Of course there is a media pile-on atop venture capitalist Tom Perkins since he wrote a letter to the Wall Street Journal that compared technophobia to Kristallnacht. (More on the dustup here.) I called Sam Singer, the flack who whose name often pops up when a local business, government agency or figure lands in hot water, to get his advice on how Perkins might want to handle the issue.
Ever the diplomat, Singer told me that Perkins is a “well respected businessman” whose thoughts were “ill-informed but heartfelt.” And he said Perkins should write a retraction of the Kristallnact analogy, pronto.
Perkins has a legitimate point, Singer noted, in challenging the “open dislike of people who are successful and who have money by certain elements in San Francisco, but he’s approached it in a way that diminishes his point of view” that allowed people “to denigrate it or make fun of it.”
That’s also known in the PR biz as: “drawing negative attention to yourself.”
But all is not lost, Mr. Perkins. Sam Singer is available. “I’d love to bail Mr. Perkins out,” he told me. “If he calls, I’d happily help him write the apology letter.”