Thanks to Silicon Valley, we now live in a business culture that embraces mistakes and failure. It’s okay to be bad at something, so long as you learn from it. 

But that’s not the perspective of the law. Legally speaking, things are very similar to how they were twenty or thirty years ago, before anybody had even heard of Facebook or Twitter. 

Some errors are serious, particularly when they relate to commercial misconduct. Even doing a bad job can land you in trouble if clients can prove that you were negligent in some way. In many cases, you can damage your brand and be on the receiving end of massive fines. 

Corporate consulting, legal firm Accuro Maxwell claims, is now a strategic imperative. Companies need to talk to experts about their actions every step of the way to make sure that they are not veering off course. If they don’t, they are at risk of fines or worse. 

Why Brands Get Into Trouble 

Of course, that doesn’t stop brands from making mistakes. Lying and lack of transparency is currently a major issue. Firms are always tempted to report rosier earnings than they achieved or higher sales. But practices like these always wind up landing companies in trouble. Knowingly deceiving shareholders and the authorities isn’t allowed and has led to the disciplining of numerous high-profile business people throughout history. 

Companies are often also far too keen to put things into writing. This sets up a problem because investigators can interpret things that are written down differently to how you originally intended them. This can then land you in hot water legally because you have to find ways to prove that you meant something in a different way. 

Companies also get into trouble when they fail to pay enough attention to detail. They’re so caught up in the big picture and strategy that they fail to make sure that they nip the little things in the bud before they get serious.

The problem is particularly bad in large organizations where everyone thinks that somebody else will solve the problem. In poorly-run organizations, you often see things like billable hours and expenses rising, even if the work itself is exactly the same as it was before. People are trying to get more out of the system than they earn. 

Brands also get into trouble when they hope that problems will go away by themselves. Companies will regularly ignore glaring issues with product quality or management because they think that things will improve over time. 

A better approach is to seize the day and deal with issues the moment that they arise. Always suspect that things are going to go wrong, and prepare yourself for dealing with them when they do. 

Conclusion

So the bottom line is this: you can’t afford to make legal mistakes in business. The moment that you do, you find that the weight of the world comes crashing down on your shoulders. Don’t wait for things to go wrong. Put systems in place to ensure that things don’t go awry in the first place.