Critical Takeaways It is easy to attribute crisis success as simply being lucky when in fact companies have earned this ‘luck’ through hard work and preparedness. A concept in sailing is that of a ‘black box’ into which a Captain deposits ‘points’. They can then draw on these points to give them a...

Critical takeaways When asked about “high reputation” firms, one that always comes to mind is the outdoor retailer Patagonia which has a very high reputation due to its commitment and authenticity to its mission. You can learn a lot from Patagonia but don’t just copy their approach: a good...

Critical takeaways Op-eds are a powerful way of telling your story in a crisis and should be in every communicator’s tool kit. Op-eds written by a committee will fail to make your points clearly. Communications should write the piece with input from the subject matter expert. This guidance note is...

Critical takeaways Nature doesn’t have clear-cut edges and neither do crises. Taking an edgeless, long-term view of a crisis improves our ability to learn after an event and also helps us prepare and improve our actions beforehand. Here are five ways that an ‘edgeless’ mindset will help you better...

Critical takeaways Situations in nature that appear to have clear edges are often more complex and blurry at the boundaries. This is the same in a crisis where there isn’t as clear a start and end as we might think. Thinking about crises as ‘edgeless’ allows us to learn more which improves our...

Critical takeaways Infinite games are games where the objective is to excel and to pursue a worthy goal over the long term. Finite games with set structures and a winner/loser are limiting and ill-suited to long-term success. These two ideas are encapsulated in Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game...

In addition to seeing what we can learn from  the biggest issues of year, at Kith, we also like to conduct an annual review of our own writing. This is a good opportunity for us to reassess our thinking and to make sure that our core values and beliefs are properly reflected in our writing. I...

Critical takeaways Social media still matters. Companies must have a presence and use these platforms in a crisis. Pre-closure is the new disclosure. Be proactive, ‘take the trash out’, be clear about what you stand for and get out in front of the issue. Data breach is a waning public concern but...

Critical takeaways Success in a crisis requires active engagement by the organization's senior leadership. Active decision-making is key to success and this is supported by active monitoring of the media landscape. Active preparation shouldn't be mistaken for overreaction. The eventual decision...