Crisis Leadership Blog
Insights and perspectives on being the lighthouse during a crisis.
Crisis Efficiency
Many organizations seek efficiencies during times of economic uncertainty. For many executives, “efficiency” equates to reducing costs. Two of the most tried and true methods of reducing costs are eliminating headcount and cutting back on support services that do not...
Systems Failures May Be Trending in 2023
I was recently asked if I had any prediction for the “next thing” in crisis management for 2023. Without hesitation, I replied, “Systems failures.” 2022 ended with two epic system failures, and they threw a bright light on the potentially devastating impacts of...
Why It’s Necessary to Include Government Affairs in Crisis Planning
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...
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...
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...
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
Using Tabletop Exercises to Improve Coming-back Plans
Critical takeaways: Use tabletop exercises to explore specific what-if scenarios around your coming-back plan. What you’re really looking for is, "Uh oh, that's something we hadn't thought about. How's this going to change our planning?" They’re also a tool for testing transformational ideas, including policies that would not have been considered before...
Seeking Bigger Pastures
Critical takeaways: The sheer volume and complexity of today’s challenges make it hard for strategic communicators to do what we do best. Seeking bigger pastures will enable us to see around corners and best position our organization for what’s next. Focusing on the gain, not the gap, grounds us on the path to our bigger pastures. We are a little over...
Unless the CEO Is the Crisis
How CEO Greg Glassman went from CrossFit to crosshairs and the challenge to restore a brand that followed.
Leading While Always Communicating
Critical takeaways: Strategic communicators will need to find ways to keep their CEOs leading while always communication and visible to people who matter Humility, generosity and engagement are crucial leadership characteristics in this time of COVID-19 Great strategic communicators need to think like CEOs so their CEOs will be great communicators when...
Saying Hard Things – Focus on a Bigger Picture
Critical takeaways: In a crisis, organizations should aim to be understood, not loved. Focus on a bigger picture to meet reasonable people’s expectations for a responsible organization. Spend your efforts communicating to the reasonable 80% and not over-indexing for the unreasonable 20%. Last week, and during our COVID-19 webinar series, I talked about the...
The Eggs Podcast: Bill Coletti
Kith CEO Bill Coletti joined Michael Smith and Ryan Roghaar from The Eggs Podcast to discuss current crises happening in the United States and how to manage your way through it as a company. He also talks about where to start if you want to change your company's reputation. LISTEN HERE
Saying Hard Things – Own the Disappointment
Critical takeaways: Saying hard things will inevitably disappoint people who matter. We cannot write magic words that will somehow keep people from being upset. We must own the disappointment. Our five-point Framework for Saying Hard Things can help soften the blow of difficult news. Saying hard things is inevitably going to disappoint an audience that...
Crises Are Inevitable but Learning Isn’t
Critical takeaways: Crises are inevitable, but it takes effort to learn from them and apply them to the next crisis. Create an inventory of all the decisions, policy changes and communications from the past three months, and evaluate the successes and misses. Schedule a table-top simulation for some other risk your organization faces while you’re still on...
Walking the Walk: Critical Moments
In this conversation with Jim Bouchard from Walking the Walk Podcast, Kith CEO Bill Coletti discusses how important leadership is during a crisis and how honesty, transparency, and communication are key qualities a leader must possess. LISTEN HERE
A Lot of Extra Work
Critical takeaways: Communicators will have to do a lot of extra work to tell the story of how we come back from COVID-19. Specific audiences should receive specialized messages that address their particular needs, but those need to be consistent and fit the themes of your main messaging. Ease that extra work by using tools like a Message Triangle and our...
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.