If you have not seen the greatest Facebook brand implosion in history, then congratulations, you must have been off the grid for the past few days.
It began with an episode of Kitchen Nightmares so indescribable that you have to see it to believe it. The short version is this: Amy and Samy Bouzaglo, owners of Amy’s Baking Company (ABC) in Scottsdale, Arizona were featured on the “reality” show Kitchen Nightmares. During the show, the couple demonstrated a pattern of behavior so hostile, a work environment so toxic, that Chef Gordon Ramsay, for the first time in the history of the show, walked away from the owners as a lost cause.
Even giving some leeway for some of the staging and editing for dramatic effect that goes on in “reality” programming, the couple nonetheless comes off terribly.
Worse, the couple that owns the bakery, took to defending themselves on their Facebook page, resulting in what is being called the greatest social media meltdown of all time. Words do not do it justice, but this post with actual screenshots does. (Note: The couple is claiming that their Facebook page was hacked, and they did not post the messages. The comment section does a pretty good job destroying the credibility of that assertion.)
So, on to business…
Why highlight people whose behavior is so far outside of business norms that they have gone viral? Because in the extreme behavior of these business owners are lessons for us all.
“Arguing from extremes” is a fallacy in logic; however, teaching from extremes is an excellent way to make a point. Because we all know managers and business owners that do some of what Amy and Samy do. Owners that are too paranoid, managers that are too defensive.
Of course, there are so many lessons to be learned from this meltdown that we could probably cover the entire spectrum of business advice: how not to do social media, how not to do public relations, and so on.
Instead, we are just going to focus on 5 core customer and management-focused concepts. Read More
