There are certain things that come with running a successful business. One of those things is that you don’t get the luxury of leading with your personal feelings with something of this magnitude. The future success of the business matters. What the customers of The DIS, Dreams, and other affiliates need is not only knowledge that the appropriate steps are being taken but more importantly the *confidence* that things like this won’t happen in the future. The ownership statement may succeed at the first, this personal statement fails at the second.
Through the years I’ve seen leaders, especially Generals talk about various dark times when they know their job in the moment is to take whatever emotional reaction that is coming their way. They say sometimes you have to let people yell, scream, cry and not try to argue with them, because that is not what the moment calls for. It is not about them, however they may be feeling in the same moment. That’s part of what it means to be the Big Boss.
These are very serious issues, and people are legitimately frustrated about the circumstances that allowed them to go unchecked for so long, especially as each story comes to light. People are horrified for what the victims endured. This statement does not demonstrate the kind of self-reflection I expect people hope to see from the team going forward. Nor is it neutral as the ownership statement. Which leads to the inevitable, as is already being demonstrated… another round of self-reflection by the customers: is this is a place where they wish to be?