Crisis Leadership Blog
Insights and perspectives on being the lighthouse during a crisis.
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...
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...
Communicating and Defending a Mask Policy
Critical takeaways: Setting customer expectations is critical to maximizing acceptance of COVID-19 policy changes, and communicating clearly is the key. The reputation risk of mask policies should be evaluated as a balance between the strategic risk of requiring a...
Along Those Lines: Co-op Communications in Times of Crisis
Stephen Bell, NRECA’s senior director for media and public relations, and Bill Coletti, CEO of the reputation management firm Kith, talk us through their advice on how to plan for, respond to and recover from events that interrupt our normal course of business. ...
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
Failure to Engage: The Dakota Access Pipeline Missteps and What You Can Learn From It
By Bill Coletti, CEO, Kith Critical Takeaways Failure to engage with NGOs caused backlash and project failure for those involved with the Dakota Access Pipeline The protests and subsequent negative media attention could have been neutralized or avoided entirely Engagement with NGOs is no longer optional During our last web workshop, I presented my...
WEBINAR REPLAY – When Activists Attack: Best Practices for Companies in NGO Fights
By Bill Coletti, CEO Kith Consulting Critical Takeaways 1. NGOs always win, but that doesn’t mean your organization has to lose 2. Engagement with NGOs is no longer optional; it’s required 3.Planning now avoids pain later Watch Kith's founder and CEO discuss in depth his premise that NGOs always win. You can find additional conversations led by Bill...
Samsung’s Galaxy Note7 Apology Rings Loud and Clear
By Bill Coletti, CEO, Kith Critical Takeaways: Samsung’s much-anticipated Galaxy Note7 went on sale this summer. The Android smartphone promised to be the ultimate showcase of Samsung’s design capabilities, with features including a 5.7-inch screen, stylus, and exploding batteries. The latter, of course, was not part of the plan, and the company...
Do Something Nice Day: The benefits of being positive with your Kith.
By Bill Coletti, CEO, Kith How do you affect your Kith? Are you a positive voice or a negative voice? Monday of this week, October 5, was National Do Something Nice Day. At Kith, we took this opportunity to provide some snacks, movie tickets and other treats for a few of our friends and clients, just as a surprise. They were well-received and...
WEBINAR REPLAY — What Do Smart Marketers Know That You Don’t?
By Bill Coletti, CEO, Kith Critical Takeaways: A company owns its brand but the public owns its reputation, which is why companies must ensure that they are always meeting consumer expectations Product marketers' secrets can help reputation management professionals maximize results and help companies get the credit they deserve There is one fundamental...
Crisis Planning: How to Manage External Reputational Risks
By Bill Coletti, CEO, Kith So far in this four-part series on crisis planning and managing reputational risks, we have presented: 3 Reputational Risk Categories: A New Framework for Crisis Planning in the Food in Agricultural Industry How to Manage Preventable Reputational Risks How to Manage Strategic Reputational Risks. We’ll conclude this series with an...
Chipotle’s Food Issues: Communicating Openly to Control the Message
By Bill Coletti, CEO, Kith Critical Takeaways: Critical Moments can occur at any time, without warning. You must always be prepared. By taking four steps, Chipotle was able to engage with customers, communities, and critics through a critical moment. It is a food manufacturer, retailer or restaurant’s worst nightmare – a food borne illness outbreak...
Crisis Planning: How to Manage Strategic Reputational Risks
By Bill Coletti, CEO, Kith The previous post, Crisis Planning: How to Manage Preventable Reputational Risks, reviewed one of three reputational risks we’ll cover in this series on crisis planning. This post will cover the second risk: strategic reputational risks. Check out our overview of how companies can use a new framework for crisis planning. ...
Media Monitoring 3.0: How Situational Intelligence Helps Business Leaders Make Better Decisions
By Bill Coletti, CEO, Kith Critical Takeaways With the daily onslaught of social media posts and news articles, it can be challenging to distinguish smoke from fire on the issues that really matter Media monitoring is vital, but current practices are limited in their ability to actually help leaders make better business decisions Expert analysis is...
Crisis Planning: How to Manage Preventable Reputational Risks
The previous post,3 Reputational Risk Categories: A New Framework for Crisis Planning, reviewed three reputational risk categories and how they fit into a new framework for crisis planning. The next three posts will explore each of the threats in greater detail, starting here with preventable reputational risks. So, let’s begin. What is a...
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.