Like my Kith colleagues, I cut my proverbial teeth in politics. Not as a candidate, but as a campaign staffer and, later, a political consultant. Campaigns are great places to train for reputation management and crisis communications because everything is a crisis. The latest mud your opponent...

“You have not observed, and yet you have seen.” – Sherlock Holmes, A Scandal in Bohemia Pattern recognition is a superpower of strategic communicators. In the midst of a crisis, we have the ability to connect the dots out of a cacophony of signals, personalities and data. We see a pattern. We...

Speed is critical to success in a crisis but speed alone isn’t the answer – you need speed that’s based on an understanding of your core values and chain of command. Speed for the sake of speed leads to mistakes, inaccuracies, and rambling responses that get you into deeper trouble, not help pull you out. Instead, take some time to be clear, accurate, and brief. It requires additional time but helps you speed up in the end.

Critical takeaways Communicating about reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic is proving harder than messaging about closing. Kith’s 6+2 framework can help communicators tell a story that reasonable people expect a responsible organization to tell. In times of uncertainty and anxiety, placing a...

Critical takeaways Individuals build muscle memory by conducting physical movements repeatedly. Organizations can do the same by practicing their crisis response frequently. Muscle memory applies equally to both good habits and inefficient workarounds so care needs to be taken that the muscles...

Critical Take-Aways All-in bets make for dramatic spectacles in poker, particularly when the player is risking everything on a bluff.  People who have made mistakes might also double down on their denials and counter-attacks: they go all-in on the cover-up.  This damages them more than the...

We at Kith are excited to tell you about a new tool that we have developed to help organizations get a better handle on their own crisis readiness: the Kith CReD Snapshot (launched July 25, 2019). CReD stands for Crisis Readiness Diagnostic, but it also takes a cue from the slang word “cred,”...

Critical Takeaways Digital friction is the resistance created where additional steps are required for someone to start using a device or service. Companies strive to reduce friction and increase convenience but this can be at the expense of security and other benefits. These tradeoffs can create...

Critical takeaways Protests can be an effective way for people to make their point and they can be used against businesses of any size. Protestors have the right to picket your business but that doesn't mean that they can break the law or interfere with your staff, clients or prevent you trading....