Never Tell a Journalist It’s Not a Story
Is the CEO or P.R. person the best to face the cameras in a crisis? How do P.R. reps get into journalists’ good books? Daily Mirror editor Peter Willis gave the lowdown at a recent PRWeek’s Crisis Communications conference. Asked what advice he’d give a PR facing a journalist who is acting aggressively, Willis said: […]
Preparing For a Company Crisis: Protecting Your Business’ People, Assets & Reputation
A Conversation on Company Crisis Preparedness with former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, from Boss Magazine — Every business leader thinks and rethinks their business strategy, weighing the strengths, analyzing the weaknesses, pondering the opportunities and scrutinizing the threats. But when it comes to a company crisis, how many are applying that same due […]
In Its Response to Sex Abuse Allegation, Sidwell Friends Joins Other Private Schools in Pursuing Transparency
Unfortunately, one of the fastest growth areas of business – and amongst the saddest – are the calls we receive at Hennes Communications with allegations of sexual misconduct. For scores of years, the prevailing wisdom was ignore, obfuscate, transfer and protect privacy and reputations at all-costs. Like so many pendulums, times change, and it’s now […]
To Our Lawyer Friends – Who’s Really at Fault in Sea Lion Attack?
From CNN.com: Video has emerged of a little girl being dragged off a pier and into the water (a few weeks ago) by a sea lion in British Columbia. The girl’s family reportedly had been feeding the sea lion and whistling or holding their hands over the water, as if they were holding a treat. The video […]
A Lawyer, C.I.A. Analyst and a Crisis Management Specialist Walk Into a Bar…
[by Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications] Before James Comey headed up the F.B.I., he served as general counsel of Lockheed Martin Corporation. While at Lockheed, he spoke at the National Security Agency about how studying law is similar to the education intelligence analysts receive. “You read a case and decipher…relevant facts, the [outcome] of the case…you […]
Social Media Panic at Schools: Crisis Management during False Alarms
[by Howard Fencl] A photo of a bomb with today’s date is found in a high school restroom. The school is evacuated. Police are called. Students seeing police with guns drawn on the campus misconstrue the scene as an active shooter on the loose and again call police. They also post the misinformation on social […]
Why ‘Sorry” is Still the Hardest Word
From Michael M. Grynbaum at the New York Times: “I’m sorry.” Two simple words, not so simply said. On Wednesday, the public representatives of two embattled American institutions — United Airlines and the White House — found themselves on national television grappling with a delicate and increasingly common ritual of the corporate and political worlds: […]
Apologies, Non-Apologies, Fauxpologies, Conditional Apologies & Past Exoneratives
By Stan Carey: Writing in 2012 about the nature of apologies, I said that being sorry is about more than just saying the words, “but the words, as an explicit admission of wrongdoing or shortcoming, can be an important part of reconciliation.” With a non-apology the aims and effects are wholly different. The person delivering […]
Crisis Management: Preparing for the Next Big Event
From Deloitte: No matter the crisis—a billion-euro loss, a breach that leaves millions of customer records at risk or a major airline accident with the CEO on board—organizations can take steps to weather the storm, according to Jeremy Smith, global leader of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s Crisis Management practice. But instead of aiming merely for […]
Leaders Need Flexible Body Language
From Dr. Carol Kinsey Goman: Before the meeting began, Adam had assumed a “power pose,” standing with hands on hips and feet wide apart, for two full minutes, to get all the advertised benefits of doing so. And it worked. He could almost feel his stress level lowering and his self-confidence rising. By the time […]