By bbr

by Kelly Lucas, marketing and social media manager

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you are probably very aware of the recent snafus undergone by Kim Kardashian, Hilary Swank and Ashton Kutcher. While their missteps can be somewhat amusing and make for great gossip, there are business lessons to be learned too. If you’re confused as to how Kim Kardashian could actually school you, let me explain…

Image Credit: Musa Sadulayev/AP

We’ll start with Hilary Swank. Most of you recognize her as the star of Million Dollar Baby (and let’s not forget The Next Karate Kid). She’s just recently joined a growing list of celebrities that accept money to make appearances at the private parties of foreign leaders. Specifically, Hilary was paid to attend the birthday party for Chechnyan leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a fellow notorious for human rights violations. Like those before her, the fact that she was paid to show up at a birthday party just seems a little desperate. Add to that the allegation the birthday boy has a penchant for torturing his citizens and she’s dug herself a very deep hole.

Hilary has claimed she was not aware of Kadyrov’s reputation nor did she know he would be there. If I can Google how to make a coordinated spray fountain out of mentos and diet soda, she can look up info on this guy, or pay someone to do it for her. So what is the lesson we’ve learned from Hilary? No matter how much money is being waved in your face, don’t just jump at any ol’ job. Take the time to research those involved and make sure you don’t mind being associated with them and known for the work you performed.

Image credit: Janet Mayer / PR Photos

Next we move to Ashton Kutcher’s incident. At BBR Marketing, we love social media and encourage its use, though we also advise that it be handled with care. Once you hit that Tweet button and commit it to electronic data, even if you delete the post later, it’s still hanging out in a server somewhere (and the Library of Congress), just waiting to be found. Add to that the fact that social media has an amazingly large reach and is immediate, it can be a recipe for disaster (or at the very least big-time embarrassment).

This is where we now find Mr. Kutcher. Ashton, while famous for many things entertainment related, is also known for being one of Twitter’s biggest proponents. He doesn’t hesitate to share too much information to his throngs of followers. So when he heard that Penn State had let Joe Paterno go, Ashton was very quick to jump on Twitter and denounce the Penn State powers that be, claiming they had “#noclass.” The problem was that he didn’t know the whole story. He wasn’t even aware of the sexual abuse allegations. He heard a snippet, made an assumption and then immediately broadcast his ill-informed opinion to the world, generating a huge backlash. So what is the lesson we’ve learned here? Don’t assume that what you have before you is the whole story. Like with Hilary, take the time to do your research. Think before you Tweet.

Last, but certainly not least, we come to Kim Kardashian and her debacle of a marriage. She’s very well known for being opportunistic and jumping at anything that will generate attention and money. Given this, you may think I’m going to say “don’t jump at any chance to make money” or something along those lines. Wrong. Actually, the swiftness with which she divorced Kris Humphries teaches us a different but still important business lesson: don’t waste time spinning your wheels.

Image Credit: Todd Williamson/WireImage.com

Only 72 days into her marriage, she knew it wasn’t working. The whole thing may come across as callous, but if something isn’t working and you know it deep down, there’s no need to continue on needlessly. Okay, granted, you could argue if she’d taken her time and not jumped in so quickly that this particular lesson would have been nullified, and you’re right. So we’re actually learning two lessons from Kim. First, if something isn’t working (a client relationship, a work process, a new hire), don’t bother candy-coating it, just end what needs ending and continue on. Dilly-dallying and skirting the issue only costs you precious time and money (though in Kim’s case she probably scored a pretty penny from it). Second, if you do your research ahead of time, you’re less likely to have that “something” that isn’t working.

The take-away from this post is that before jumping into anything that could have an impact on your business in a big way, do your due diligence. It may cost some time and money up front, but the time, money and possible humiliation you ultimately save is well worth the initial investment.