his behavior by claiming he didn’t know who the Princess Warrior was.  

Lesson learned: If someone is waving a microphone in your face and there’s a camera behind them, chances are they’re a reporter, not an assassin. Act accordingly. 

2.       Don’t use the f-word when stressed or angry.

Mayor Ford has been known to use the f-word fairly frequently. When the police didn’t arrive promptly at his home, he used it with the 911 operator in the incident outlined above. Not surprisingly, when it was leaked to media Ford quickly apologized, although he denied calling the operator a b****.

Lesson learned: The f-word is never, ever appropriate for an elected official. If you happen to be one, banish it from your vocabulary at all times, even in the privacy of your own home, to ensure you don’t slip up in public. The rule for corporate communicators is a bit different. See “The f-bomb in business: OK or not OK?”

3.       Do create clear messages and use them consistently.

Mayor Ford was particularly adept at getting elected mayor. He had a message—taxpayers want the gravy train to come to an end and Rob Ford is the guy to do it—and he used it consistently.  In fact, the Toronto chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators gave Ford’s campaign top marks for communications excellence in early 2011.

Lesson learned: Put time and thought into drafting your messages. Rehearse them so that they come naturally into an interview without appearing rote or repetitive. To learn more about key messages, you can read about them here.

4.       Don’t take media calls while coaching your football team.

After he was elected, Mayor Ford interviewed with As it Happens, CBC’s internationally syndicated radio news program. He spoke to Carol Off while coaching his football team and it showed. You can read a few excerpts here where you’ll also find a link to the entire interview. 

Lesson learned: Give media your full attention—don’t take interviews while you’re distracted or when background noise interferes.  

5.       Don’t blackball the largest daily in Canada because you don’t like their reporting.

Mayor Ford won’t talk to the Toronto Star, a newspaper with a circulation of over a million, making it the largest daily in the country. The reason? He didn’t like this article about a student who was allegedly assaulted by Ford on the football field. 

Lesson learned: As a corporate communicator you can choose to speak to or ignore whichever media outlet you like. But do you really want to alienate an important daily and one of the biggest opportunities to have your voice heard? Enough said. 

The last word on Mayor Ford goes to Woody Harrelson who spoke to Jian Ghomeshi, host of Q on CBC Radio last April. Harrelson was in town for his play “Bullet for Adolf.” He immersed himself in the city (apparently his favourite in North America) and the conversation turned to Ford. Harrelson quipped that the reason Mayor Ford does what he does is “he’s a Ford not a Lincoln.” 

You can watch Harrelson’s interview here, just fast forward to 1:30 to hear the bit about Mayor Ford.

Posted in PR Bloopers, Public relations |