Crisis Leadership Blog
Insights and perspectives on being the lighthouse during a crisis.
Holding Statements: What Are They and Why Are They Critical to Effective Crisis Response
Speech is silver, silence is golden. According to this proverb, saying nothing is more valuable than saying something, even if the something itself has value. As a crisis management expert, I believe those are backward, and I’d add one more phrase to the proverb:...
Scaling Your CEO for Better Crisis Response
At Kith, we have seen CEOs rise during a crisis and we have seen others stumble. The difference often comes down to what they focus on during the crisis at hand. As your most senior leader, a CEO can be one of the most important assets your organization can deploy...
How to Dig Out of a Mess of Your Own Creation
The headlines were unsettling, not shocking at first. But when UnitedHealth, the healthcare behemoth responsible for processing 50 percent of all US patient medical claims annually, revealed it was the victim of a ransomware attack described as “the most serious...
When a Publicity Stunt Backfires
There are times (April Fool’s Day, I’m looking at you) when a company decides to pull a publicity stunt to see how big a splash they can make. They engage in intentional misrepresentation – of their business’ product, service, or brand – pushed out as a cheeky,...
Are You Warm Blooded or Cold Blooded?
At Kith, we often say that a crisis does not develop your leadership skills – it reveals them. It also reveals what type of creature you are: warm blooded or cold blooded. Now, obviously, humans are warm blooded as a matter of biology, so what we’re really asking you...
By definition, Kith means a cadre of peers who shape opinions and attitudes while instilling sophisticated habits for action. As a way to live this value, we like to share resources that are building blocks to good crisis management and can help you start the path of protecting your reputation.
More Recent Insights
The Three Behaviors that Feed a Crisis: Ostrich Effect
Do you think you know what causes a reputational crisis? At least have a good guess? I’m here to tell you that it’s likely not what you think. It's a lack of preparation. There is that pithy statement that you see on notepads, signs on desks, and as gifs – lack of preparation on your part does not necessitate an emergency on mine. When it comes to crisis...
Don’t Stumble over Something behind You
These words are frequently attributed to the Ancient Roman stoic Seneca the Younger. They still ring true 2,000 years later. When it comes to managing a crisis, they are both a warning and a reason for leadership to move forward. Speed is the single most important difference between good and great crisis response. Anything that creates unnecessary friction...
Pump up the Volume
Every time I open up LinkedIn, PR Week, or the Wall Street Journal, I see someone writing about AI and the immense change that it is having on the communications industry -- everything from how we create to how we spot fake news to how we staff. One issue that I haven’t seen discussed much is how the mere existence of AI needs to change the VOLUME that...
Then Came the Lawyers …
I still chuckle and roll my eyes when the latest prescription drug ad says, “Don’t take Wonderdrug if you're allergic to it.” Well, duh. Welcome to the disclaimer pantheon compelling us to write “Caution: Hot” on coffee cups. “Do not attempt” accompanies any example of off-road driving a car is specifically designed and marketed to do. “Contains peanuts”...
What Makes a Successful Crisis Simulation
“Practice makes perfect,” the saying goes. When it comes to crisis management, “practice makes prepared.” Periodic crisis exercises help teams build muscle memory, remember their crisis response plans, and identify gaps in that plan, the skill set, or the people responsible for executing it. Far better to find out there’s a critical flaw in your crisis...
Litigation Threats Are Invitations for Legal and Comms to Work Together
Few words bring a C-Suite conversation to a screeching halt like, “We need to think about litigation.” Instead of killing the conversation, it should start a conversation … between the legal team and the communications team. Attorneys’ primary goal is to limit their clients’ exposure to legal liability. Communications teams’ primary goal is to limit...
The Value of Saying I’m Sorry … from a Canadian
If you’ve spoken to me for more than five minutes, you know I’m Canadian – also American – but I was Canadian first and very proud of it. Every stereotype of Canadians includes that we like to say sorry: to each other, visitors, inanimate objects, and so on. Move away for a while and you’ll quickly realize that it’s true. Canadians are by and large nice,...
Winning An Argument with Crazy
Let’s be clear. You can’t win an argument against Crazy. Once rightfully relegated to the lunatic fringe, Crazy abounds today – it is everywhere. Crazy is encouraged, fanned, inflamed, and carried to new converts by the magnifying lens that is social media. Sadly, organizations that value their reputation must now pay attention to Crazy, because Crazy can...
Lessons from Litigators for the Court of Public Opinion
Hall of Fame basketball coach Bobby Knight once said, “The key is not the will to win – everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.” Preparation is one of the key differences between people who win consistently and those who win occasionally, accidentally, or not at all. This applies in sports, in business, and in court....
Daily Harvest Needs To Be a Lesson for All Startups
Have you stuck to your New Year’s resolutions? I didn’t make any this year. Instead, I built a plan that will build on small changes throughout the year. January has been a focus on slowing down. But even with my change of thought, it was pretty hard to ignore the barrage of ads about weight loss, healthy new year, new start etc. One that has caught my eye...
The Kith Method
Good crisis management comes from a plan. Great crisis management comes from capability – and starts before you even smell smoke. That’s why we developed the Kith Method. We can help build and maintain a flexible capability that works for you.
Your reputation is an investment; time-consuming and costly to build and expensive to repair. Protect it.