While many remember 2008 for the historic election of President Obama, Maple Leaf Food’s CEO Michael McCain remembers the year for different reasons.

In just a few days in the summer of 2008, the reputation of one of Canada’s most respected and admired food processing companies walked the plank. A lingering bacteria - Listeria monocytogenes – had slipped through the firm’s inspection process. By the time the crisis was over, there were more than 20 deaths.

It was a nightmare for any CEO: loss, wholly justified sadness and anger, the erosion of the public’s trust and confidence and perhaps irreversible damage to the reputation of a beloved brand 100 years in the making.

Taking action

Facing the biggest crisis of his 25 year career, McCain didn’t waste time. In a best practice example of crisis management, he immediately accepted accountability, apologized for the outcome and was clear on an action plan that included a press conference, the dissemination of daily media releases and a highly regarded televised public service announcement. And then, as the crisis stabilized, McCain put numerous procedures in to place to reassure the public of the company’s dedication and commitment to food quality and safety.

This process was no accident. An interview with CBC’s Peter Mansbridge mere days after the listeriosis outbreak sees McCain looking to address the evolving crisis head-on in the hopes of restoring the public’s trust.

“If we behave responsibly, if we put consumers’ interest first and we have a substantial action plan that we execute over the ensuing months, and we can address consumers directly, talk to them directly and explain what we have done and what happened within a degree of openness and if we do those things, it may be a leap of faith, we believe we can regain that trust.”

Accepting the blame

The aspect of McCain’s leadership that resonated most strongly with the public (and garnered the most media attention) is the televised public service announcement in which a genuinely apologetic McCain announced that he had closed down the infected plant and ordered a recall of Maple Leaf’s products.

Visually, the public spot had an almost amateurishness look to it, with a weary and contrite McCain reading dry and dull text off a teleprompter.

“As you may know, listeria was found in some of our products," he begins, a bit robotically, but relaxes as the apology unfolds."Tragically, our products have been linked to illnesses and loss of life. To those people who are ill, and to the families who have lost loved ones, I offer my deepest and sincerest sympathies. Words cannot begin to express our sadness for their pain.” He swallows hard before saying, “This week our best efforts delivering the highest quality, safe food have failed us. For that we are deeply sorry. We know this has shaken consumer confidence in us. Our actions will continue to be guided by putting the public’s interest first.”

Turning the tide

Unbeknownst to McCain, this humble, low fidelity approach managed to win people over even as the number of deaths caused by listeriosis mounted and the entire Canadian food system came under attack.

McCain’s appearance and statements seemed perfectly natural to the public. His sad, sober visage became standard fare on the evening news, on YouTube and in newspaper photos. Simply put: he cared. And if the CEO cares, then the company cares. Much of the press coverage and public sentiment moved away from outrage and anger towards sympathy and support.

Media observers offered up praise. Financial Post media critic Hollie Shaw said, “The ad's home-video quality works in [McCain’s] favour. It's impossible to say how much of those details were carefully planned but it is very effective for them. Being too slick can be deadly to the brand in a circumstance like this. If [Mr. McCain] had been delicately lit in a corner office in a suit and tie, then that could have telegraphed all the wrong connotations. [McCain’s] in an open shirt and that suggests somebody who is very fully engaged in the problem at hand and focused and working on it.”

Next steps

With the public listening, McCain attempted to turn the page on the crisis, assembling a consortium of industry leading food safety experts to consult and advise the company on the various physical and operational enhancements they were considering implementing.

Following the consortium’s recommendations, Maple Leaf undertook a number of plant-wide measures to ensure the public would have complete confidence the next time they went to their local supermarket or butcher. To drive that idea home, McCain took groups of reporters on organized tours of the now infamous plant that had been rejuvenated and stood as a beacon of the company’s improved safety protocols.

Additionally, McCain announced a number of initiatives designed to assuage public concerns and ensure there would be no tragic recurrences. Calling it a program of Industry Leading Best Practices, Maple Leaf began by establishing the “Maple Leaf Food Safety Advisory Council”, made up of food safety experts from around the world. And to support the council, McCain created a new executive position, the Chief Food Safety Officer, whose overall responsibilities included leading the company’s food safety and quality programs. Finally, McCain vowed to work with government, suppliers and competitors to enhance food safety across the entire industry. 

Staying vigilant

Knowing that his efforts would be diluted if he neglected the public’s questions and concerns on a go-forward basis, McCain launched a company blog to provide updates on the company’s progress towards food safety leadership, address questions related to listeria management and respond to future events and issues, as they happen.

McCain’s leadership during and after the listeriosis outbreak has been lauded as a new industry standard upon which future CEO’s can be judged in times of crisis. Hs transparency and immediate admission of culpability on behalf of the company, along with his empathetic TV spot, allowed him to turn the public sentiment from anger and animosity to sympathy and support. Finally, once the crisis had dissipated, McCain implemented a number of programs to ensure the company would never face a product recall crisis again.

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