Crisis Leadership Blog
Insights and perspectives on being the lighthouse during a crisis.
When a Missed Shot Costs $800,000: The NHL’s Own-Goal Moment
Hockey is having a moment. Between Olympic excitement and controversy (which we’re not touching), the success of the PWHL and the buzz around the television show Heated Rivalry, the sport is lighting up the scoreboard. (Remember, this is not a pun free zone!) So why...
Be on the Lookout for Crisis Pretenders
Maria Stagliano had the backbone to say what I’ve been thinking when she wrote this column in O’Dwyer’s. I have found it fascinating to see how many different people in communications say they do crisis management. You don’t hear me say I do fashion PR or CSR. This is...
Not All Outrage Is Real: Lessons from Cracker Barrel’s Rebrand Storm
Do you remember the Cracker Barrel outrage when they tried to evolve their brand? It was their first logo update in nearly 50 years. They rolled out a cleaner, text-only look and dropped the iconic “Old Timer.” There was a lot of customer outrage, right? That’s what...
A New Year’s Resolution Your Business Can’t Afford to Skip
As a new year begins, most of us are thinking about personal goals and ways to hit the ground running, whether it’s finally tackling that pile of unread books, decluttering the basement once and for all, or flossing daily to silence the dentist’s scolding. But...
Never Write if You Can Speak; Never Speak if You Can Nod; Never Nod if You Can Wink
I used to work for a remarkable woman named Sharon Carstairs. She has been in Canadian politics since she was a child and her dad was premier of Nova Scotia. She followed his footsteps rising all the way to a cabinet member in the Chretien government. To this day, she...
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
Mmm, Mmm …. Bad: Taking a Bite Into the Campbell’s Soup Crisis
When leaders go off-script, even the most comforting brands can suddenly feel cold. That’s exactly what happened a few weeks ago to Campbell’s Soup after a senior executive referred to its products as being “for poor people,” and also made a racially insensitive comment about employees. The remarks, which were made in a meeting between the executive and...
Don’t Be Afraid of Being Called Chicken Little: Why Great Leaders Share Hard Truths
As a leader, you’re expected to have vision – not just for opportunities, but for risks too. But what happens when you see something concerning on the horizon, and you're not sure it will materialize? Do you hesitate? You don't want to be seen as that leader, the one who always sounds the alarm, the one others dismiss as overreacting. You don’t want to be...
The Bearista Backlash and the Reputation Lesson Starbucks Didn’t Expect
When supply and demand don’t align, even the strongest brew can turn bitter fast. You may have seen the recent headlines about the disastrous release of Starbucks’ limited-edition Bearista cup (a $29.95 teddy-bear-shaped holiday tumbler for the uninitiated). The launch of the viral must-have product quickly spiraled into a major backlash when extremely...
From Viral to Valuable: A Crisis Response Worth Being Thankful For
As the year winds down (gulp, how?) and we gather to reflect on what we’re grateful for this coming Thanksgiving, it’s natural to count the obvious blessings: growth milestones, successful launches, strong partnerships. But in the world of business, there’s another kind of gratitude. One that is quieter, maybe, but just as meaningful. It’s the gratitude...
Your Company Without Fear: A Thought Experiment
Confucius tells us that “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Crisis is the shadow that follows every bold decision and for many leaders, fear of that shadow shapes everything they do. But what if that fear wasn’t just unnecessary, but actively holding your organization back from being faster, bolder, and more resilient? Why...
Getting to Yes: How to Win Executive Buy-In for Crisis Simulations
Simulations are one of the most effective ways to prepare your organization for a crisis. They build readiness, clarify roles, strengthen relationships, and help teams respond with speed and confidence when it matters most. As a crisis communicator, you already know this. But getting your leadership team to see the value – and sign off on the time, budget,...
Ghosts of Campaigns Past: When Brands Get It Almost Wrong
This time last year, we wrote a Halloween-themed article, “Very Scary Marketing Decisions,” highlighting baffling and ill-conceived advertising and branding blunders, such as: Bath and Body Works launching a line of holiday candles, which included one bearing the design of a “snowflake” resembling the pointed hoods of one of the world’s most notorious...
Kith at 10: A Decade of Building Crisis-Resilient Leaders
35 percent. Did I get your attention? It got mine. Only 35% of consulting startups make it to 10 years. Today, I’m proud to say that Kith is part of that 35%. That statistic says a lot. It says that what we do matters. It says that our clients have trusted us through some of their hardest moments. And it says that a scrappy little firm started a decade ago...
Breaking the Crisis Wheel
Like my Kith colleagues, I cut my proverbial teeth in politics. Not as a candidate, but as a campaign staffer and, later, political consultant. Campaigns are great places to train for reputation management and crisis communications because everything is a crisis. The latest mud your opponent threw at you is a crisis. A campaign stop going sideways is a...
Hot Potato: What To Do When You’re Targeted
We’re taking you way back in the wayback machine to when I was a little kid in Canada. It was 1991 when Winnipeg-based Old Dutch Foods entered the Ontario market hoping to gain ground but instead faced a salty standoff. Rival Hostess Frito-Lay was accused of buying all the Old Dutch chips from store shelves, sometimes at full price, and pressuring...
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.