Iraq war more a warning than guide to business

Edwin Pieroelie, Contributor, Jakarta, edwin@pieroelie.com

For decades the business war parallel worked for thousands of gurus, writers and business consultants who extrapolated, reinterpreted, and sold Sun Tzu's 2300 year old 13 chapter (and distinctly modified) guide The Art of War as the must know virtual corporate bible to doing business. The business-war package was successful first because the fundamental principles of Sun Tzu's guide to war, when applied to business, actually has many practical applications and second, that the concept was a big money maker.

I suspect therefore that it won't be long before the business community is flooded with books, training videos, expert lecture sessions, and workshops promoting, in one way or another, how to successfully apply the lessons of Gulf War II to develop a better company. And although I very much agree with what would undoubtedly be the main theme of the material, i.e. "Public Relations/Communications was a Key strategy in Gulf War II and is a Key strategy to your Business," I do not believe that there are any valuable communications strategies implemented in Gulf War II that responsible, long term, and professional companies would adopt.

In fact, in an Indonesian comparison, implementing the communications strategies of Gulf War II would set us back to the Soeharto days when the populace would either have to accept the government key messages or face the harsh ramifications. To control the messages that were going out to the Iraqi people, coalition forces bombed Iraqi television stations and tore down transmitters; when Soeharto didn't agree with other opinions he shut them down (like he did with Sinar Harapan in 1988 and Tempo for the second time in 1994). Those Americans who opposed the war were labeled Saddam sympathizers and anti-American. Soeharto liked to call those opposed to his policies Communist provocateurs, a term he used right to his last days in 1998.

Some will argue that the communications strategies used by the U.S in Gulf War II served their purpose and will show businesses that by staunchly defending key messages businesses will be able to garner the support of their key stakeholders. And yes, in the short term, the communications strategy in Gulf War II used by the U.S was influential. It convinced several nations to support the war, and resulted in ousting Saddam Hussein's regime. Gulf War II, however, was only the introductory chapter in a multidimensional saga.

The communications strategies used in Gulf War II fail as a business guide because they lack the fact based messaging so vital to building the relationships businesses need with all of their stakeholders.

U.S Gulf War communications was all about Shock and Awe. Iraq has weapons of mass destruction; Saddam poses a threat to the free world; there are links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.

In reality, communications is not just about gloss and spin but about building the organization's reputation by developing the strategies and the activities that the company needs to get involved with in order to send out the true, fact based messages.

Using a decade old term paper written by a graduate student to prove Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, or pressing fuzzy logic to show the association between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda are not the solid facts needed to support a legitimate communications campaign.

Yes the U.S communications strategy got them to stage one, but professional businesses are not only interested in success in one program but repeated success into the long term.

The key messages disseminated by the U.S, the key messages that paved the way for Gulf War II, have been well documented and the U.S will be held accountable. Is the price of using non-fact, non-action, based key messages to convince key stakeholders like Britain and Australia to go into Gulf War II worth the loss of international credibility, the weakening of internal morale, and the loss of a nation's reputation?

The CEO of any business who decided to implement lessons from the U.S. Gulf War II superficial communications strategy would not last long. It is interesting to see what will happen to CEO George Bush Jr in 2004.

The writer a Jakarta based communications strategist.