When a friend of mine came to Colombia, we started to talk to him about the country. When the subject of the Summit of Americas came, his response was that the only thing that came out of that was the scandal in Cartagena...
Well, in companies, an error in PR can make all the effort of years just go to waste. Is that the case now?
Colombia has changed, from a wounded country, scared of growing and daring (and still, growing and daring), to a country that is profiled to be a leader in its own. And it is a pity the fact that because of a mistake, not from Colombians but from foreigners, Colombia goes backwards...
I do hope Colombia's leaders are working on that and seeing how to solve the situation. Normally, that would imply to create more opportunities to show the greatness until they forget the bad side - something that all countries and places have, after all...
But, a good lesson for any leader is to be always prepared for anything like that. That can mean many things, but I feel personally that it is not a question to hide situations, as normally leaders do.
Tylenol case, which is now a study case in many parts of the world, showed that accepting the mistake is perhaps the best policy. Working on that along with all those affected is even better. Trying to deny, or simply ignoring... well, people won't forget it so easily!!
And if you try to blame others, even when they are probably the real guilty ones, that does not work well. After all, when a scandal like that happens, it is not only one or two people's fault - a friend of mine almost everyday was pointing the role of the hotel, for instance.
I do hope all the efforts so many people have made on Colombia don't go to waste and, rather than that it makes Colombia even more an example to other places of the world, as I know the country already is.
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