What (if any) leisure activity is acceptable when handling a crisis?

[Chil1234]

In the view of certain commentators, a quick blast around the Solent with your teenage son at the weekend is not an appropriate way for BP CEO Tony Hayward to take a breather.

Should people bearing such weighty problems on their shoulders be allowed to relax at all? Is there an acceptable list of suitably sober activites...? Tiddlywinks? Sudoku? Ballroom Dancing? Or should anyone reponsible for an environmental crisis/ongoing war/civil unrest/economic catastrophe be firmly lashed to the proverbial wheel and not released from their harness until it's all over to our satisfaction?

personally i'd keep my head down - common sense surely

Sailing's a bit ironic given what his company has done to the sea. Not that bit of it, but still.

His PR people must be in despair.

Do what Fred Goodwin did and retreat to your massive bolthole in the south of France - endearing yourself to share holders and taxpayers alike.

Don't think he needs to be a prisoner in his own home, but fgs, have a bit of common sense!! A day out sailing his yacht on the ocean is beyond insensitive, but tbh, it is another example of how far 'off' his PR instincts have been in this crisis.

Maybe he should have done a bit of sailing in the Gulf of Mexico - just off the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or the Florida panhandle....

Btw - can anyone tell me, has he visited the site of the spill? Or personally seen the devastation to the surrounding ocean/landscape/wildlife? Or met with/spoken to the families whose men died in the explosion?

He's being paid bucket loads of money and one would hope he has the sense to put up and shut up while it's going on.

Sailing was a pretty dumb idea. Why not rub everyone's face in it.

Yes he has been to see the spill at close quarters in Louisiana.

BTW.. would this be a better or worse story if he'd been spotted racing pigeons or greyhounds rather than a yacht? Is it the 'larking about in the sea' connection that is the problem here? Or is there some kind of snobbery at play to do with people who can afford yachts?

I think it's a combination of things surely? Don;t see how you can separate out the different strands. Staggeringly poor judgement though I think.

Fwiw, Obama is getting a bit of a hard time in the American press as he spent yesterday on the golf course.

What is he meant to do? Sit in sack-cloth and ashes?

No, of course he isn't meant to sit in a sack cloth.

Don't think most would have a problem with a spot of gardening, a ramble, etc.

The insensitivity comes in (imo) when he chooses to do something only very wealthy people can do when he is so much in the public eye. Breathtaking bad judgement that his chosen activity involves enjoying a day out on the ocean.

I'm sure there are lots of people who live near the Gulf of Mexico who would like to take a day off from the oil spill too.....

So his teenage son is supposed to be punished too ?

the thing is something like this can cost his company millions in the bad PR and hardening of anti-BP attitudes in the US.

Pretty much anything glamorous is ruled out.

I am amazed at the extent to which this huge disaster has been turned on one man when there are certainly many BP big wigs involved.He is so un america friendly in every way so think he is in a no win situation.

Why the extremes? Is it either sailing a yacht or sackcloth and ashes? As SEA said, keeping his head down would surely be the soensible option. And I'm afraid his teenage son would indeed miss out on attending this event. Sad, but not devastating surely?

The 'suffering' of a wealthy teenager whose father is being criticised for going sailing is hardly comparable to the suffering of wildlife and human beings devastated by this spill. Maybe his Dad should have thought of his son when he was running a company that had such a cavalier attitude to safety?

as for it turning on one man, sure, other people are involved, not least US politicians and regulators who gave the oil industry such an easy ride. But the chief exec is the accountable person AND most of 'em justify massive pay packets and mega-rises every year by bleating about how special they are and how rare their skills are.

Mr Heyward might have been gaining a bit of public tolerance/sympathy because of the intense grilling he took from US politicians earlier this week, and because of the compensation fund voluntarily set aside by BP.

Unfortunately for him, this 'day off' has been another big PR setback.

He is certainly gaffe-prone.

He could have been out nursing sick seeing eye dogs back to help for blind orphans and they still would have panned him. Not going sailing and sitting at home wouldn't have helped or hindered the spill in any way. can't see anything wrong with what he did but the people and press will look for things to be outraged about.

I recall a recent US Presidet during crisis going to church and very visbly coming out to meet the cameras clutching a big black bible. Plays well in the US.

TBH if I were Mr Heyward I would have gone to the Gulf coats to direct operations personally and left the BP Chairman to manage the PR.It would have made it look like the CEO was a man of action 'doing something' and his Chairman could have managed the relationship with public, politics and shareholders.

Well, perhaps the whole US who were complicit in this as the most demandingly energy hungry nation on the planet, should be in sack cloth and ashes as well.

Perhaps he should have gone diving in the Gulf of Mexico as an extreme sport?

And, in reality, all he can do is order people who know more about drilling than him to do soemthing. He can't actually DO much practically himself can he?

Possibly he should be walking to Canterbury in a hair shirt with dried peas in his shoes...but actually it is his risk assessment team who should be doing that.

Interesting that although many oil companies deep sea drill this is the first blow out and NONE of them know how to fix it otherwise someone would have popped along with the solution, so it was just BP as the first to get the problem. But it could happen to any of the oil companies with exactly the same results.

Sailing - are their not pelicans that need washing?

Actually I think you are all assuming he actually gives a shit. Yes his company has messed up but he will leave next year with a handsome payout and BP will recover. They are not the first company to mess up the environment and they won't be the last sadly, anybody remember the Bhopal Disaster?

back from the post office...sack cloth and ashes went off...all ok for next week

The entire BP PR team should be sacked - are they not meant to advise the man?

Pehaps he should have gone on a trip to Bhopal. As a comparison.

yy giveitago. beginning to wonder if they have a pr team.