Um, how about with the oldest public relations advice available: if you don't want to see something you wrote on the front page of the (insert prominent national media title here: New York Times, Le Figaro, People's Daily, La Repubblica, O Globo...et al) then don't write it or even say it. And think twice about thinking it.
In Amy Pascal's case, her emails mocking the personal predilections of significantly bankable stars, the ethnic preferences of the President of the United States and the idiosyncracies of probably everyone else she ever knew appeared on the front page of every single one of those papers - and several thousand others, as well. That's an issue for almost anyone, but especially for someone who's business is selling entertainment to lots of people who either like those stars or share the ethnicity of the President in question. Or any ethnicity, for that matter.
The second most important piece of advice one could take away from this is: when your corporate IT people tell you your systems are fail-safe, it's time to hire an outside expert. As someone once said, 'there are two types of corporations: those that have been hacked and those that don't yet know they have been.'
We could add that aggregating all of one's corporate passwords in a digital file folder labelled 'Passwords' should arguably be re-imagined. But that advice would be gratuitous in this case.
The broader implication is that everything a leader or a sub-leader or a mere corporate spear carrier does these days is hackable. As if you didn't already know that? JL
Ben Fritz reports in the Wall Street Journal:
Ms. Pascal’s departure marks a change for Hollywood, where she was recognized as one of the last studio chiefs whose background is exclusively in making movies, rather than corporate management, and who operated as much by gut instinct as spreadsheets.
The hackers who plunged Sony Pictures into chaos late last year can claim their biggest prize yet, as the studio’s longtime motion-picture chief said Thursday she will depart.
Amy Pascal, who has run Sony Corp.’s movie business for more than a decade and worked at the studio for nearly 20 years, will step down in May as Sony Pictures co-chairman. She will become a producer based at the company.
As recently as November, Ms. Pascal was negotiating with Sony to extend her contract, which expires in March, according to emails stolen by the hackers and released online. However, she was damaged more than other executives by leaked emails, which revealed she was struggling to find a new direction for the studio’s “Spider-Man” franchise, second-guessing many of her own decisions, and facetiously speculated about whether President Obama prefers movies starring black actors.
Ms. Pascal was outraged and upset at the way her emails were picked apart by the media and even found herself chased by paparazzi amid the controversy over whether Sony would release the Seth Rogen comedy “The Interview,” which the hackers—said to be connected to North Korea—wanted to keep out of theaters.
Even before the hack, Ms. Pascal faced challenges. While Sony has had a number of midbudget hits including “22 Jump Street,” “American Hustle” and “Captain Phillips,” it has struggled under Ms. Pascal to create the type of globally popular franchises that can fuel big profits for a studio. This past summer’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” the company’s biggest attempt at such a picture in recent years, was a modest disappointment.
Activist investor Daniel Loeb in 2013 took aim at the studio Ms. Pascal oversaw, criticizing management for overspending and urging Sony to spin it off.
The stress of the cyberattack was the final straw for Ms. Pascal, said a person familiar with her thinking, following recent cost-cutting ordered by Sony Corp. and the attacks on her leadership by Mr. Loeb.
Her boss, Sony Pictures Chief Executive Michael Lynton, didn’t ask her to step down, according to people familiar with the matter. But in recent discussions with his deputy, the two had gone back and forth on whether it would be best for the company—and Ms. Pascal—for her to renew her contract, the people said.
Ms. Pascal’s departure marks not just a change for Sony Pictures, but for Hollywood, where she was widely recognized as one of the last studio chiefs whose background is exclusively in making movies, rather than corporate management, and who operated as much by gut instinct as spreadsheets.
Operating out of a huge office once occupied by the legendary mogul Louis B. Mayer, Ms. Pascal has long enjoyed strong relationships with actors like George Clooney, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill. She also gets personally involved in tasks, like reading scripts and offering detailed feedback, that most studio chiefs these days delegate to deputies.
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