Crisis Management

There are no great ways to deliver a termination message. Still, firing 900 employees via Zoom without emotion, and then berating them online, is awful.

Alec Baldwin should have accepted some responsibility during his first interview since the fatal shooting. Instead, he botched an excellent moment.

What’s the best way to walk back a statement that, with time, becomes a misstatement? There are a number of options:

With experience in crisis, PR professionals may have to utilize their own tactics when it comes to diffusing an all-out brawl at a Thanksgiving family gathering. 

Crisis pros can learn from firefighters. While firefighters’ reverence for training is well known, it’s not automatic. They, too, battle complacency.

Reading McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski’s ill-conceived comments about recent shooting deaths of two children in Chicago (including one in a McDonald’s drive-thru) prompted out contributor to write about the Emotional Intelligence Quotient, or EQ.

Viewing the threat of ransomware through numbers illustrates its gravity. It takes an average of 280 days to identify and contain a breach and costs $1.85 million to remediate, double the 2020 figure. More than half (52 percent) of all breaches are deemed malicious.

More than half of organizations compromised in the past three years deployed some form of automated security system. This suggests that technology alone is not enough. The IT team must purposefully build, review and test a cybersecurity plan. So, how can communicators contribute? They can partner with experts to clearly explain this complex topic to the C-suite and employees.

Jes Staley wasn’t the first financial-sector heavyweight to step down after reports surfaced that he had ties with the late, notorious Jeffrey Epstein. Preceding the CEO of Barclays to the exits was billionaire Leon Black, CEO and chairman of Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm. Similarities between the Staley and Black stories are useful for crisis communicators.

The Astroworld Tragedy is gut-wrenching. A source told The New York Times that Houston Police Chief Troy Finner shared concerns about crowd control directly with performer Travis Scott in a visit right before the show. Municipal PR veteran John Guilfoil shares some PR learnings so far.

Football star Aaron Rodgers tarnished a stellar and lucrative reputation when he tried to get cute with the press about the COVID-19 vaccination.