The House That the WEilburger’s Built

(Photo by the Toronto Star)

They’re handsome, charming, intelligent, motivational, and they’ve hobnobbed and jolly-trotted with celebrities and international high society types for two decades. The crème de la crème if you will. Until two weeks ago, Marc (43) and Craig (37) Kielburger had been quietly amassing a measly $70 million charitable (and financial) empire through their WE Charity — a confusing and intricate web of not-for-profit and private holdings that now has them embroiled in the biggest Liberal scandal since #AdScam, #AgaKhanScam, and #LavScam.

My motive here isn’t to cast judgement on the Kielburger boys or Justin Trudeau over the $912 million sole-sourced contract. I have my opinion like everyone else, but I’ll leave that up to Canada’s Fifth Estate to editorialize and ponder the political fallout. In the meantime, I encourage readers to connect with these sources of investigative coverage and opinion: Washington Post, Rex Murphy (National Post), Alex Boutilier (Toronto Star), The Toronto Sun, Brian Lilley (Toronto Sun), CNN, Eric Grenier (CBC News), and John Robson (National Post).

Craig Kielburger and Joel Osteen

Truth be told, I had never heard of WE Charity or WE Day prior to November 28, 2014 after attending a WE Day event in Halifax. I knew of the Kielburger boys, however, like many Canadians I had lost track of their works in the late 90s and early 2000s. Admittedly, after the November 2014 event I concluded that I wasn’t a big fan of the WE movement, although I respected the interest from youth. The whole thing felt odd and almost too preachy, cultish, and somnambulistic to the point I questioned if Craig Kielburger was actually Joel Osteen trying his best to look cool. Their similarities are uncanny (see above).

The Kielburgers have built their own house and now they have to defend it, and it’s that defense, or lack thereof, “we” (yes, us) should all find troubling. Back to the Kielburger house in a minute. In the two previous Trudeau ethics scandals (you’d think one is enough) we’ve seen powerful figures connected to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), ala Gerry Butts, Katie Telford, David Lametti, Anthony Housefather, employ a slippery but standard political crisis management strategy: obfuscate, deny parliamentary access and due process, invoke Cabinet confidentiality, and leak personal or professional details against those opposed to the narrative, hoping to deflect from the bigger story. In crisis terms we call this fortification, otherwise known as the “Disappear, Blame, and let the clock run out” strategy. Say no more, but the message is clear: if you’re on the wrong end of a Trudeau scandal, you will be sacrificed in the name of his ostentatious right to jam his virtuous belief system down your throat. Unfortunately, this isn’t just a Trudeau thing. Stephen Harper employed a similar crisis strategy during the Senate Expense scandal, which left little to be desired in terms of getting to the truth.

I was fortunate to have cut my PR and crisis teeth and be mentored under the leadership of Margaret Kashmir (McGee), one of the best executive communicators in the business. She taught me a simple, yet valuable lesson. She said “a story found is a story not told.” It’s the hardest lesson for anyone to learn because we never expect the story to be about us or the organization we represent. In a scandal, the truth is often ignored, paving the way for lawyers to implement a “Shut up or pay up” strategy. On the surface, the strategy makes sense — the less you say, more you benefit. The theory goes like this: a story breaks with scandalous implications which could cause incalculable reputational damage. Our first response is purely instinctual — we deny and hide. We know this as the fight-or-flight response; a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. No one wants to be “found out” or judged publicly, so our natural inclination is to hope the situation goes away. It’s not that simple in politics or business. From there, a small, centralized group of tacticians are militarily organized — let’s call it a war room — where their sole purpose is to identify and plug leaks; assess beneficial and disposable human and media assets; envision worst-case scenarios; mitigate damage; eliminate paper trails; stall for time; and control the narrative at all cost. Meanwhile, lawyers circumnavigate the crisis at arms length by stonewalling the flow of communication with legalese and civil procedure. Somewhere bundled up in that calamity is the truth, which usually comes out days or weeks later in a half-ass, yes I got caught apology. The point is, the Kielburger’s silence is deafening and time is running out.

I hope the Kielburger boys were paying attention to the previous two paragraphs because right now they need all the friends they can get. All was quiet on the WE front until June 30 when Marc was called out for a statement he made in April one day before Trudeau announced plans for the Canada Student Service Grant. He claims he “misspoke” when asked if Trudeau staff had personally asked if WE would administer the $900-million federal student-aid program. With Trudeau hung out to dry, reporters honed in on the discrepancy, forcing Marc to fall on his sword and backtrack his comments. Three days later, the brothers issued a statement announcing their intention to pull out of the agreement. Checkmate.

Pride, ego, comfort, lack of discipline, I’m not sure what the Kielburger boys were thinking. I do know that complacency is the greatest risk of all as it has a way of creeping into our psyche and creating a culture of invincibility. Soon, there are recurring themes of missed warning signals, failure to share information, and a general lack of appreciation for the risks involved. My experience tells me that some WE employees (current and former) know exactly what I’m talking about.

As of now, the Kielburger boys have been silenced by their lawyers, told to disappear, and have hung their communication strategists out to dry as they dribble out bits of manicured information to the media mob and armchair Twitterphiles. It’s not a bad strategy in light of Marc’s blunder; however, I do have some free advice for the brothers. They can choose take it or leave it:

1. You are not bad. WE has changed the lives of millions of children — don’t ever forget that.
2. The PMO is not your friend. I understand that they have probably asked you to “let the clock run out,” but that’s bad advice. At the end of the day, the Trudeau government will walk away from this issue relatively unscathed. Once the scandal fades, you’ll be left holding the proverbial bag while Trudeau distances himself from WE and seeks another mandate. I’m not sure if sacrificing years of hard work is worth Justin’s friendship, so please assess wisely.
3. If WE truly means anything to you, which I believe it does, then you must immediately cut ties with the Trudeau family and usher in a new era of transparency. Thank the Trudeau’s for their service and release them from any speaking or podcasting agreements currently in place. It’ll hurt because they’re your friends, but it needs to be done. Your lawyers will disapprove and try to convince you such an action is an admission of guilt, but it’s not. It’s good optics and sets you up for rebuilding the WE brand. The sooner you do this, the better.
4. After publicly announcing that you are cutting ties with the Trudeau family, be prepared to speak about your vision for the future. It doesn’t matter if you believe laws weren’t broken or nothing nefarious occurred, because right now your donors, other charitable organizations hungry for a piece of the pie, your critics, and now the public, smell blood in the water. They’ll want to know that WE is changing its spots and will focus on transparency and ethical management. The only moral high ground you have here is a sincere reflection of your priorities, and if you are not prepared to accept responsibility for the mismanagement of information that brought WE to this point, you risk losing everything at your own peril.
5. Finally, you have one of two choices to make: either look ahead and re-envision WE’s role in the world, or let your personal and professional brands suffer at the expense of your loyalty to Justin Trudeau. I think the choice is clear — don’t subject WE to an unknown future of speculation and potential charitable obscurity and irrelevance.

It’s your house, boys. Do with it what you will.

Michael Kydd is the Founder of Kydder Group Inc., a Halifax-based public relations group committed to entrepreneurship, mental health and inclusivity.