United Pulls Back the Curtain; Harvard Stands Their Ground

Welcome back to Communication Breakdown, a weekly podcast from the Observatory on Corporate Reputation. Thanks for joining us. I'm Steve Dowling in Silicon Valley. And I'm Craig Carroll in New York City. Each week, Steve and I take a look at strategies companies are using to shape headlines and sometimes save their skins. It's a post-game show for PR Pros.

This week, Harvard's defiant media campaign kicks off at Summer Session, but first a strategic peak behind the curtain courtesy of United Airlines.

Newark Liberty International Airport has been a source of concern for travelers, regulators and airlines and a symbol of the broader crisis facing America's airports. Ever since a radar outage in late April forced dozens of flights to divert and hundreds more to delay or cancel. Newark suffered two more equipment failures in the two weeks that followed, heightening fears even as airlines cut back flights to ease the burden on air traffic controllers and their equipment.

And no airline is more closely associated with Newark than United Airlines. It's their biggest East Coast hub and the operate well over half the flights in and out of the airport carrying almost 10 million passengers a year. CEO Scott Kirby was quick to reassure the flying public in early May, saying air travel is safe and the company is taking action, a message she has repeated in multiple TV interviews. "It absolutely is safe at Newark and in the entire country.

And the reason is when these kind of outages happen, we train for them, we have backup procedures, we have backups to backups to backups to backups to keep the sky safe, which is always the number one priority." That was Kirby on CBS Face the Nation two weeks ago. He made similar comments on CNN around the same time. And United has not stopped there.

Here at the end of May, when press coverage predictably focuses on the Memorial Day start of summer travel, the airline is pulling back the curtain on its safety operations. First with an exclusive for the New York Times behind the scenes at United's Newark Command Center, then for CNN reported out of Denver in a 737 simulator training for an air traffic control outage. Captain Miles Morgan is the head of training for United.

"I don't really worry when something is a little abnormal, we're trained for all these abnormalities. It's not just this, it's we're constantly training for whatever could be going wrong and how to make a decision to rectify that." Steve, United's message is pretty clear and after a month it seems like a mantra. What's the significance of this latest step- showing customers how the sausage is made? I think this is a really smart move by United.

It's proactive transparency and obviously we don't know the origin of these stories, whether they were invitations by United or requests by the news outlets. But ultimately it doesn't matter because United made this decision to grant this kind of access, which I think in the case of the Newark Command Center, it's unprecedented for them. The TV appearances by Kirby were really effective.

They were really effective rapid responses. He got the message out, calm and confident and he delivered it with like, about as close to absolute certainty as you can responsibly get. What this new round gets them is a little drama but controlled drama that taking you behind the scenes in the middle of a crisis. It adds this other really compelling dimension, some transparency that aims to show you that United is really on top of things.

So, they're getting attention, they're getting it on their own terms, importantly. They're really projecting confidence just by doing it because it seems like the kind of thing that an airline would not be doing if there were any chance of failure. Yeah. Dan Sullivan is the founder of a coaching program called Strategic Coach. I think he's one of the clear thinkers on leadership growth. He says that confidence doesn't come first. It comes last.

He's got this model called the Four C's: Commitment, Courage, Capability and then Confidence. United is walking that path in public. First, they're committed, owning, new work when others might have distanced themselves and then they're showing courage, pulling back the curtain mid-crisis when most companies would double down on message control and then came capability, right? Not just in how they trained behind the scenes but in their willingness to let us see it.

But here's the thing, it takes real capability to be that transparent. You don't invite cameras into your command center or simulator unless you've done the reps. Unless you know what people will find is a system worth showing and that's what leads to

confidence, not just internally but for the public. United isn't saying "trust us," they're saying "watch us," and that's not messaging. That's a little bit of evidence. In a chaotic media environment, evidence doesn't just build trust. It suspends doubt. It sort of earns you another chance. But to mean the confidence isn't to finish line. It's only the invitation. The real test is still ahead. The flights leave on time. So confidence isn't what you lead with.

It's what you earn by pulling back the curtain and proving you've done the steps. But ultimately this is not going to be measured in headlines or simulator walkthroughs, it's going to be measured on the tarmac. I think that in the meantime though, they're leaving people with a good feeling about United. And this Time's story has these cool headed characters, one of them's monitoring a caduzon departures and she says to the times the party never stops.

It's like, it's kind of blase, but again, it projects confidence. And you heard the training director on CNN saying, I don't worry about anomaly. But I want that guy in the cockpit of my flight. But strategically, I think what they're doing here is they're taking us inside the black box. They're demystifying a process that people are really worried about.

And I think that one of the key goals is to counter this narrative that flying is risky because air traffic control towers are under staffed, which apparently they are. And the United Command Center is not the control tower, but the United Command Center in the New York Times photos, it is packed with people like the conference room is standing room only. And it's pretty simple, but I think it's pretty effective what they're showing.

And the other narrative is that air traffic controllers have been trying to land planes without radar for minutes at a time. That is terrifying. But you have United pilots going, I don't worry about that. And we have redundancies on top of redundancies. The message, even when equipment fails, you can trust the people of United. So I think they made a good move and they made it at the right time. Okay. Well, yeah, I think that moment in the times the party never stops. It reads cool and calm.

But I don't know. I think we need to be careful that kind of framing for somebody in aviation, that line says, hey, we've got this. But I'm not exactly nervous, but it does sound like they're normalizing dysfunction a little

bit. And the same thing with the simulator comment on CNN that they don't worry about anomalies to me. That kind of line works if people believe the system is strong. But public trust is shaky. That tone can feel a little different and that confidence.

I look at it a little differently because I think if you have a choice of what to be afraid of, I think you would rather have people go back to if you said you're a nervous flyer, like go back to your previous state of being a nervous flyer versus, again, the choice of being afraid of something that you don't know what the, you don't know it. Like that's why I say the black box. So I think that it is a risk, but is a supreme, like, confidence play. But at the base of it, it's pretty simple.

What you're doing is you're demystifying, you're taking people inside and you're saying like, this is how it works. You may still face the same risk, but at least you are better informed. And I think especially when it comes to air travel, when you're better informed, you feel a little better about air travel because it is still the safest way to travel. Look, the way I see this, you know, they're not just trying to build confidence. They're trying to create enough evidence to suspend doubt.

And I think that's a little bit of a different goal. It's slower, a little bit more fragile and it depends entirely on what happens next. But showing your systems is one thing, but if backs are still late, planes are still sitting on the tarmac, the message changes fast. It's not being, look how reddo we are and it becomes, this is them at their best, you know?

So that's why Transparency has got to be backed up with consistency. If you don't deliver, it doesn't buy you trust. It sharpens the disappointment and accelerates the scrutiny. And at the end of the day, you know, it's decided on the runway, not the newsroom. Yeah, no, I agree. It'll be really interesting to see how their campaign plays out. Let's talk about the latest from Harvard where the Trump administration has been stepping up its attacks.

This week was a barrage by the White House like day after day, Trump's canceling their government contracts. He's blocking visas for foreign students, which was also immediately blocked by a federal judge. Trump wants Harvard to tell the feds where these students are coming from like the government doesn't already know. And on defense, once again, we have Alan Garber, the president of Harvard University. Garber got two standing ovation at commencement on Thursday.

The crowd stood for almost a minute when he was introduced and then again when he mentioned that Harvard's graduating class comes from in his words, "Down the street across the country and around the world." "A round the world just as it should be." Earlier this week, as Trump was threatening and berating university from the Oval Office, Garber responded to this latest round of pressure with another mini-press tour. He gave interviews to the Harvard Crimson and NPR.

He also spent a lot of time in that interview, patiently addressing the introspection that Harvard has been doing on allegations of antisemitism and inclusivity in general, but Craig, the takeaway of the interests of the university, the interests of the nation, that sounds like, to me, what you might call a classic alignment signaling. Do you think it's working? Yeah, this is alignment signaling. It's also coalition signaling too.

Garber sang to other universities if they defund Harvard, they can defund you. But the risk is if the public sees Harvard, defending Harvard, that story collapses inward. To work, this message has got to become about the people who benefit when knowledge flows. Students, patients, communities, even competitors. That's the only way you're going to build enough narrative gravity to counteract the backlash.

Here's Garber telling NPR that what the administration is doing is firing a shot across the bow at all research universities. It is a warning.

They see this as a message that if you don't comply with what we're demanding, these will be the consequences. Yeah, I think that Garber's got really good message discipline working in his favor. You want that when you're in a draw-out campaign. The talking points we heard this week were very consistent with what he told Lester Holt back in April. I think I heard some sharpening of a few of the key messages.

First, he's really leaning into this idea of what's good for Harvard is good for America, serving our nation and the world as a phrase that I heard a couple of times. I think this is your alignment signaling. He's tying Harvard's fate to America's. That means also what's bad for Harvard is bad for America, but he's flipping the script on this backlash against intellectuals or elites or whatever.

I think you may think you're punishing Harvard by cutting off research grants, and you are, but you're also hurting people who would benefit from the output of that research, which could be a breakthrough drug treatment. Here's Garber talking about the impact of canceling those government grants and contracts. "Shutting off that work does not help the country, even as it punishes Harvard, and it is hard to see the link between that and say anti-Semitism."

The other thrust here, I think, as you point out in this latest round is it's a rallying cry for other research universities. Garber keeps saying this is not just Harvard, but government is firing a shot across the bow of all the big research institutions. There is this coalition message as well. Yeah. Garber's message is disciplined and it's real, and the good for America framing is certainly intentional.

I think we have to ask alignment signaling for hope because it's one thing to say Harvard is a national asset, and it's another to make people believe it, especially right now when some see it as a problem and not a solution. This feels like Harvard is trying to perform alignment without surrender, through signaling national service, institutional restraint, scientific value, without bending the knee, and that is the classic access strategy within the alignment signaling.

But here's the challenge. Signal strength only works if someone is still willing to receive the signal, and I'm not sure yet if the Trump administration or maybe even parts of the public are still on that

channel. The deeper move here is just about saving Harvard's reputation. It's about defending the legitimacy of institutional autonomy in a moment when the expertise is being reframed in a city logical capture. I think that's not a PR battle. That's an existential one. Yeah. I think importantly though, for this week, and I think this is sort of a phase two of their campaign. Yeah. It's really like who is the target for this signal this week?

And if you look at the media outlets that he chose to talk to, the Crimson, which is the student newspaper. And PR, I think this is focused on a pretty narrow audience. I think we're seeing Garber here rallying the troops. This is about internal credibility and morale. And that's a heavy lift at elite colleges right now. Just look at Columbia's commencement. Was it last week that President Claire Shipman was booed and jeered? And last year at Harvard, a thousand graduates walked out in protest.

And Garber himself was booed because they banned a dozen students who had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstration. So fast forward to Thursday, he's getting a standing ovation. I think the playbook that he's running here is stay on message, widen the frame, stabilize the base. His message is may appeal to the country if anybody out there is listening to your point. But he's defending his institution. And in this moment, at least he's uniting his campus. And don't take our word for it.

Take it from Karim Abdul-Jabbar, the basketball legend civil rights leader speaking at Harvard's class day on Wednesday, after comparing Garber to Rosa Parks. After seeing so many cowering billionaires, medium-ovales, law firms, politicians, and other universities, bend their knee to an administration that is systematically strip mining in the U.S. Constitution, it is inspiring to me to see Harvard University take a stand for freedom.

That's one heck of a validating statement as Harvard's campaign enters this next phase. Yeah, this definitely feels like a stage two, the first phase about holding the line, legal filings, public defense, and avoiding collapse. And this one is definitely about reestablishing his footing inside the university. So going to the Crimson and NPR, not because he's chasing headlines, but because he knows credibility starts at home. And for sure, standing ovation sounds like resolution.

But I don't know, I think we should be a little bit cautious here. Commencement is, you know, it's built to unify. It's ceremonial, it's emotional. It's one of the only moments that the university president gets a scripted stage, right? I mean, last year, definitely that stage cracked, booze, walkouts, fracture trust, but this year at hell. And but it doesn't mean that the fractures are gone, right?

To your point, I think what Garber is really trying to do here is to stabilize Harvard from the inside out, rebuild institutional confidence after a year of fragmentation. And yeah, I'm with you. The playbooks clear, stand message, widen the frame, restore, restore coherence. And I'd say yes, it's working for now. Yeah, no, I think especially this week, if I'm Harvard, I like the split screen.

You have Trump at West Point, giving, you know, a weird hour long commencement address, and you have Garber getting a standing ovation. But I just think it punctuates it in Harvard's favor. Yeah. You know, if there's value to that externally, I believe that there is, but at minimum, I think this is the objective here is that it's helping him internally.

I think there's a political dynamic that's worth watching here, and I'm interested your thoughts on this, but I'm kind of hoping that there's an element here of what the financial times has coined the taco trade. Have you heard about this? Oh, yeah, so the taco is an acronym for Trump always chickens out. And the taco trade is you don't panic when Trump makes another tariff threat because Trump always chickens out.

And maybe that applies here as well as Thursday as the graduates are walking across the stage and they're cheering for Garber. The Trump administration quietly makes this procedural change that delays that ban on enrolling international students. This is a 30 day delay. But they're slowing things down. So is this a taco trade? I don't like, it's possible.

They're just dragging out the process to like keep the pressure on and scare more students out of showing up in the fall. But I think we've seen this pattern before, institutions and foreign governments, notably this week, the EU. And I would hope American businesses, people who don't flinch in the face of Trump's threats often find the follow through just doesn't materialize. The bark is loud, but the bite keeps getting delayed. Yeah, I knew you were going to bring up the taco trade. I love it.

Yeah, look, I have to admit, it's tempting. Trump always chickens out. It's catchy. It's clever. And I swear, the moment you said it, I did like a Homer Simpson. Ooh, donut. But in this one, in this case, acronym. But yeah, I certainly get it, right? Taco has got a certain comfort with it. It's a good pattern with them. You see a big threat? You wait it out and eventually the pressure softens. I mean, that's the idea behind Trump always chickens out as an acronym. But here's the reflex.

I think we have to name and challenge. And that is the assumption that just because Trump is back down before he always will, and as a result, that maybe you don't need to prepare seriously this time. I mean, first of all, it hasn't happened yet, right? I mean, the point here is to maintain your composure. That's really what the point is, right?

But the instinct could get a little dangerous because if you start building strategy around delay instead of direction, you stop preparing and start hoping and hope is not strategy. I agree. I just think Garber is doing a really good job of holding his ground and making his point and standing on principle. And he's also, I think, importantly, he is, I know, it's like slow and steady. He's not out there every single day when he does make comments.

They are consistent, but they still get attention. And he, again, I like the split screen because the White House comments about why they are targeting Harvard and other institutions. It swerves wildly all across like the road. And it's pretty clear that this is not about the anti-Semitism that they started with. Now Trump is onto left wing, whatever, whatever. And I think that if Garber and hopefully the other institutions who were along with him,

in April, will continue on this path, again, slow and steady and unwavering, they just keep making that consistent point that they can get through this to the other side. Whether this is Taco or not. Yeah, look, this week gave us a great remarkable split screen. On Trump on one side praising Columbia University for, quote, "working with us and taking them off the hot seat."

And yet, on the other side, Harvard's graduates rising and a standing ovation for a president who spent the past month to define that very pressure. So yeah, what we're watching is, to me, a tale of two reputational strategies.