Ask the Right Questions; Get the Right Job

SECTION 3

Ask What Really Goes On Inside the Company

Question 18

Has the Organization Ever Faced a Crisis? What Was the Crisis and How Did the Company Respond?

Any employee of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) would be happy to be asked this question. The J&J response to the Tylenol crisis of the 1980s is considered the model for crisis management. In brief, someone (who has never been identified) poisoned Tylenol with cyanide, resulting in the deaths of seven people and a nationwide recall of Tylenol. Because of its mission and values, J&J recalled millions of dollars’ worth of the product and suffered millions of dollars of loss. However, J&J leaders were concerned, first, about the public (see mission and values). They addressed the matter of the poisonings ...