When a leader of a company shows poor judgment or behaves in a way that goes against the law or social norms, it can devastate the entire reputation of a business through executive misconduct. When the issue stems from the CEO, it can be downright game-changing. With a reputational issue like executive conduct, a company’s …
Recognizing an Active Shooter in the Making
It’s easy to look back on the bad things in life and think of how you might have handled things differently. Yet, an active shooter incident is not something to reflect on only after it happens. There is a connotation that every active shooter plans to commit an attack for weeks or months in advance. …
Anatomy of a Crisis
Definition of a Crisis according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: a: an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially : one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome b: a situation that has reached a critical phase. The instability and pressure inherent during a crisis situation invokes …
Crisis Communications 201: Crisis Protocols
Going beyond immediate knee-jerk responses to having a planned, coordinated approach to crises is the sign of a modern and mature organization. To plan for a crisis means a company is aware of potential risks and ready to respond in a coordinated manner. The best organizations are experts at proactively mitigating issues to prevent crises …
Crisis Communications 101: Good Response Tactics
Ring, ring. Hello? “Hi, this is Jane with the Wall Street Journal calling for comment on the recent incident caused by one of your executives. I’m on deadline.” Gulp. It’s time for some solid crisis communications response tactics. You are just learning that something even happened from this call. And they want you to comment …
What lies ahead? A look at 2017
This past weekend, we turned the page on 2016 – a year filled with global upheaval, a reshuffling of the status quo on the stage of international relations, and a completely unexpected result politically in the United States with the Presidential election in November of last year. Here in the United States, we saw terrorist …
Decision Making in Times of Crisis
Its Friday at 4 pm and you get the call. Something bad, perhaps really bad, just happened. You are in charge – so now what? Take a deep breath, and follow these tips to lead during a crisis: Gather all of the information: The facts are important – and often will trickle in over time. …
Crisis Communications – Friend or Foe?
Let’s take a break from the intense political happenings of the prior week to a little levity to your news cycle – and perhaps, some useful tips. Here is the scenario – your team is pretty well prepared for a disaster. You’ve done the drills, have the plans in place, and feel confident that executive …