Zuckerberg testifies before Congress: “Practiced and patient contrition”

“It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.” So stated Mark Zuckerberg when he testified before Congress yesterday on data breaches that have made global headlines in recent weeks.

The Wall Street Journal explains that Facebook’s business model is at the heart of the problem. The company makes money by developing tools that allow advertisers to tailor content for specific Facebook users. Then a developer accessed personal data from up to eighty-seven million users and shared it with the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Last week, Zuckerberg admitted he made a “huge mistake” in not focusing more on potential abuse of user data. He also said he had been “too flippant” when dismissing the threat of fake news after the 2016 presidential election.

A tone of “practiced and patient contrition”

Yesterday, Facebook’s CEO spent nearly five hours testifying before a joint session of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees. He will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee today.

While analysts continue to discuss the content of his testimony, my focus today is not on what he said but how he said it.

Prior to Zuckerberg’s appearance before the Senate, Harvard Business Review columnist Daniel McGinn interviewed William LaForge, a former Washington lawyer and lobbyist and author of Testifying Before Congress. LaForge emphasized humility: when CEOs speaking before Congress think they are the smartest person in the room, answer dismissively, or fail to prepare adequately, they can get in trouble in a hurry.

The key to testifying before Congress is knowing what the committee wants to hear and saying it as humbly and persuasively as possible. According to the Washington Post, Zuckerberg followed this advice with a tone of “practiced and patient contrition.” The New York Times noted that he spent weeks in preparation for the hearing and…