Crisis Management: Is that any way to deal with an accident?: Crisis Response You get some of the best crisis insights by looking in your own back yard. For instance in my home city of Winston-Salem, NC, there was a stumble while communicating about the drowning of a 16 year old at a city pool a number of years […]

Crisis Management: Is it Fair? A good principle to know: Crisis response When golfing wonder Michelle Wie failed to qualify to play in the Masters at the age of 15, her attempt reminded me of that flap a few years earlier when women tried to get into the Masters. At the time, I saw that as an […]

Crisis Management: Iraq War Communications – A Report Card: Crisis Communications (I wrote this originally in the weeks after the second Gulf War was well underway and although many references are now dated, the issues are not.) War is the ultimate crisis. As a crisis consultant, permit me to offer something of a report card on communications […]

Crisis Management: Investigative Journalism – Don’t attract it: Crisis communications The acclaimed HBO documentary “The Trials of Darryl Hunt” highlighted, among many things, the power of investigative reporting, specifically that of the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal’s Phoebe Zerwick. She helped free the wrongly-convicted Hunt and jail suspect Willard Brown for the murder of Deborah Sykes in that city in the 1980’s. Ms. […]

Crisis Management: Internet Rumors and dealing with them: Crisis Preparedness from the archives Before NBA star Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault accuser dropped her case, there was a nightmarish sidelight that reminded the business community of the potential threat of Internet rumors, and the challenge of being prepared to offset them as well as any attack on our […]

Crisis Management: Internet Crisis Protection: Crisis planning Everyone knows their company or institution could be criticized or attacked on the Internet. It has happened to a number of my clients. So, let’s turn the Internet around and use it to protect you. First, lay some groundwork for rapid action. I recommend these first two steps. A.  Prepare […]

Crisis Management: Intellectual Violence in the Press: Crisis prevention When Muslim UNC graduate Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar intentionally plowed his SUV into nine students at Chapel Hill in 2006 – not seriously injuring anyone – he told campus police and the 911 operator his attack was to “avenge the deaths or murders of Muslims around the world” and […]

Crisis Management: Improvise training – Sometimes it is the Best Strategy: Media training Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote memorably, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” Let me put it in plain language. “Woe be unto you if you are not flexible.” Sometimes you solve problems best by […]

Crisis Management: How to Squelch Internet Rumors : Crisis response I’d bet that you were the victim of a false rumor at least once in your life, especially when going through school. Do you remember how helpless you felt, wondering how to stop it, much less correct it? Now multiply that feeling a thousand fold and you have […]

Crisis Management: How to Avoid a Battle of the Soundbites: Crisis response An environmental group attacked a client for emitting dangerous chemicals as part of its manufacturing process. The organization sent out a news release to attract reporters. Sure enough, potentially troubling TV and newspaper coverage began. Nevertheless, after some initial anxious hesitation, company executives collected themselves […]