Opinion | Three lessons the AIIB learned after Pickard’s storm in a teacup
- The development bank’s reputational crisis underlined the importance of best practice in crisis communications and staff conduct, and the need for a better understanding of Communist Party membership
The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) recently suffered a reputational crisis – its first since its founding in 2015 – sparked by the resignation of its global communications chief Bob Pickard on June 12.
The incident presents three major lessons in management and staff training.
The first is the importance of best practice in crisis management. For any organisation, a crisis is a test of corporate mettle and leadership wisdom. In this case, the AIIB responded quickly to the announcement of an investigation by Canada, a 1 per cent shareholder, announcing that the bank would cooperate fully with it.
Additionally, the AIIB board of directors initiated an internal review, chaired by the dean whose institutional mandate of overseeing the president was put to a major test for the first time. The results of this review, released on July 7, concluded the internal investigation.
