I'm guessing what happened was a case of mistaken posting. The employee who was managing Chrysler's Twitter stream was probably doing it from a platform that allowed for multiple accounts to be listed, including his personal account. He likely meant to post the words in question to his personal account, and didn't realize which account he was posting on until it was too late. Again, just a guess.
Whatever the case, that employee lost his job, and Chrysler went so far as to fire the firm that employed him. Ouch.
It's easy for us to sit back and point out that employee's stupidity or even wax about Chrysler's apparent lack of due diligence in doing business with that company.
But if we're honest, many of us allow a similar scenario to play out every day. Only we don't take the necessary step Chrysler took.
Like Chrysler, we all have things that speak for us. Mouthpieces, if you will. Sometimes it's what we say. More often, it's what we do - or what we don't do. Our actions are the loudest mouthpieces that speak for us on a daily basis. From the guy who cuts you off in traffic to the man who holds the door open at the store for a mother with her hands full - each day, each one of us broadcasts to the world who we are. We have for ourselves a series of "living soundbites" - pieces that come together to form the story that is read by all we come in contact with.
Like traditional soundbites, our actions are also subject to misinterpretation. So there will occasionally be times when we need to correct the record. But more often, there will be times when we simply need to "fire" the mouthpieces that got us into trouble in the first place.
Not all of us recognize this. Or at the least, all of us could use some help remembering this. The way we treat others and the way we conduct the business of our daily lives are telling people who we are. If we aren't mindful of this, we could wind up on the wrong side of a "firing" ourselves - either in our professional or our personal lives.
You feel me?
AF
