Going to School on Crisis Management
[By Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] David Wolowitz is a brilliant attorney who advises independent schools all over the world on every prickly nuance of crisis management and risk avoidance. He recently penned “A Crisis is Coming. Is Your Board on Board?” that offered seven steps independent schools should take to plan for, and deal with, […]
Q&A: On the Covington Catholic High School controversy and the use of ‘dark magic’ crisis communications
A recent attendee to a Hennes Communications presentation by Bruce Hennes was prompted to email us this question, regarding the incident in Washington, D.C., involving high school students from Covington, Ky., two different groups of activists and whether clever use of crisis communications on behalf of the students had made the incident “go away.” Here’s […]
A Crisis Management Lesson: Leaders Under Fire Who Choose to Say Nothing Give People Nothing to Believe In
By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications From pointed guns to pointed fingers, the damage left in the wake of the Feb. 14, 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, has been gut-wrenching. The gunman, of course, is ultimately to blame for an act of pure evil. But many others involved, from the police officers first […]
Sorry Really Does Work – Boston Hospital’s Apology to Widower
By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications We’ve long been fans and proponents of Sorry Works! In fact, I make sure to include information about Sorry Works! in literally every single presentation I do throughout the year (over 110 in 2018). From their web page: Sorry Works! is the nation’s leading disclosure training & advocacy organization. They […]
Resolved for 2019: Overhaul Your Crisis Communication Plan So It’s “Social First”
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] This may be a shocker, but you knew it was coming: More Americans now get news from social media than from print. I’ll say that again: More Americans now get their news from social media than from newspapers. That’s according to a new report out by the Pew Research Center. […]
A Playbook for CEOs Attacked by Trump: Thrust, Parry, Ignore
From Kevin Miller, writing for Bloomberg: (Bloomberg) — Bosses of the world’s largest corporations are still learning to deal with one modern peril: when President Donald Trump shows he’s not afraid to call them out on Twitter. General Motors Corp. is the latest example. Even though Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra reached out to to […]
The Stakes are Higher for Women in Charge of Safety
By Rachel Schallom, writing for Poynter: The first time I made a security decision, my stomach was in knots from the moment I said yes to the second I got the text confirming the reporter was home safely. This wasn’t an international story. The reporter took a short car ride to the assignment and would […]
Balancing Fun and Professionalism At The Holiday Office Party
From Carol Kinsey Goman: Are you planning to attend your office holiday party? I hope so. This is a great occasion to relax and have a good time — and can be a highly anticipated, positive antidote to year-end stress. But anytime you combine fun with professionalism, it can also be a challenge. Here are ten tips […]
2018’s Best Crisis Management Response: The Crisis Was Live, Southwest Airlines Was Ready
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications We’re hard-wired to hope bad news goes away. And when that hope is dashed, as it so often is, we hope that the fewest number of people possible find out about our bad news. So, imagine your bad news being broadcast live to potentially millions of people. That’s what Southwest Airlines […]
The Body Language of Collaboration
From Carol Kinsey Goman: Most leaders agree that effective collaboration is more important than ever in today’s turbulent business environment. But the collaboration so critical to organizations is being blocked by internal power struggles, by a lack of unified goals and rewards, by a self-preservation instinct that results in information hoarding — and, perhaps surprisingly, […]