I once heard a tech icon say “I don’t believe in God or government. I believe in the church of Silicon Valley.” That is all well and good until a U.S. Senator or three lettered agency takes notice. Just ask Ticketmaster or Google. While Senators Klobuchar and Lee’s weaving in of Taylor Swift...
Crisis Planning
Insights into crisis leadership, reputation and readinessCrisis Planning
Protecting Your Reputation in Uncertain Times
This is a confusing economic time. Layoffs are happening but unemployment is at record lows. We are figuring out what the new normal is. It’s a lot to navigate as a business leader, and some everyday concerns are not getting the attention they deserve. Your reputation is likely one of them. So as...
How to Achieve Your Moon Shot in 2021
When you think of 2021, what is your personal moon shot? How about for your team or organization? And if you knew that no matter what, you wouldn’t fail, what would you do?
Feeling Umwelt – A Mental Framework for People Who Aren’t Listening
I’ll bet every one of us has said something like, “I kept telling them this was going to happen, but I guess it just fell on deaf ears.” Their ears were tuned to another stimulus. German biologist Jakob von Uexküll defined the unique sensory environment an animal experiences as its umwelt. It is...
Crisis Plans Can’t Be Time Capsules
A friend of mine just returned to his office for the first time in more than two years. It was exactly how he left it – albeit cleaner – when he abruptly left work on a Thursday afternoon in March 2020 to retrieve his sick kid from school. He stayed home with the kiddo Friday. The world shut down...
Mobilization: How to be fast off the blocks in a crisis
Mobilization simply means getting the right people in the right place with the right information to allow them to start managing the event taking place. The term 'mobilization' can sound very operational and, therefore, a little out of place in a communications environment, but that's the point....
Meet Your Maker(s): How Communicators Can Work With Operations
Critical Takeaways The two fundamental roles in American corporations are makers - such as operations - and sellers - like communications. It's essential to maintain a direct linkage between the two as they work better together. When working with operations, communicators usually fall short in...
Great Disruption, the Sequel
Recently, I was speaking with a client in the early stages of bringing the majority of their remote workforce back to the office. He said something that resonated with me and probably would with other strategic communicators: the “pandemic has leveled the playing field” between employees who were...
What to Say When You Have Nothing to Say: Writing a Holding Statement
Holding statements are pre-prepared statements that can be adapted to the situation and issued in a very short period of time, even if many facts are still unclear.
Crafting the Perfect Crisis Simulation
Crisis simulations are, in our opinion, truly the best way to train and evaluate your team when it comes to crisis readiness. And with the right recipe, you can create a crowd-pleasing simulation that will leave your team well-prepared for when a crisis strikes.
Mastering Risk Management
This episode highlights the critical need to manage a crisis. Whilst you hope to never need it, you must prepare for one regardless. My guest, Bill Coletti, helps organizations think through what they need to do to be prepared.
The Best Approach to Crisis
I was asked a really good question on a podcast, and I thought I’d share it with you. Because there is sort of this ongoing debate about if it is better to be creative or authentic during a crisis response.
Are you ready for a crisis?
Is your organization prepared to respond to a crisis and protect its hard-earned reputation? Take our quiz and find out!