The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Editor’s Note from Bruce Hennes, CEO, Hennes Communications: Given mixed, confusing and contradictory messages coming from government officials, public health experts and the media about the pandemic and the vaccine, we felt it necessary to provide our clients with guidance for what to say to their employees and other stakeholders. To that end, we asked […]
Combat Crisis Communication Chaos in 2021
by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications COVID-19 catapulted client after client into chaos this year. They were all unprepared to talk about it. After all, who plans to talk about a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic? Maybe you went through the frightening drill yourself last spring: A colleague is the first in your company to test positive for COVID-19. […]
Your Brain’s Built-In Biases Insulate Your Beliefs from Contradictory Facts
Jay Maddock, Professor of Public Health, at Texas A&M University writes: A rumor started circulating back in 2008 that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. At the time, I was serving as chair of the Hawaii Board of Health. The director and deputy director of health, both appointed by a Republican governor, inspected […]
On-Line Review Response by Rogue Consultant Leads to Suspension for OK Lawyer
From our good friend, attorney Karen Rubin at Thompson Hine in Cleveland, writing in her blog, “The Law for Lawyers Today”: An Oklahoma lawyer was suspended last month for two years based on misconduct involving an unlawful response to a bad on-line review of the lawyer’s services. The disciplinary case is a lesson in being […]
Absorb Chaos, Transform It Into Calm and Give Back Hope
From Amy Boone, writing for Ethos3: At times, we are called to give presentations about new products or policies. Other times, we might be asked to inspire or challenge our audience members. But other times, we are called to speak into times of crisis. Maybe a business is losing revenue and the forecasted future is […]
Lawyers, Demigods, Outrage Management & Crisis Communications
By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications At Hennes Communications, we often tell clients that they have an attorney for the Court of Law. But they have us for the Court of Public Opinion. And those two courts often require different – and at times conflicting – strategies. Attorneys have persuasive arguments for tailoring a strategy completely around […]
A Sobering Study About the Allure of Fake News
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications Fake news has existed virtually since humans began to communicate. In the case of the United States, it’s existed since before we were the United States. You may have heard of one of its most skilled practitioners: Benjamin Franklin. In 1782, working on a homemade printing press in a Paris suburb, […]
Sex Up the Truth to Battle Fake News
by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications. Lies cut deeper and travel faster across social media than the truth, and it seems there is little truthsayers can do about it, according to M.I.T. data scientists in a new study published this week in Science. “The effects were more pronounced for false political news … We found that […]
You Took a PPP Loan. Now Get Ready to Talk About It.
By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications Late on Tuesday, December 1, The U.S. Small Business Administration released detailed information about the borrowers who received loans from the federal government’s $659 billion Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loans Program. The information released includes the names, precise amounts, addresses, industry codes, and lender information for the COVID-19 relief […]
10 Lessons From CEOs on How to Manage Corporate Reputation in a New Era of Activism
By Denise Brien, writing in FastCompany: A changing landscape of social, political, and business dynamics is creating a new set of challenges for CEOs. Corporations and their hard-won reputations now have as much to gain as they have to lose from sudden changes in perception. To gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities […]