Cats Sleeping With Dogs: How Lawyers and Crisis Communicators Can Work Together
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 […]
Dealing With a Crisis
The managing partner of Hennes Communications, Thom Fladung, was recently interviewed on the subject of crisis communications for Ari Lewis and his Mastering the Attention Economy video podcast. Tune-in here for a short, 20-minute master class on crisis management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7jTEG7cHaE
Eight Lessons I Learned from Hiring a Writing Coach
By Ari Lewis, writing in Crain’s Cleveland Business… The best athletes in the world have personal trainers: LeBron James, Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe. I knew that to be the best, I needed to hire a writing coach to take me to the next level. As a species, we have a monopoly on collective knowledge. So […]
Ten Things: Preparing Board of Director Meeting Minutes
From the desk of attorney Sterling Miller: Preparing board meeting minutes is another one of those tasks that no one really teaches you how to do, you just kind of figure it out. Or, at least, that’s how I learned. My learning method was pretty simple, when I first stepped into the role of corporate […]
Six Things Every Attorney Should Do When Hiring And Managing A Communications Team
Nathan Miller, writing in Forbes, nailed it… As the CEO of a strategic communications firm in Los Angeles, I frequently work with lawyers. Whether my client is a high-profile individual in the middle of active litigation, a nonprofit engaged in a public education campaign or a large corporation getting ahead of a story — good […]
The Role of the Board Chair During a Crisis
Achim Schmitt, Gilber Probst and Michael Tushman, writing for JuanRudolfo.com, offer an insightful look at nonprofit governance… Experienced chairpersons know that their success depends on how they walk the tightrope of being too involved or too remote in the company’s strategy execution. Yet when a crisis such as COVID-19 hits and the CEO transforms into […]
Creating a Post-Pandemic Crisis Team
By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications Pre-COVID, few of our clients had ever experienced a crisis event with the potential to threaten the very existence of their organization. Now, almost everyone we talk to has had first-hand experience managing disruptions in supplies, sales, finance, staffing, production, logistics, communications, marketing and technology. Some organizations have emerged stronger […]
Crisis Management – Your Organization’s Reputation is Its Largest Uninsured Asset
By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications Sexual misconduct, data theft, unfair labor practices, OSHA complaints, mergers & acquisitions, active shooters, layoffs, accusations, food tampering, employee fraud and product defects are just a few of the situations today’s CEOs face. It’s been said that an organization’s reputation is its largest uninsured asset – an asset that can […]
The Importance of Understanding and Fulfilling the Duty of Reasonable Care When Reopening School
From our good friend, David Wolowitz at McClane Middleton. While aimed primarily at independent schools, there are some good nuggets here for public schools. Independent schools planning to have students return to school before there is a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus are understandably concerned about potential liability if a returning student becomes severely ill […]
Crisis Communication: 5 Steps for Damage Control
By Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications, writing for The Wisconsin Lawyer: Attorney Andy Phillips, like many folks, looks back a bit wistfully at the “good old days.” “I wish it was back in the day where I could go home at 6 o’clock and sit down with the paper for a half hour,” says Phillips, whose […]