Crisis Leadership Blog
Insights and perspectives on being the lighthouse during a crisis.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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
What would your company look like if you did not fear crises?
Confucius tells us that "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." What is fear, and why do so many corporate leaders fear crises? Fear is a concern, rational or not, about your well-being. In this context, it is a concern about the reputation of your organization. You may fear the unknown, the media, a misunderstanding, or anything...
In Crisis, Do You Need a Craftsperson or Mechanic?
There's an interesting article I read recently about the notion of how to master a craft, and I was thinking about it in the context of the way we manage crises. In the article, Julian Shapiro notes that becoming a craftsperson requires more focus on the process than the output: the process is rewarding enough. That contrasts with a mechanic, who's focused...
Checklists: Simple Tools for Complex Situations
I love checklists. I also love Thanksgiving. What could be better than combining the two? As you get ready for the holidays coming up, I want to remind you that checklists are critically important for the holiday season. They're also critically important when you find yourself in...
Don’t Just See, Observe: How to Prevent Blindspots
“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 recognize it as something we have seen before. We already know...
Why You Need to Understand the Cost of Crisis
What does it cost to replace a manufacturing plant? How about a flagship store? Fight a lawsuit? How much does it cost to restore your reputation? These are often the questions we ask when asked why protecting your organization’s reputation is a worthwhile investment. We’re asked to put a price on crisis. We are asked to compare the cost of crisis...
Beware the Ripples: Sometimes These Are Signs of an Incoming Wave
Last week, executives from all the big oil companies gave sworn testimony to a Congressional committee. Under oath, they were asked if their companies knew that their products contributed to climate change and how long they had known this. Everywhere you turned, the hearing was being compared to the 1994 Congressional hearing credited with changing the...
Why We Only Do One Thing
When I first started doing crisis management, someone asked me what kind of crisis I handled. I thought that to be an odd question. If you are a patent lawyer, you handle patents not just left-pawed blue schnauzers. If you are a neonatal nurse, you take care of babies, not just right-handed babies from Pittsburgh. The One Thing So why would I only handle...
Why I Joined Kith
We were delighted to welcome Stephanie Craig on board to be our VP of Consulting this August. This is the first of a series of posts in which Stephanie reflects on her first 60 days, shares her thoughts on crises, and, in this case, explains why she left her own successful practice to join Kith. Anyone who has started their own company knows that there are...
Why crisis leadership isn’t the same as crisis management (It’s way more)
A big mistake we see everywhere is thinking that experience in a role or time-served automatically makes you a leader in that space. This thinking mistakes the fundamental difference between management and leadership: one is focused on what needs to be done, whereas the other is more concerned with the why. How versus Why In a crisis context, this is...
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 three areas: meeting the operations team too late, going into...
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.