Crisis Leadership Blog
Insights and perspectives on being the lighthouse during a crisis.
Hacking Humans: The Public’s Expectations are Changing
Converstation with Bill Coletti, crisis communications and reputation management expert at Kith, and author of the book Critical Moments: A New Mindset for Reputation Management.
Social Risk Webinar Recap
The public’s expectations of corporations and brands are higher, and writing a check to a cause or saying “that’s not our lane” won’t cut it anymore. Even a well-crafted statement is not enough. Actions must follow words.
Top Tips for Running Crisis Management Simulations
Crisis simulations are a sure fire way to build “muscle memory” of response and action that can be deployed during an actual crisis impacting you or your organization. We believe simulations are one of the most effective tools in a communication team’s toolbox. Here are some Top Tips for running your own crisis simulations.
Be Prepared for What Comes after Election Night
Election Day is next week. Tens of millions of Americans have already cast their ballots in states where early voting is permitted. Tens of millions more will vote on Tuesday in their local polling place. Most years, elections just kind of happen. People vote, wait for results to be announced, celebrate or not, and go on with their lives the next day. The 2020 election will not follow that script, and high levels of anxiety will last for a while.
The Marketing Expedition: Crisis Response and Reputation Management
In this episode, Tony Richards interviews Bill Coletti, a reputation management expert, about his COVID-19 Crisis Communications Playbook.
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
Crises Require Active Engagement
Critical takeaways Success in a crisis requires active engagement by the organization's senior leadership. Active decision-making is key to success and this is supported by active monitoring of the media landscape. Active preparation shouldn't be mistaken for overreaction. The eventual decision could still be ‘do nothing’ but an active stance ensures you...
Crisis EQ versus Crisis IQ
The best crisis managers I have seen have both a high Crisis IQ and a high Crisis EQ.
Staying on course: follow your crisis rhumb line
Critical takeaways In sailing, the rhumb line is the shortest, most direct route between Point A and B. However, external factors such as tides, weather or obstacles seldom allow ships to take this direct route, and they must compensate for these factors. Businesses in crisis also need a clear sense of their endpoint - the Point B on their crisis rhumb...
Confidence in Crisis: The Confident Communicator
Four ways to help overcome misplaced confidence while also allowing you to remain confident despite the uncertainty in a crisis
The Keto Diet for Crisis Readiness
Critical takeaways Like our diets, we can take different approaches to how we prepare for crises. Many companies have a high-carb, ‘junk food’ approach to crisis preparedness which generates a short-term ‘sugar-high’ but little sustainable benefit. Unlike high-carb diets, a keto diet advocates a higher fat intake to help generate a long-term, sustainable...
Doing The Right Thing: How to Make Ethical Decisions
Critical takeaways Knowing the right thing to do in the run up to or aftermath of a crisis can be difficult. A process for ethical decision-making is needed to overcome these challenges. Immanuel Kant’s philosophy - based on the four pillars of autonomy; the categorical imperative; ethical considerations; and symmetrical communications - provides an...
Crisis communications insurance policy: Are you covered?
Critical Takeaways Insurance is available to cover crisis communications support in a crisis. Check to see if you have this in place and understand what is covered. Establish a rapport with the providers before an event. The simulation was going incredibly well. The data breach had been identified and the technical teams were responding. The...
Truth to power: A Communicator’s Obligation
Critical Takeaways CEOs need an honest view of the situation in order to be able to manage a crisis. This requires those who support them to ‘speak truth to power’. Crisis communicators are in a unique position to bring the external perspectives into the discussion. Communicators must learn to share their views with clarity, courage and conviction, even in...
The problem with planning for a problem
Critical takeaways A shelf of plans in ‘white binders’ gives a false sense of security and can be worthless. A crisis plan is not a step-by-step guide for every possible eventuality but should lay out the basic procedures for managing a crisis and some standard steps to address crises by type. This generates valuable speed in the early stages of a crisis....
How CEOs can build a reputation premium through leadership and pressure
Critical Takeaways Reputation risk is becoming better understood and more explicitly linked to corporate value but CEOs still lack the requisite tools to manage this risk. Lessons learned from compliance in the 1990s / 2000s provide a roadmap for CEOs to build a culture that creates and values reputation. Reputation is built from the top down and CEOs need...
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.