After 20 years of crisis management consulting, training, and speaking at least five principles for coping with organizational crises and challenges remain remarkably reliable. They, and a few other thoughts, are my parting “gift” in this final column as I head into retirement in 2014: Taking care of victims remains job one. Affected people want […]
The New Year is here, the Duck Dynasty A&E hit series survived co-star Phil Robertson’s controversial remarks about gays and blacks, and all is right with the world. Or is it? First, a very condensed recap: The patriarch of the duck-call making family at the center of the most-watched reality show on cable TV told […]
The rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a disaster and President Barack Obama acknowledges it. About the only thing separating the scale of this administration-threatening failure from the Hurricane Katrina debacle is people dying in the latter. Since a) most every American is aware of this, b) it involves one-sixth of our […]
Violence in schools, colleges, theaters, malls, offices, and elsewhere has stunned us. One location where violence is rare but an everyday possibility is the hospital emergency room. The primary threat: the patient. ER staffs understand this and take precautions. Do they know something that can help the rest of us, generically-speaking, deal with potential trouble […]
The airliner-size jet crashed just short of a runway. For a few awful minutes the community didn’t know what it was dealing with. The largest hospital braced for mass casualties that often follow. Authorities quickly learned it was a cargo plane with a crew of two (who died) instead of a passenger jet. Large scale […]
The Yarnell Hill Arizona wildfire killed 19 skilled, cautious firefighters when wind and flames reversed course almost 180 degrees and overran their Granite Mountain Hotshots team. While the military teaches there are no certainties in battle, the same holds for wildland fires that can create their own weather and chase firefighters. As investigators determine what […]
CNN, The Boston Globe and other news media reported a Boston Marathon bombing suspect had been arrested when it was not true. They weren’t alone. While criticizing itself, CNN’s Reliable Sources pointed out mistakes by others (including social media civilians wildly rumor-mongering). But the media horde got most of it right while racing to report […]
Okay, class, attention please! Our crisis management lesson today is, “Fix the problem. When did you learn about it and what did you do about it?” Yes, we’ve discussed this before but it appears leaders struggle to learn it. Consider Rutgers University’s upheaval for not acting more strongly last year against an outrageous coach. Basketball […]
Perception can be everything when it comes to your company’s reputation. Just ask the owners of that Australian radio station whose morning announcers apparently triggered the suicide of a nurse at the London hospital treating pregnant Duchess Kate Middleton in late 2012. Management went into crisis PR mode fast. Big surprise. A couple of their […]
Research shows that if you go on trial there are jurors who may decide whether you are guilty or innocent before your defense team even begins presenting its side of the case. In other words, you could be dead meat before you’ve had a chance to fully demonstrate your claim of innocence. In my experience, […]