Media and Crisis Management
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Crisis Management Articles

Local PR Mess – Dell

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: Local PR Mess – Dell: From archives (First written in 2009) After watching the slow-motion public relations train wreck of computer giant Dell in the area where I live, I may need a new saying. “If you’re in financial difficulty then PR is the last thing on your mind.” Financial challenges are the only rationale […]

Lightning Speed – Your Reputation Life-Saver

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: Lightning Speed – Your Reputation Life-Saver: Crisis response/preparation Here’s something to keep you awake at night.  More than ever, you have precious little time to protect the reputation you worked hard to build for your business.  Two incidents we all remember drive it home. When Sully Sullenberger successfully crash-landed his plane in the Hudson in 2009, a […]

Letterman – good start but now what

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: Letterman – good start but now what: Crisis decision-making For every crisis the most consistently difficult decision is how proactive to be?  Should you announce a potentially public embarrassment and risk shooting yourself in the foot or delay comment until and if someone else reveals the problem?   I tell corporate audiences that if you see the crisis […]

Legal vs PR – Which is Right in a Crisis?

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: Legal vs PR – Which is Right in a Crisis?: Crisis Response As I speak around the country on crisis leadership almost every audience asks, “How do you deal with the lawyers?” Put another way, “When your reputation is on the line, which advice takes precedence: legal or PR?” Fascinating insights into that conundrum came […]

Leaders Must be Crisis ManagersToo

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: Leaders Must be Crisis ManagersToo: Crisis leadership Leading a college or university just isn’t what it used to be!  Virginia Tech’s mass shootings, Guilford College’s Palestinians/football players fight, and Duke’s lacrosse case make it clear:  presidents must worry about more than improving education and increasing endowments.  They have to be prepared to manage reputation-threatening and […]

Laying Off your People With Class

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: Laying Off your People With Class: Crisis communications The severe economic downturn ensures layoffs.  They’ve begun.  It’s bad and there is no sugar-coating it.  So this is a good time to relate the story of how 300 employees, after being told their plant would be closed, gave their “executioner” a standing ovation.  I consider it […]

Keep Reporters Out of Jail

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: Keep Reporters Out of Jail: Crisis prevention If someone said you could not go to church, could not meet about a controversial subject like, say, abortion, or could not protest a development that affected your neighborhood, most of us would proclaim it un-American, a violation of your constitutional rights, and come to your defense. And […]

Firing Juan Williams – emotional decision making?

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: Juan Williams – emotional decision making?: From the archives Let’s do a thought experiment.  You run National Public Radio and your veteran news analyst Juan Williams talks about Muslims on Fox News”s O’Reilly Factor and generates complaints.  Williams has been making paid appearances as a “liberal” on the conservative Factor for years while still commentating on NPR.  The Fox […]

It’s the Message, Stupid!

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: It’s the Message, Stupid!: Media management How’s this for stupid? It happened when I left journalism in 1994 to start my company and a reporter wanted to write about it. He asked lots of questions about my life. Being naïve like many business brethren I answered and answered and answered. Perhaps only three questions were […]

Is your brand safe? The Komen Crisis

Posted on: July 28th, 2012

Crisis Management: Is your brand safe? The Komen Crisis: Crisis prevention Much control of your brand has slipped through your fingers. Look no further than the Susan G. Komen for the Cure crisis for proof. Before we discuss that case here’s how I first became aware of this new corporate existential truth. I drew a diagram for […]