When hijacked airplanes smashed into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, Merrill Lynch evacuated 9,000 employees -- nearly 20% of its work force -- from headquarters adjacent to the
World Trade Center. The firm immediately found itself in a crisis of unimaginable proportions. Jim Wiggins, Merrill Lynch's first VP, corporate communications, speaks about ML's
disaster response.
PRN: What was your first response on September 11?
Wiggins: We safely evacuated three major facilities around the periphery of the World Trade Center. When we got out, we were faced with an enormous need to communicate and we
had no phones, no email, no offices, no access to media lists.
PRN: How did you cope with the enormity of the task before you?
Wiggins: A number of us regrouped, faced the fears and anguish we felt, the great grief over the loss of a colleague, and our amazement at what we'd witnessed. We realized we
needed to communicate a very strong message of strength and compassion and confidence. Merrill Lynch has [global] offices and a huge part of our infrastructure was not affected by
this.
PRN: Why was immediate communication so important?
Wiggins: First, we made a conscious decision to be a leader -- we knew our clients would expect that. And second, because our company, in many ways, symbolizes Wall Street, we
wanted to send a strong message that the global financial system was not impaired by this terrible act.
PRN: What were your primary messages?
Wiggins: First, that the vast majority of our people were safe, that Merrill Lynch was open for business, and that client assets were safe and sound. We've got seven million
accounts and $1.6 trillion in assets worldwide. The greatest fear you have in situations like this is that there will be a run on the bank resulting from a panicky feeling that
people's assets are somehow at risk. We wanted to put that fear to rest. The second key message was that [capitalism] would not be daunted by these attacks.
PRN: With no phones, no email, and no media lists, how did you communicate?
Wiggins: We immediately commandeered all of our Internet sites and used them to post a daily update from our chairman and president. Also, we have an internal video network
that broadcasts programming daily out to our systems around the country and in some cases, around the world. It was knocked out at first, but we were able to restart it with help
from Medialink and their studio.
PRN: Were you in any way prepared for a crisis of this magnitude?
Wiggins: No matter how many drills, contingencies, back-up systems you think you have, you're never really prepared for a crisis like this. You have to be prepared to call
audibles from the line of scrimmage.
PRN: What got you through it, aside from improvisation and sheer grit?
Wiggins: In a crisis, your team is everything. A crisis like this very quickly overruns any one individual's ability to respond effectively, no matter how skilled that
individual might be. The best way to prepare is to hire the best people, train them well, spend a lot of time working together, know each other's jobs, and trust each other
implicitly. You should be able to talk to each other in shorthand and literally finish each other's sentences.
PRN: Noting that you set up a centralized media hotline rather quickly, was there anything else you did to accommodate reporters who were trying to reach you?
Wiggins: One thing we did early on was put out a daily news digest on BusinessWire, with little abstracts of things going on in the company. Also, we [allowed journalists on
site] when we got our provisional trading floors up and running in Jersey City. We usually control access to those floors quite tightly because people are there to do business
and having free roam by the media can be very distracting. But in this case, we did open up those floors to camera crews and print reporters. We wanted to send a clear message
that we were open for business.
PRN: Looking ahead, what are your main communications priorities?
Wiggins: We're still focused on recovery. We're back in the building on Broadway and we hope to reoccupy our north tower of the World Financial Center within the next few
weeks. The big issue is access; it's still very much a disaster site. We're working with city authorities to get back in there as soon as we can. That will involve a great deal of
logistics in communicating with our employees.
PRN: How will you continue to demonstrate Merrill Lynch's stability as a financial leader to clients and investors?
Wiggins: We've announced a number of management changes and we're in the process of lining up the management team that's going to take the business forward from here. Also,
we'll launch a major new advertising campaign in both print and broadcast, geared toward advising investors as to how they ought to be approaching markets during this period of
great uncertainty.
PRN: Which is how?
Wiggins: Basically, by going back to fundamentals. You have a long-term investment plan, you agree on a discipline and stick to it through thick and thin. You [monitor] how
your assets are allocated against your long-term objectives and risk tolerance.
PRN: Financial or otherwise, what insights, learned through this horror, can you share?
Wiggins: Never underestimate the goodness of people in situations like this. With our clients, nobody's first concern was their financial affairs or trading stocks and bonds.
It was, "Are you alright?" And the incredible bravery that our people exhibited was astounding. One of our investment bankers was walking to work and came across an individual
who'd been terribly burned during the first impact. He was able to get that person onto a ferry and over to New Jersey for medical attention, and saved his life.
Editor's Note
This interview was given prior to a live, inter-active Webcast held last week in which Wiggins shared insights about the national crisis with the PR community, an online event
hosted by Medialink. To view the full archived session, visit http://www.medialink.com.
(Contacts: Jim Wiggins, 212/421-0321; Susan Macaluso,
Medialink, 212/812-7034)
In Sickness and In Health
Corporate financial communicators, more often than not these days, must report bad news to Wall Street. Preliminary earnings forecasts, for example, are up 62% this year over
last, according to PR Newswire, and many companies have fallen short of their own projections. John Nesbett, managing director with the NY-based IR consultancy Lippert/Heilshorn
& Associates, identifies information that can be communicated, particularly in the absence of specific financial guidance:
- the current economic environment in the industry you're selling into
- things your company can control, such as [adjustments to] your cost structure to help drive long-term shareholder value
- information about potential layoffs
- consolidation of facilities
- improvements in distribution channels
- new product introductions
- the status of R&D activities
"The IR professional's responsibility is to keep management communicating with investors in good times and bad," Nesbett says.
(Contact: Nesbett, Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates, 212/838-3777)