All large organization have rules or principles which suit their purposes. Most of the time, the principles are the ones that should be tied to the organization. Sometimes people tie their organizational powers to a rule which by any degree of common sense  brings up the age old question of what were they thinking? comes into play. Because the client base does not buy into the policy, defending the principle is only digging the hole bigger.

From the book The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David I Kertzer, Alfred A Knopf, New York 1997, an example is the Edgardo Mortara case of 1858 in Italy.

All large organizations have many supporters and detractors, hopefully there is always more supporters. When something goes wrong, the detractors who have some issue with the company, come out of the woodwork to add their voice to the concern. Soon people are talking about many types of issues, few that deal with the original concern. In the case of the Mortara case, anyone with an issue against Catholics were jumping in to lend their voice of support. With social media, issues are more pronounced, but they tend to follow the same patterns since the invention of the printing press.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the small issue can become convoluted, but how does the company react and deal with the issues? If you gather 10 people in a circle and whisper into the first, by the end the sentence will change, the issue will change and maybe even the story will change. During those changes, the stock price maybe affected before what is considered normal is achieved. The only method to combat the campaign was for the company to try to do it right the first time. By being good corporate citizens and living up to its principles and keeping common sense, the company maintains and increases it goodwill. At some point in every company, that goodwill will be used. One method is to ensure a level of openness that allows for questions to be asked and answered.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions