Crisis Management Articles
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: What was THAT speech about?: Crisis communications A popular radio announcer once spoke to some influential business people. He quickly told four anecdotes then asked, “Do you have any questions?” That was it. I liked and knew the guy but after his speech asked myself, “What was that all about?” I had the same reaction after watching Governors […]
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: What to Say and Do When Things Go Wrong: Crisis response As crises go, this was a small one, but still instructive. Accusations and recriminations flew furiously one winter here in my home of North Carolina after officials of two area school systems misjudged the impact of an impending snowstorm. Mystified parents saw children head […]
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: Weiner – “Bad answers” signaled lying: Crisis communication Within eight hours of my writing the following article, Rep. Anthony Weiner D-NY tearfully, confessionally, and apologetically admitted he was lying all along and responsible for sending explicit photos, messages and phone calls to women he met online. In retrospect, we can see him telegraphing guilt with […]
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: Watch your mouths – leaders: Crisis avoidance As I write this (July 2010), can you recall so many communication screw-ups by so many public people within such a short time? The last column (about BP) emphasized that actions speak louder than words, but that’s hardly a license to open mouth, insert foot. General Stanley McChrystal […]
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: War Horrors Linger For Years: personal crisis The recent Memorial Day and wars have knocked at our emotions as we contemplate the sacrifices of our servicemen and women. I think often about my friend Lt. Col. Janis Nark (ret). This striking, extroverted resident of tiny Nebo, NC, who now lives in Aspen, CO, has been a familiar presence […]
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: Wake Forest addresses a Racist Article: Crisis response Wake Forest University did a good job of addressing a controversy over a racism-tinged yearbook article. The school gave the incident so much attention that a Winston-Salem Journal story characterized student and faculty efforts at a public meeting as an attempt to turn the embarrassment “into a […]
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: Wage Peace! – A Good Crisis PR Strategy?: Crisis Response A mentor once advised, “When in crisis, wage peace!” That advice resonated after a front page story in The Wall Street Journal: “Doctors’ New Tool to Fight Lawsuits: Saying ‘I’m Sorry.’” It said doctors and hospitals, including Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, […]
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: Virginia Tech Shootings – The Crisis Response: Crisis communications (Written in 2007) Once again there seems no limit to the horror in our lifetime. Aside from that, let’s see what the rest of us can learn from the misery of our friends at Virginia Tech and how they dealt with it. Having been inside many […]
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: Va Tech Misery Helps Other Schools: Crisis Response Virginia Tech’s misery has benefitted others. Within 20 minutes after gunfire wounded two students at Delaware State University in 2008 officials began notifying everyone and closing the campus. They said the Tech shootings that murdered 32 motivated their swiftness. A spokesperson said, “The biggest lesson we learned… is […]
Posted on: July 29th, 2012
Crisis Management: Unscrupulous Reporters: Understanding reporters – from the archives What, if anything, did the NY Times fiasco with deceitful former reporter Jayson Blair – and the later Rathergate debacle at CBS over the incorrect story about the President’s National Guard record – mean to you as a businessperson? Some suggestions in a minute, but Blair’s behavior […]