If an employee failed to make sales goals, managers said the employee would be “transferred to a store where someone had been shot and killed” or “forced to walk out in the hot sun around the block.’” It led to those employees opening millions of accounts without customer’s permission and signing unaware customers for credit cards. This fraud required the Wells Fargo IT department to develop millions of phony email addresses where the “customers” would send and receive information about their fake accounts. Wells Fargo employees reported that being at war in Iraq was less stressful than working at Wells Fargo. When the government revealed this fraud, the corporate response was consistent with its abysmal internal communication. The bank failed to take any responsibility. Leadership blamed, then fired, 5,300 low-level employees for being “rogue.” The CEO sold $61 million of his Wells Fargo stock the month before the investigation began. This scandal would not occur with good communication. The senior managers at Wells Fargo have now learned what it takes to become good communicators. It takes professional skill, practice, commitment, and consistency. You can learn these same communication skills so that you can avoid communication mistakes at your company.
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