When your reputation is under attack, do not look for someone to blame, do not weasel out by citing technicalities, and do not sidestep responsibility. The to-do list forms this article. While you read it, send for Amitabh Bachchan

Midway through an interview to CNBC-TV18, ICICI Bank chief executive officer and managing director K V Kamath looked at once livid and bemused. It was his first appearance on news television since the big slump in the bank's stock — down 20 per cent, termed the Friday Fall — on October 10. The interviewer had just recited a list of the rumours floating around — one of them that the bank's promoters and top executives were dumping ICICI Bank shares — and requested Kamath to respond. "It was also heard that ICICI has approached the government for a bailout and there is a possibility that SBI (government-owned State Bank of India) may buy or amalgamate the bank," the interviewer carried on. One by one, Kamath beg­an to shoot down the rumours and, according to image managers, imparted a lesson in what not to do.

"Big mistake," pointed out a renowned public relations expert who, understandably, doesn't want to be named. "Kamath broke a public relations protocol during that programme, which says that a company chief must not directly address rumours or accusations during a crisis. That would be legitimising the rumours." This expert's rationale is that rumours or accusations are used to force the hand of the targeted company. If the company is seen to be responding to them directly, that creates the impression that something is amiss.

ICICI Bank refused to participate in this article, but it is not alone in violating this so-called protocol. A few years ago, when the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said that soft drinks sold in India contained pesticide levels far above the Indian safety norms, the chief executives of the two soft drink sultans — PepsiCo India and Coca-Cola India — challenged the authenticity of the report.

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