BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

As questions about who will replace Ken Lewis as CEO of Bank of America continue, it seems everyone has an opinion. Temple Sloan, a former Lead Director who, with 10 other directors, left the BOA board earlier this year amid widespread criticism of the $29 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch, said last week that he’d prefer to see an internal candidate win the job rather than an outsider with limited operational knowledge of how business is done at the nation’s largest bank (by deposits).

That view stands in stark contrast to the feelings of some institutional investors – led most notably by Houston investment firm Finger Interests Ltd., which holds more than a million shares – who believe that an outside candidate would represent a clean break from the bank’s troubled recent past.

That there is the powerful disagreement is precisely the point – and the tipping point. Irrespective of the “on paper” qualifications of any one candidate, the BofA board would be well advised to approach this important decision from the perspective of the message they want to send through the eventual choice they make – and how that will resonate on Wall Street, Main Street, and Inside the Beltway. For an institution (both the bank and the board) that has not been able to get ahead of the news or the regulators, this unique opportunity awaits.

If directors feel secure in the bank’s direction and that the controversy surrounding investor disclosure prior to the Merrill deal will soon wane, then opting for an internal candidate could make sense. Positioned correctly, such a move would articulate confidence, strength, and stability with the bank’s current recovery plans – three attributes every consumer, investor, and regulator wants to see permeate the financial services industry in the wake of economic crisis. By contrast, an outside candidate would signal a new day and an end to business as usual, a designation that is very much desired by any financial institution operating in the current marketplace.

Whatever the Bank of America board ultimately decides, the public communications dimension of their choice is crucial. For a system that relies on trust as much, or more, than any other, the trust that the host of BofA’s audiences have in the institution will be sizably influenced by this decision.

Michael W. Robinson is Senior Vice President and Chair of the Corporate Practice at Levick Strategic Communications, the nation's top crisis communications firm, and a contributing author to Bulletproof Blog. Connect with Levick on Twitter: @Levick.