Is it just me, or is “resilience” the new buzzword? The concept seems straightforward in a personal context; building up the psychological fortitude to bounce back from all of life’s bumps and bruises. But what exactly does it mean for a business to be “resilient”? We hear a lot of business leaders and highly trained …
Managing Uncertainty Podcast – Episode# 119: Best Practices in Harassment Investigations
In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser shared best practices to follow in an investigation of sexual harassment or hostile work environment in your organization. Handled improperly, this can be one of the most critical reputational crisis situations you will ever face. Topics discussed include employing neutral, …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast – Episode #111 – The Value of a Trusted Advisor
In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser discusses in detail the value of working with a Trusted Advisor before there is a disruption or crisis in your business. How can having an expert guiding your every move related to business continuity, disaster recovery, crisis management, and crisis communication …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast – Episode #108: Trends in the Post-COVID New Normal
In this episode of our Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal and CEO Bryan Strawser discusses the trends that we’ll see in the Post-COVID ‘New Normal’ or ‘Next Normal’. Topics discussed include remote work, business travel, work productivity, collaboration technology, telehealth, and more. Related Episodes & Blog Posts Blog Post: What the COVID-19 pandemic will mean for the office …
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Prevent and Recover from Marketing Missteps
You know that feeling. That sinking, pit-in-your stomach feeling that washes over you when you realize your company has said or done something wrong. Maybe something very wrong. You could find out in many ways. Maybe a customer posted something on social media, raised the issue to an employee, or contacted customer service. Maybe the …
Engaging Your Board of Directors on Your Crisis Communications Strategy
All organizations face risk. Whether your entity is large or small, publicly traded or privately held, for profit or non-profit, global or local, at some point it will face a crisis. How you plan for, handle, recover from, and assess a crisis can significantly impact your organization, including its short-term business operations, reputation, long-term financial …
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The Importance of Having a Crisis Communications Strategy
In the last quarter of 2020, one of the most turbulent years in modern history, U.S. companies were addressing the third wave of COVID-19 infections, implementing social justice efforts, and navigating continued political division ahead of the November elections. Leaders watched the elections closely and prepared for a variety of legislative and judicial outcomes. This …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast – Episode #88: What is the goal of crisis management?
In this week’s episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser discusses the goals of a crisis management framework & process at your organization. Topics discussed include crisis management, frameworks, crisis teams, crisis communications, social media, reputation management, business continuity, and long-term recovery efforts. Related Episodes & Blog Posts Blog …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast – Episode #82: Speed in a Crisis
In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & Chief Executive Bryan Strawser discusses the need for rapid decision making and communications during a crisis or incident. Reflecting on a year of crisis exercises, Bryan discusses crisis management, crisis communications, crisis management frameworks, crisis plans, crisis plan annexes, prepared crisis communications messages, holding statements …
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Bryghtpath publishes new social activism whitepaper
We’re excited to announce the release of our latest whitepaper “Monitoring, understanding, and responding to Social Activism Campaigns”. Activism campaigns take on a variety of forms with issues spanning the social and political spectrums. While they are certainly not new, their frequency and impact have been amplified by the widespread use of social media, the …
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New Webinar: Shots Fired – Leading in an Active Shooter Incident
Active shooter incidents are at the top of every senior executive’s list of threats across the United States. Much effort and attention have been paid to this issue, yet the vast number of organizations are not prepared for when an active shooter incident strikes their organization. In this active shooter webinar presentation, Bryghtpath Principal & …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast – Episode #65: The Reputation Management Offensive
What happens when someone is engaged in a deliberate effort to harm your organization’s reputation and disrupt your operations? In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser, along with Consultant Bray Wheeler, flip their nearly fifty years of combined experience around and talk about how they would conduct an …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast – Episode #48: Reputational Grab Bag
In this week’s episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO discusses a number of reputation management and crisis communications topics that arose during a recent day he spent at the Carlson School of Management, part of the University of Minnesota. Topics discussed during this episode include the Boeing 737-MAX crisis, the Starbucks …
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Managing Uncertainty – Episode #38: How do you make a plan for that which you have not foreseen?
How do you make a plan for a crisis situation that you didn’t see coming – the unforeseen crisis? That’s what we tackle in this week’s episode of the Managing Uncertainty podcast. Topics discuss include crisis frameworks, the Harvard National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) program, crisis communications, situational awareness, and dealing with unknowns during a …
Lessons in Crisis Communications: Starbucks
Often, when we hear of corporate missteps, the stories after are all about what a company did wrong. This is why it is so refreshing to see a business like Starbucks, which in 2018 handled a serious PR issue with compassion and aplomb. Instead of the marred reputation that often follows a public relations misstep, …
How to Avoid a Public Relations Crisis, and What to Do When You Can’t
Most public relations crises are not communications failures. They are business decisions, policies, or behaviors that fail in public. The communication either contains the damage or makes it worse. That changes how you avoid a public relations crisis. You don’t avoid one with better press releases. You avoid one by finding the problem before the …
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Managing Uncertainty – Episode #36: The Big Launch
Continuing our three-part series on Communication – Episode #36 of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast focuses on the new product launch — what do you do when you’re ready to launch your new initiative, system, project, or product inside of a company? In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser and Senior Consultant Jennifer Otremba discuss …
Managing Uncertainty – Episode #34: Communicating after the Boom
Continuing our three part series on Communication – Episode #34 of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast is focused on what happens after the “BOOM!”… or in other words, we’re going to focus on crisis communications. In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser and Senior Consultant Jennifer Otremba talk candidly about crisis communications. Topics discussed include …
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Managing Uncertainty – Episode #33: Communication and Awareness Strategies
How often does a leader in security, crisis management, or business continuity find that their team is doing great things, but absolutely no one in the company knows anything about it? In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser and Senior Consultant Jennifer Otremba talk candidly about communications and awareness strategies in the first part …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast: Episode #22 – When sexual harassment comes to the C-Suite
The last several weeks have been dominated by stories of executives, entertainment moguls, news hosts, and politicians of all stripes being credibly accused of sexual harassment – and in some cases, assault. We all agree that this sort of behavior is disgusting and has no place in our workplace, the halls of Congress, or at …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast: Episode #19 – Exercises are boring
Exercises are an important part of preparedness and the lifecycle of crisis management, business continuity, or communications planning. But most exercises are just plain boring. In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser and Senior Consultant Jennifer Otremba talk about why exercises are often so boring and techniques to “spice them up” for your …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast: Episode #18 – The Race
When a reputational crisis hits, everything comes at your organization at once. Social media, the mainstream media, the alternative media, local and national news outlets. Things will move more quickly than you can imagine. You’re in the race. In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser and Senior Consultant Jennifer Otremba talk through reputational …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast: Episode #17 – Lessons Learned from the 2017 Hurricane Season
It’s been a difficult year for hurricanes, with multiple named major hurricanes making landfall in the United States and other countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Despite the difficulties, there are many lessons that can be captured from the hurricane season thus far that companies can use internally to increase their resiliency and ensure that they …
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Managing Uncertainty Podcast: Episode #16 – The Golden Hour
What does the first hour after a critical incident look like? What is going on inside of a company’s Global Security Operations Center (GSOC)? In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser and Senior Consultant Jennifer Otremba share their experiences of leading and working within a command center environment during a critical incident. Topics …
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