Meet the Real Olivia Pope

Judy Smith founded Smith & Company, a strategy advisory outfit that safeguards the reputation of brands and personalities.

She has handled Monica Lewinsky, Wesley Snipes and Michael Vick.

Before that, she served in US President George H. W. Bush’s administration as special assistant and deputy press secretary.

The popular TV series, ‘‘Scandal’’, is inspired by her professional background in Washington D.C as a crisis manager and a PR czar.

Jackson Biko met her at a small private garden-dinner thrown by her host Nadja Bellan-White, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Africa, at her Spring Valley residence in Nairobi.

Even when completely relaxed, bedecked in pristine white linen from head to toe, she electrified the air around her with charisma and depth.

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What’s the first rule of thumb for crisis management?

I’m big on truth because often times people tend to think that in a crisis, that somehow none of the facts will bubble up, right? And when you look at a large corporation which has been in a crisis, the facts and the truth always reveal themselves. It’s really a question of when and you hope they will reveal themselves before an investigation happens. So facts and truth are big.

Should truth always be obsolete?

{Pause} In order to successfully navigate a crisis, truth is critical because otherwise you wouldn’t know what’s around the corner. Because if you’re coming out saying something you know is incorrect, the other side then probably has information that could be extremely harmful. But if you know all the facts, then you know the truth; that’s empowering. Truth gives you something to fight with.

What are your own personal truths?

Oh. Wow. (Long pause). I would say there are probably a few things that I try to live by; honesty and integrity.

You have been in close proximity to power, what have you learnt about being close to power and powerful individuals?

You know what, I’ll take you back for a second because then you’ll probably understand. So, my mum did not finish seventh grade— I think my dad finished seventh. We grew up with little and one of the things that she always taught me is that you treat everybody the same. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world. With the same strength, and honesty and integrity, I’m gonna tell the president of a company the same advice that I would tell Joe who’s picking up trash.

Do you handle your own personal crisis in the same way you would handle the professional crises or are there always emotions underlying the latter?

I would say that the skill set that I use to help companies and individuals is the same skill set that any individual can use. For example, you’re concerned that your boss is not giving you a raise, right? So what do you do? Why do you think your boss is not giving you a raise? What are the facts here? Has he given other people a raise? You know, is there any situation that’s different? It’s the same skill set.

Do you want to talk about ‘‘Scandal’’, is it on the cards?

Yeah! Sure!

How close does the show depict your former life as a “fixer”?

The thing that’s really important about this show is that it’s a strong woman who is confident, who feels like she’s good at what she does, and makes no apologies about that. That’s an important image to have on television. We work with a lot of investigators. Huck on the show has a tendency to beat information out of folks and we don’t encourage any of that. But I’ve learnt a lot, because you have to make television entertaining.

Do you watch it?

Yeah! Yeah!

Do you sometimes watch the show say, “that’s exactly who I am!”

I’ll tell you a funny story. This time I came back home from travel and I said I’m going to get a glass of wine and some popcorn. And, you know, I went to pop the popcorn, and I was like, oh my God, I forgot the wine. I went back, got the wine, and I’m sitting on a sofa with my wine and my popcorn, and turned on the TV and there’s Olivia Pope sitting on the sofa with her wine and popcorn. That was a sort of crazy, weird, insane moment.

Why did they decide that it would be nice to have Olivia Pope have an affair with the president?

That was at the outside of the show, really. When I talked to Shonda Rhimes, the creator of the TV series, about story lines, it was one of them. And if you’ve been following, you can tell it’s twists and turns many, many times.

When were you at your weakest? And what did you learn from the experience?

(Long Pause) It’s a good question. I have to think about that. (Pause) I will tell you this though, that any time that you go through a difficult patch, you have the ability to come out stronger. What determines that really is what knowledge you gain from that and how you use that in the future.

What are you struggling with right now?

Being alert after my flight. (Laughs). What I’m struggling with isn’t too much; I mean it’s exciting time in the business. Can I talk about growth?

Yes.

It’s an exciting time for the business because we’re growing and expanding. So that sounds like lot of work. But I’m excited about it. And we hope to do more international work. So I hope we’ll open an office down here, we’ll see.

You must be busy, what do you do to stay sane?

Nice, long walks. On the weekends I try to do about nine or 10 miles. It’s very peaceful.

When do you find yourself most insecure?

I don’t know if this is insecurity but trying to get dressed up. That’s a lot for me. Especially if I have to go for certain events.

So dinner with one person. Who and why? And what would you ask them?

{Long Pause} Nelson Mandela. I gave a graduation speech and one of the things that I mentioned in the speech which I believe is really important is that character matters. A lot of people talk about things, issues that are important in their lives, but, you know, he gave his life for those kinds of issues. A lot of people don’t do that. Talk is one thing, action is another. So I respect that.

Is there any particular question that you’d ask him?

If he had to do it all over again, would he walk the same path?