MWPR Provides Crisis POV on News 14 Charlotte

MWPR Provides Crisis POV on News 14 Charlotte

CHARLOTTE – Ten days after news broke of her extramarital affair with former CIA Director David Petraeus, Paula Broadwell has yet to speak on the issue.

The Broadwell family returned to their Charlotte home Sunday afternoon after laying low in Washington D.C.

Broadwell stepped out in front of a sea of reporters Monday. The first outing was with her husband Scott and two children. The second spotting she was on her own and led to a run in with one photographer who walked away with a bloodied forehead.

Broadwell sped off.

"The camera hit me in all the chaos,” said Nell Redmond, freelancing for the Associated Press. “The door opened, the camera got hit, then my head got hit.”

Redmond said she's ok and doesn't think Broadwell intentionally hit her.

Altercation or not, crisis management specialist Monica Wood says Broadwell needs to get out in front of this story.

She said while plenty of friends and neighbors have spoken on her behalf, it's time the public sees the confident figure portrayed in the interviews she conducted while promoting her book about Petraeus.

"She's been so forthcoming when it was time to promote her book, to talk about her accomplishments and all of that, it's time to hear from her from a place of humility, from a place of remorse,” said Wood. “Not necessarily to explain herself but just to speak from her side, her point of view.”

On Sunday night, the family said they planned on making some kind of statement "soon" but did not go into more specifics.

Calls to Broadwell's lawyer and public relations team, both in the D.C. area, have not been returned.

Why Should Paula Broadwell Speak?

The reason I believe it is important that Paula Broadwell finally speaks to the media is because her image is being shaped by her previous interactions with the media. While touring to promote her book, Paula never hid from cameras, she rather enjoyed the camera and spoke with confidents about her book, her professional relationship with Petraeus and the special access to important and private meetings and events she was granted.

Now that her "affair" has been exposed, she must once again come out and speak in order to shape a new image, one of remorse, humility, reflection, and forgiveness. It is great that she has supportive neighbors, family, and friends willing to talk for her, but it doesn't help her, as no one can speak for her better than she can. I get the shock phase that occurred last week when the story hit. And, it is human nature to want to retreat, lick wombs and not come out until the bad people (media) are all gone. However, that is not realistic. A week later the period of shock should have worn off or at least subsided, and now it is time for her fight to have this story not be the period on her life, but just the comma to what is still to come.

What should come next?

1. She should pause and take an assessment of why she acted as she did, what was her motivation?

2. She, with assistance from legal counsel, must begin to protect herself legally and determine a plan of attack concerning the investigation.

3. Personally, she should seek family counseling for her marriage and separate counseling for her kids.

Bottom-line, she must identify her new motivation and create a strategy to work it. She cannot come home and try to function as if all is normal, not until she formally speaks (a message shaped and sifted by counsel of course). Once she shares her side or says her piece, she can begin to live a new normal.

And, lastly, we must all be slow to judge and quick to give the same compassion we would desire if we were to ever make a mistake, any mistake. As I always say, "don't cast a stone, unless you are ready to duck."

My two-cents.