Crisis Leadership Blog
Insights and perspectives on being the lighthouse during a crisis.
Speed: The Foundation of Becoming Crisis Confident
In my last blog post, I introduced the concept of Crisis Confidence, and that confidence is born out of speed, clarity, and trust. Over the next three weeks, I want to dig in on each of those elements and give them context and specific recommendations on what you can...
Clarity, Trust, and Speed are the Building Blocks of Crisis Confidence
"The crucible of crisis doesn't develop your skill sets; it reveals them." I've said these words to many leaders over the years, and as people pause and reflect on it, it dawns on them: if they're honest with themselves, they don't think they'll like what the crucible...
Give comms a seat at the table
COVID changed so many of our lives in dramatic and also small ways. For me, one was watching TV. I’ve never been a huge TV person so I’ve been fortunate to have great programs to watch as I focused on sticking close to home. The other night I started to watch a show...
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, a political consultant. Campaigns are great places to train for reputation management and crisis communications because everything is a crisis....
Politics is coming for you
Have you ever stood at the grocery store trying to decide which pasta to buy and thought about the CEO of one pasta company making a political statement? You remember you didn’t appreciate what she said, but you really prefer how that pasta cooks. Or maybe you agreed...
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
COVID-19 Crisis Q&A with Bill Coletti
In this webinar Bill Coletti hosts a live Q&A session to answers questions related to COVID-19 crisis communications strategy and tactics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNIqFPlHtcg&feature=youtu.be You can download the PDF version of the deck here. In the webinar, Bill references a toolkit from Johns Hopkins for businesses considering...
Kith’s 6+2 Framework: Keys to Telling a Reassuring Reopening Story
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 particular emphasis on empathy, reassurance and transparency...
Kith’s Crisis Frameworks: Real-World Application in the Age of COVID
In this webinar Bill Coletti and Jeff Blaylock : Recap the crisis response models and framework we shared in the past six webinars as part of Kith’s COVID-19 Communications Series. Deconstruct real-world responses and statements from companies who have followed the frameworks and others who have missed the mark. ...
‘Crucial Conversations’: Lessons for Crisis Communicators
Critical takeaways The book ‘Crucial Conversations’ is a great guide to managing high-stakes conversations but it also provides useful guidance for crises. Many of the same techniques the authors advise for critical conversations can be used by crisis communicators to shape messages - externally and internally. Crucially, self-awareness and introspection...
Crafting Hard Messaging: How to Communicate Difficult Decisions
As we continue to face the daily uncertainty of how this pandemic will unfold, there is one thing we know for sure. Companies will continue to make extremely difficult decisions in the weeks ahead and will be faced with communicating those tough decisions to those who matter most. This webinar covers: The importance of conducting a "changed" policy...
Eight Elements of Successful Crisis Response
Crisis Response Fundamentals – our quick reference.
Part 2 Communicating How & When to Reopen for Business
Although some may disagree, we believe we are no longer in a crisis, but instead a critical moment. The response phase is over and it is now time to make decisions for what lies ahead. Two weeks ago we hosted a webinar discussing how and when to reopen for business. As the reality of reopening draws confusingly closer we wanted to revisit that topic with...
Leveraging Stakeholder Research for Your COVID Communications Strategy
Bill Coletti and Karlan Witt, CEO of Cambia Information Group, discuss using stakeholder research so you don't have to guess when it comes to crafting your next COVID-19 response message. The webinar covers: Robust research options: the recipe for strong survey research, message development, stakeholder prioritization, spokesperson optimization and more...
Burden of Command: Bill Coletti
In this episode we have a conversation about leadership and responding to a crisis as well as the impacts it can have on your reputation. LISTEN HERE
What Is & Is Not Working in COVID-19 Communications
We are now entering the third or fourth week of messaging around corporate response - the “mushy middle phase” as we referred to it in our previous webinars. On the third webinar in Kith's COVID-19 Communications Series, Bill Coletti shares observations on how companies are using the A-B-C approach (Always - Be - Communicating) and remaining helpful and...
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.