Crisis Leadership Blog
Insights and perspectives on being the lighthouse during a crisis.
When a Publicity Stunt Backfires
There are times (April Fool’s Day, I’m looking at you) when a company decides to pull a publicity stunt to see how big a splash they can make. They engage in intentional misrepresentation – of their business’ product, service, or brand – pushed out as a cheeky,...
Are You Warm Blooded or Cold Blooded?
At Kith, we often say that a crisis does not develop your leadership skills – it reveals them. It also reveals what type of creature you are: warm blooded or cold blooded. Now, obviously, humans are warm blooded as a matter of biology, so what we’re really asking you...
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...
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
Crisis Plans Can’t Be Time Capsules
A friend of mine just returned to his office for the first time in more than two years. It was exactly how he left it – albeit cleaner – when he abruptly left work on a Thursday afternoon in March 2020 to retrieve his sick kid from school. He stayed home with the kiddo Friday. The world shut down on Monday. “It’s amazing what I thought was important on...
Mobilization: How to be fast off the blocks in a crisis
Mobilization simply means getting the right people in the right place with the right information to allow them to start managing the event taking place. The term 'mobilization' can sound very operational and, therefore, a little out of place in a communications environment, but that's the point. It's meant to convey a sense of purpose and deliberateness...
How procedures generate speed
Procedures have a terrible reputation amongst communicators for stifling creativity and limiting the freedom needed to respond to a crisis. We'll often say that we can't plan something as complex and instinctual as a crisis in advance. In many ways, I agree. My dislike of shelves of binders is long-held and well-documented. Trying to map each step of a...
How procedures generate speed
Procedures have a terrible reputation amongst communicators for stifling creativity and limiting the freedom needed to respond to a crisis. We'll often say that we can't plan something as complex and instinctual as a crisis in advance. In many ways, I agree. My dislike of shelves of binders is long-held and well-documented. Trying to map each step of a...
How Your Chain of Command Generates Speed
You've probably seen the Abbott and Costello sketch 'Who's on First?' (and if not, you're missing out) where the team's names - Who is on First base, What is on Second, Why is in the Outfield - make for a lot of confusion and a great skit. But take a moment and think back to the last time you were called into a room as a crisis was breaking.Now ask...
Trust: The Foundation of Becoming Crisis Confident
The final component of our speed, clarity, and trust architecture that will transform you into a Crisis Confident organization is trust. The simple quote from Santosh Kalwar, "Trust starts and ends with the truth," helps us think about the truth and the trust that's necessary for superior crisis response. Of the three elements, you may be saying to...
Clarity: The Foundation of Becoming Crisis Confident
Two quotes help me think about the concept of clarity and its importance in crisis response. The first is from Henry Kissinger. "If you don't know where you're going, every road will get you nowhere." And the second one is from the always quotable Yogi Berra. "If you don't know where you're going, you might wind up someplace else." Clarity equals direction...
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 do to improve all three. Being Crisis Confident Starts with Speed For me, the key...
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 will reveal. Deep down, they know that they're not ready for crises. However, for years...
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 called Suspicion. It’s interesting but one of the major characters is played by Uma Thurman...
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.