Sony Hacking & Speaking With Good Purpose

Within the past few weeks Sony Pictures was illegally hacked and an enormous treasure trove of corporate secrets were released to the public for all to see. Several hundred gigabytes of financial data, invoices, bank accounts, promotional activities, celebrities’ personal data, emails from Sony executives, movie release schedules, and unreleased movie scripts were included in the stolen data dump.

According to press reports, “Every aspect of Sony Pictures' business is out in the open — audits, budgets, budget overages, bank accounts, wire transfers, invoices, financial forecasts, legal documents, personal notes and emails, strategic documents, plans and presentations.”  The cost to their business will be long-term and the damage to Sony Pictures may really not be known for sometime as security experts are only beginning to now assess the breach and its real implications on their business.

One of the areas of data that has gotten the most press is the private emails from Sony executives detailing their personal feelings about celebrities.  It’s clear that personal opinions shared privately have the power of derailing relationships once they are made public. In one exchange, Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin call Angelina Jolie a "spoiled brat" and suggest that President Obama may enjoy the movie "Django Unchained." 

These executives never imagined that this email exchange would ever be seen by anyone else, let alone, the people they were bantering about.  What they thought privately, put in writing, and shared through an email server was hacked and shared with the world.  I am not sure that being embarrassed fully captures their feelings knowing this happened. 

The situation with Sony Pictures is nothing new when you compare it to the number of individuals annually that encounter identity theft.  What makes this situation so unique is the fact that this corporation is at the epicenter of our celebrity culture.  They are creating, dealing, and promoting the fantasy and joys of fame.  The harsh reality of Hollywood’s cutthroat tactics rarely gets the spotlight that this hacking scandal has produced.  

This is a great reminder to every leader that matters of privacy can quickly become public fodder by a few strokes at a keyboard. So think about this situation as a leader.  Do your public comments match your private conversations?  Do you build others up in public and then tear them down in private?  Are you a leader that speaks and shares with good purpose?  

When your private conversations don’t align with your public comments, you as a leader are breaking trust with your workforce and that directly impacts productivity and workplace satisfaction.  When your team feels that you trust, value, and care about them, they invest more in the work at hand and find greater satisfaction knowing that the values of your leadership are seen in a combination of your words and actions. 

It’s clear that circumstances like what has happened to Sony Pictures brings us all to the same conclusion. You have the ability to encourage, praise, and think the best of others.  Taking the time to do just that matters, especially when your private comments may go public. 

“Encouraging others can be the catalyst to unleashing their greatness.”  Rob Liano