10 of the “21 Dumbest Moments in Business”

I don’t know anyone who wasn’t happy to see the back end of 2008. It was a tough, tough year. There was, however, at least one bright light in the dismal landscape: The “21 Dumbest Moments in Business – 2008”, Fortune magazine’s annual list of the year’s “most laughable corporate moves.” As Fortune reports, it “proves that, even in moments of crisis, stupidity lives on.”

What I found particularly interesting is the number of these crises and scandals that could have been averted if the parties involved had taken a moment to conference with their chief communications officer, public relations firm or PR consultant about what our CEO, Ken Makovsky, calls a “PR bailout.”

Here’s an abbreviated version of the top 10 business gaffes of 2008. Check out the complete list for a look at all 21 of last year’s monumentally dumb moments.

1) Detroit execs flying to D.C.
2) Detroit execs driving to D.C.
3) Henry Paulson's initial $700 bailout proposal:
4) The final bailout
5) The Mozilo e-mail
6) The iPhone 'I am rich' app
7) Paulson's 'bazooka'
8) Tough talk from Fannie Mae
9) Scandal at the Department of Interior
10) GM's Lutz on global warming

The Court Rules in Favor of Wikileaks

Last week, Federal Judge Jeffrey S. White withdrew his earlier order disabling Wikileaks, a website that allows the anonymous posting of documents to discourage unethical behavior in governments and corporations. He’d originally shut down the site at the request of Bank Julius Baer & Company, a Swiss banking company that serves the ultra-rich. They charged that Wikileaks had posted confidential information about some of its customers.

Wikileaks is designed to enable whistleblowers to leak documents, without fear of censorship or the risk of the political repercussions. Its founders contend that Wikileaks will “civilize corporations by exposing uncivil plans and behavior. Just like a country, a corrupt or unethical corporation is a menace to all inside and outside it.”

It’s still in its infancy, but Wikileaks is worth a careful look if you’re at all concerned with the possibility of adverse publicity or if you are involved in issues or crisis management.

Only 6% of corporate frauds are revealed by the SEC and 14% by the auditors, according to the Center for Economic Policy Research. More important monitors are media (14%), industry regulators (16%), and employees (19%).

As it develops, it’s likely that Wikileaks will become a useful source for the mainstream media … so it’s worth keeping it on your radar.