James Christodoulou, president and CEO of Industrial Shipping and Enterprises Corp., was at the center of communications around obtaining the safe release of 28 hostages held by Somali pirates on one of his company’s ships. Christodoulou, who hopes to never experience an event like that again, has advice for controlling information during a crisis—information he believes can be adapted to other situations.
• “Know your objective, and focus everything that you do on it. It sounds basic, but throughout this crisis I constantly referred to it during all communications.”
• “Be honest, up front and transparent in all of your communications, particularly if lives are on the line.”
• “Make sure that people understand exactly what you’re telling them, so there can be no misunderstandings.”
• “Information and message control is key: Keep people in the loop to the extent that you can, but be selective about who you disseminate information to.”