How Your Strengths Can Sometimes Become Weaknesses
From Adam Grant, writing for the New York Times: Not long ago, I had dinner with an unusually charming friend. He entertained us with stories of arctic adventures, and he captivated us with commentary on how the Lannister-Stark conflict in “Game of Thrones” could explain foreign affairs in real life. But I left with a […]
Sometimes It’s Best to Shut Up – Inside Lori Loughlin’s Crisis PR Strategy
From Rose Minutaglio writing in Elle: A slew of nameless sources claiming to be “close to” Lori Loughlin and “familiar with her case” have been feeding what seems like endless fodder to tabloids since news of the college admissions scandal broke in March. “It’s killing her that her squeaky-clean reputation has done a total 180. […]
Issues Management in the Dark: Game of Thrones Messes Up, Won’t Fess Up
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] Our blog posts typically deal with heavy-going crisis fare. I’m lightening up just this once because of an audacious filmmaker’s response to a Sunday evening tsunami of social media angst washing over the third episode in this, the final season of Game of Thrones. Did you see it? Probably not. […]
This 1 Word Makes Others Think Less of You, and You Probably Say It at Least 8 Times a Day
From Inc.: How many times a day do you use the word “sorry”? Statistics on Americans are hard to find, but the BBC reports British people say it at least eight times a day, and some say it as often as 20 times a day. And informal research supports what many people have observed: Women say “sorry” much more […]
Journalism & Storytelling
If you’ve ever attended any of our training seminars, you know we often talk about how reporters are often storytellers, often using familiar tropes and archetypes, accompanied by all their embedded values. On that subject, here’s writer Jeff Jarvis, writing for BuzzMachine on this topic: In journalism, we think our job is to “get the […]
To Make a Great First Impression Do This 1 Small Thing Successful Speed Daters Do
From the Harvard Research and Inc.: Making a great first impression is so much better than having to overcome a bad first impression. But it’s easier said than done. Big first impressions come from small talk done well–something most of us struggle with. We end up defaulting to highly generic and ineffective tropes like “What do you […]
Why the Lawyers Always Win
From a colleague of ours, Michael Maslansky: A crisis hits and the internal kabuki dance begins. The CEO. The lawyers. The communicators. And as if scripted in advance, the drama frequently plays out in a predictable way. The CEO wants to fight back against the unfair criticism. The lawyer, preparing for coming litigation, doesn’t want […]
Ohio School Boards Association Selects Hennes Communications to Provide Crisis Management and Communications Services to Ohio’s Public Schools
The Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) has entered into a strategic partnership with Hennes Communications to provide crisis management and communications services to public school systems throughout the state of Ohio facing sudden challenges to their organizations’ reputations and operations. With this partnership, OSBA member school leaders have access 365 days a year to expert […]
Can 5G Wireless Technology Supercharge Crisis Management?
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] The breathless buzz about the coming global deployment of 5G wireless technology keeps building to a crescendo. 5G will launch the Internet of Things (IoT) to the next level, empowering massive real-time data sharing between connected devices (health sensors, traffic sensors, weather sensors, your car, your HVAC and lighting systems, […]
Crisis Management May Mean Having to Say You’re Sorry
Q: My attorney says apologizing will be bad for future litigation – that apologizing means we are liable. What do you think? A: We often find ourselves wrestling with our client’s attorneys over the phrase “I’m sorry.” Somehow, through the years, attorneys have come to define the phrase “I’m sorry” as meaning “I’m liable. I […]