A well-known financial blogger, Dora Wieland, is doing research for her industry blog In the Know. Specifically, she seeks information about salary and commission information of the star salespeople at PharmaCore, a large pharmaceutical firm, for an article comparing compensation levels and diversity across several large pharmaceutical companies. She also wants to know the star salespeople’s demographic information, such as ages, ethnicities, and genders. Allan Gottschalk, director of public affairs and communication, must deny Dora’s request because of privacy concerns and fear of litigation. Each salesperson works under an individual contract as a result of salary negotiations conducted several years ago. At the time, agreement was reached that both the sales staff and management would keep the terms of the individual contracts confidential. The communication director remembers that three of the top salespeople are currently under the age of thirty-five. Allan acknowledges that an article juxtaposing salaries and commissions with age, gender, and ethnicity of the salesforce could be interesting to industry insiders. PharmaCore boasts many diverse salespeople of various ages, several rising starts among them, who command top salaries.

Your Task.

Draft a tactful reply for an e-mail to be signed and sent by Allan Gottschalk denying Dora’s request; the message should maintain the goodwill of this influential writer. PharmaCore cannot disclose salaries and commission rates. However, the company is willing to share a list with the names of the top salespeople for a period of the past five years and a few short bios of current stars.