08.15.06
ISSN:1528-3836
© 2006 Jonathan Bernstein
Circulation: 4,000+
Estimated Readership: 14,000+
JUST A THOUGHT
"He doesn't even look like he would know which end of the barrel the bullet would come out of," said a neighbor of accused Phoenix serial killer and avid gun collector Dale Hausner.
CRISIS MANAGER UNIVERSITY
Terrorism 2006 - What It Means For Crisis Managers
Editorial Comment by Jonathan Bernstein
Last week, in early August 2006, real-life James Bonds wiped out a terrorist splinter cell and saved the lives of thousands.
I hope those intelligence and police agency heroes get the adulation they deserve.
I hope that crisis managers worldwide learn the lessons inherent in this near-miss.
And most of all, I hope that leaders of organizations large and small provide their crisis managers with the support they need to act on these lessons, promptly and thoroughly.
Here are a few of the lessons:
Lesson 1: For The Bush Administration
Learn the difference between "spinning" and "positioning" and realize that you can no longer "spin" spending far less on the many different aspects of homeland security than you are spending on "security" in Iraq and Afghanistan. It violates one of the basic principles of effective crisis management to continue to defend an indefensible position.
Lesson 2: For Every Free World Organization
What would you have done if you had key executives get blown to hell in one of the targeted airplanes? What would you have done if the subsequent freeze in air travel and, probably, at least some ground travel, had blocked movement of your personnel and shipment of essential products? You don't have to be a direct target of terrorism to be indirectly, but powerfully, impacted. Stop putting business continuity and crisis communications planning on the financial and operational back burner.
Lesson 3: Do Your Part To Prevent Terrorism
There is global terrorism as with Al Qaeda, and there is home-grown terrorism, as with the Oklahoma City bombing. Terrorists directly or indirectly associated with Al Qaeda have been of multiple nationalities, not all of them Middle or Near Eastern. Every organization should have awareness of how it might inadvertently make terrorism easier. See the links at
www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/IAIPMemorandumSuspiciousActivityReportingCriteria080304.pdf
and
http://www.strom.clemson.edu/opinion/whitehurst/transterror.pdf
as examples of useful information readily available on the Internet. Be aware of the warning signs of all types of terrorism (e.g., eco-terrorism, bioterrorism, cyber-terrorism) and not just those associated with direct physical attacks.
Lesson 4: Do Not Tar Everyone With The Same Brush
In the wake of the UK scare, the fear felt by all will turn into bigotry-driven anger against, in this case, people of Pakistani origin and anyone who even looks like they might come from that region of the world. My fellow Americans, we are a nation forged from the melding of hundreds of cultures, and yet we are some of the world's worst bigots. We extrude our distrust and dislike outside our borders after exercising it thoroughly inside those boundaries. Now, more than ever, we need to look at the face in our mirror and say, "Let tolerance begin with me." Or else we will have another crisis of extreme proportions. One involving deaths, injuries, property damage, and lost jobs caused not by the "real" terrorists, but by racists. One involving a wide variety of both criminal prosecutions against offenders and lawsuits by the victims.
Are we now going to exhibit prejudice against anyone who we think MIGHT have roots in one of the dozens of countries from which a tiny handful of terrorists have originated? Are we going to oppress émigrés from countries such as Iraq who came to the U.S. and other countries because they were running away from the oppression of the Hussein regime, or from religious persecution?
As a crisis manager, as a human being, as an American, I choose to cast my stones at those who would truly hurt us and to learn how to know the difference between my friends and my enemies - and if I can't always do that with my heart, I can at least use my head.
NEW RULES FOR TRAVEL
I wanted to do readers the public service of giving you the link to the Transportation Security Administration's new list of security procedures we all must follow when traveling, at least in the U.S. (it may well be tougher at some overseas locations):
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/new-procedures.shtm
Editor's Note: I received quite a few complimentary emails from readers enthused about part one of Allen Johnson's crisis management whodunit, although relatively few wanted to take on the challenge of offering either serious or funny responses. This issue, I am pleased to bring you the case history as it actually happened, followed by the winning contest entries by Shirley Fulton and Jeffrey Rubin. Some of you know that my first career was in military intelligence, and I haven't seen this much "tradecraft" used in a single crisis management case since leaving the Army! My particular congrats to Shirley for an assessment and recommendations that were remarkably close to what actually occurred. Each winner gets their choice of receiving a Crisis Manager University t-shirt, mug or baseball cap, and thank you to all who entered.
A Case Of Crisis Management - Part 2 of 2
By Allen Johnson
Recap
In part 1, the main points were as follows:
- Our client, a Value-Added Reseller of telecommunications switch technologies, had the majority of his Northern Office sales force defect to a major competitor, taking with them quantities of company confidential material.
- Leaving en masse on the Friday, they returned the next day and spent four hours in the offices of their employer; where they removed information of considerable commercial value and deleted emails, documents and files from their own laptops.
- With our help, our client had developed and implemented a Crisis Communications strategy, sending an appropriate message to all interested audiences.
- We recommended a lawyer, Peter McRae, whose specialization is Employment Law, to our client. The purpose was to pursue the 'traitors' through proper legal process, and our client engaged him.
- The 'traitors' included a 'mole', a 20-year old administrator, who they left behind and who kept them informed as to the intentions and actions of our client in pursuing them.
And questions emerged as to how to progress the situation to win:
1. What to do with the traitors?
2. What to do with the 'mole'?
3. How to manage the crisis so as to limit the damage?
4. How do we keep the matter quiet?
What to do with the traitors?
The lawyer, Peter McRae, advised of how we could gain an insight into what had been taken and how it would be used. He advised against outright confrontation, because that would introduce the unnecessary expense of a clash of lawyers; something that would prolong the process and increase costs. He also knew the firm of lawyers that represented the firm to which the traitors had defected. He advised that the legal firm in question was aggressive and would likely take an offensive approach which would not help us one iota. Instead of going in to attack, he advised professional surveillance; and in so doing, our story slips into the shadowy world of covert activity. And because the salesmen saw and heard nothing, it lulled them into a false sense of security and they started to make mistakes.
Whilst this was occurring, computer forensic technicians were finding and rebuilding files and records that had been deleted from the salesmen's laptops. The catch included emails to each other, letters to their intended future employer, lists of confidential documents, entire databases, contact details, contractual information, internal memoranda, etc.; enough to make their intentions clear and undeniable.
The surveillance activity, on the other hand, produced a wide range of material. The world of 007 is more sophisticated than the films would have you believe. Rooms were tapped with microphones, meetings between salesmen and prospects were recorded from long range camera where window vibration provided the medium to pick up voice. Trash cans were searched for disposed material, and this proved to be the major source of damning information. The source of the stolen material was easy to prove with some of it being annotated by identifiable handwriting. This discovery gave clear insight as to how the traitors were using the information they had removed. In their boldness, they had been careless with the evidence which was now in our possession.
McRae was convinced that the easiest way to conclude matters was to undermine the bond between all conspirators and to do so at a speed that would be confusing. To break the bond between the defectors, McRae played a masterstroke by devising a plan that was to confuse and mislead them into thinking they would get away with it. Our client arranged a final meeting between his Head of Human Resources and each man, all at the same time and on the same day. These people were still on 'gardening leave' and this was their exit interview, or so they were led to believe. The meeting was to be held at the northern office where the London-based Senior Managers were unlikely to attend and each culprit turned up at the appointed time, each prepared, each confident and all ready. When they turned up, they were greeted by smiling faces and shown to a meeting room where they found not the Head of Human Resources but his Deputy Manager, a mild mannered, bespectacled lady of advanced years, her grey hair pinned and folded into a bun. There was an overt camaraderie between these conspirators and this was going to be a breeze for them. By their countenance their confidence was high. As they sat collectively in front of her and separated by a highly polished Board Room table, she asked if they would like coffee or tea, and with their declared preferences, she left the room.
Enter the full complement of the firm's Senior Management from a door behind where these men were all seated, filing both sides of the table they smartly moved to the position the HR lady had occupied and sat down. They were all wearing black suits, crisp white shirts and black ties. They looked like Mafia or funeral guests, call it what you will but the "uniform" was intended to unnerve by visual impact, and it worked. This shock tactic instantly changed the mood. Tony Church lifted the front cover sheet of a flip chart, revealing a complete list of accusations and invited them to comment. The ringleader took this bull by the horns and began an aggressive riposte and insisted on the production of evidence. Our management team placed two flimsy files on the table and invited the accused to "come clean" - this was their final chance. In the belief that these two small files represented the entirety of the evidence against them, they did no such thing; choosing instead to be even more bullish in responses. At this point, the door behind them again opened and four big boxes of materials were wheeled in by a large man who was immediately followed by Peter McRae. The boxes contained the collective efforts of the surveillance team and forensic technicians. A summary of the contents of each box was on top and read out aloud by a smiling McRae. He continued to further confuse them by "lawyer speak" and then, with his smile now removed, he suddenly upped the ante to a £50,000 out-of-court settlement; which he suggested should be divided between the perpetrators, each in proportion to his direct involvement in the misdeeds. Each senior manager chose a defector and removed him to another room. This tactic completely confused them and severed their alliances at a stroke and they instantly turned on one another; each man doing his own deal. And the matter was settled, with the aftertaste of bitterness, feuding and betrayal between all defecting salesmen. After all, betrayal for personal gain was their driving force in the first place and what McRae had done was to use this behaviour by turning it in on them. The case was won.
Furthermore, these men were never going to now work together, thus their use to their new employer was also at an end. Two birds - and one stone.
What to do with the 'mole'?
She, her name is Amy, was approached, confessed and resigned.
However, we got to understand that she had been promised riches aplenty and a new career by the ringleader if she stayed behind to gather and communicate intelligence. To cement her allegiance, she was also told by the ringleader that since she was part of the process, she could not sensibly report the treachery and expect to keep her job. Amy was naïve, vulnerable and trapped.
Her position was completely untenable but because she had been used covertly by both sides, her wrongdoings were known to only Viner, Church and yours truly. We explained her position to Church and suggested that he keep her on and that she needed a clear understanding of how he felt about the matter, which he did. She confessed her part in sufficient detail that he knew there was nothing else she was hiding; and she was drowning in a sobbing remorse. Amy stayed.
How to manage the crisis so as to limit the damage?
Most damage limitation had already been done through the implementation of the Crisis Communications Management process. The salesmen had now also signed an undertaking that they had returned or destroyed all materials and that they could not use any related material for a period of 6 months. The CEO of the company to which they had defected was made aware of the situation, something of which he confessed he was previously ignorant, although his confession was less than convincing.
How do we keep the matter quiet?
Despite a desire to the contrary, we did not keep it quiet. The only way to keep a secret is to tell nobody; and with twenty or so people in the loop, secrecy was an unlikely and untrusted outcome. Therefore, the managed and purposefully directed release of information proved the favoured option. Journals and magazines that are industry specific, tend to be rightly focused on the technical subjects which are of interest to their targeted readership, in this case electronics engineers and the like. So when a story as juicy as this comes along, they behave like the tabloid press by sensationalizing the story. "Hold the front page!" And it was duly published front page material, with the traitors and their new employer being named and shamed and with a photograph of the smiling and victorious Tony Church.
And as an added bonus, Church received phone calls from a couple of other competitor CEOs, acknowledging their respective competitive positions in the marketplace, and also congratulating him on his actions.
If I was the CEO of the company to which these salesmen defected, I would dismiss them without delay. Any advantage that these people may have brought with them, was too dangerous, too contaminated and rendered useless. The damage they inflict is too severe, and too lasting. Furthermore, they could repeat their treachery.
As an odd twist of fate, Tony Church's P.A. left to start a family and Amy was approached to fill the vacancy. She is now his P.A. and if you wanted breathing evidence of unswerving loyalty, she is a shining example.
Justice served on the unjust still has a place, as does compassion.
McRae became the new external lawyer for Church's company, displacing the incumbent legal firm and as an added bonus, the firm to which the salesmen were defecting was so impressed by McRae, that they hired him too.
And as for us, the rest of the project was boring by comparison, but there was immense satisfaction for a job well done, and we raised a glass or two.
Allen Johnson
Director, Scenaris Ltd
www.Scenaris.co.uk
This article is made available courtesy of NDR, a leading UK Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Services vendor.
The Winning Serious Response
By Shirley Fulton
Media Relations Guru
Middleton, WI
Author, Beat the Press
How to deal with the traitors?
Because this is a criminal matter it's a chance to turn the crisis into an opportunity for great publicity!
The client has been wronged and just about everybody craves a story about good guys and bad guys with such clear lines of demarcation, especially the media.
What I would recommend to the client is to move quickly, decisively and cunningly. Don't fight this in the courts just yet; there are too many possibilities for a speedy and positive resolution if the cards are played right.
First Priority: Rapidly Amass Proof!
People are often arrogant and careless when acting so brazenly and it takes some CSI style sleuthing to uncover their mistakes. Once accomplished, the threat of consequences are powerful motivators.
1. Not everything is actually obliterated from a computer. Believing that files are unrecoverable once they are deleted is a mistake many intelligent people have lived to regret.
- Bring in the computer gurus to recover lost files and emails. Since this was a well-orchestrated group effort, they must have been communicating with one another and possibly even with their new employer through email. Somebody is bound to have been sloppy about covering his or her tracks.
- Has the trash been emptied? That's another good source of recoverable material (I learned this the hard way.)
2. Once the evidence is assembled, employ a tactic used successfully by police all over the world since time immemorial: get the rats to turn on one another.
This is, after all, a criminal matter! When confronted with their crimes and made to understand the scary consequences of their actions, it's amazing how quickly even good friends will turn on one another. For this to be most effective, you'd need to approach them separately AT THE SAME TIME, like the police do. Don't give them an opportunity to conspire and scheme and consult with an attorney.
- They may be suspicious of an exit interview. Have them come in to collect their final paycheck and sign a form to continue their health coverage or some such guise. Appeal to their greed and self-interest.
Having them rat on one another also solves the little problem of their working together for the competitor. They are now damaged goods and predictably will hate one another. :)
Of course you could go the lawsuit route, but do you really want this to drag on and on and on in a court of law for months or even years when the damage is being done NOW in the court of public/client opinion?
What to do with the mole?
If you've done the above, she's of little use to you. But if the evidence gathering doesn't yield fruitful results because they really did cover their tracks well, confronting her and explaining the consequences of her complicity may give you some useful information.
"We have proof of this illegal activity and your involvement in it and heads are going to roll! Talk NOW or you will be part of our lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in damages and you will be required to testify in a court of law. You walk out of here without telling us everything you know and the damage to your reputation will be enormous!" (Make sure to slam a big box of the supposed evidence on the table in front of her for effect.) Also, have several higher ups in the room to really make her squirm. Someone wearing a police-like uniform would be a nice touch....
Then watch this little birdie sing...
How to manage the crisis so as to limit the damage?
Already explained above. But intellectual property laws must carry some consequences for the competitor using stolen information. He or she should be contacted posthaste and pressured with the threat of an injunction as well.
How do we keep the matter quiet?
You're kidding, right?
No way this is still a secret when so many people know about it, so don't waste your time on that fairy dream. Instead, use the typical communication vehicles to propel the smarmy scheme to spin in your direction.
A few phone calls to the traditional and technical press should get the word out quick.
This is juicy stuff and the client is the wronged party! Public opinion will be on THEIR SIDE!!! Use it for some free publicity.
After all, you'll have signed forms from the traitors as proof.
The Winning Funny Response
By Jeffrey Rubin
Department of Emergency Management
Tulatin Valley Fire and Rescue
How To Deal With The Traitors? Enter a note in their personnel file (should future employers request a reference) chastising them for not attending an exit interview. [Editor's Alternate Answer: As soon as they start in their new positions, start blogs in their names in which they talk, disparagingly, about their new employer and brag about taking advantage of their former employer.]
What To Do With The Mole? She's either promotable or our newest sales intern. She'd have been able to skip the intern phase if she had been able to make it out of the room without tipping her hand, but apparently she still has the moral deficit necessary for sales. Another option is to "turn" her so she provides misinformation, or even giving her an infected file to share with her co-conspirators and thus bring down the system of their new employer while sullying their reputations in the process.
How To Manage The Crisis? New ad campaign: the product is so good that the competition wants to get it by hook or by crook (the ad could feature a hook to show what they haven't tried yet).
How Do We Keep The Matter Quiet? Three choices, in no particular order: 1) Issue complete details in a lengthy tome with a polysyllabic title no reporter will either understand or touch (e.g., "Extensive data tables with no pictures on mendacious malfeasance"); 2) Notify DOJ that a reporter is about to leak something with security implications: a complete embargo should soon follow, which should get you through a news cycle or two and may even become its own story; 3) Start a rumor that Mel Gibson is the new spokesman for the competition.
CRISIS MANAGER BUSINESS ANNOUNCEMENTS
Keeping The Wolves At Bay
Keeping the Wolves at Bay (available in print and PDF formats) remains, to my knowledge, the only commercially published media training manual in the world. It can be purchased at www.thecrisismanager.com, and its pages can be modified to make it YOUR "name brand" media training manual if you are an agency or organization that frequently conducts training. If the latter subject is of interest to you, write to:
jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
What Does That Slogan Mean?
By popular demand, I have re-opened an online store at which I sell clothing and mugs featuring the famous "Crisis Manager University" emblem and its infamous slogan, "Quoniam Stercus Accidit". That translates to "Because Stuff Happens." Except the real word isn't "stuff." There's only a 10% markup at the store to cover my costs -- it's a turnkey operation hosted by Cafe Press. I have found the items there to be a major hit with my clients and associates and great gift for any crisis manager. My purpose is to share my sense of humor with like (sick) minds as well as to prompt some folks to ask, "Who came up with this idea?" You can visit the store at www.cafepress.com/crisismanager.
CD-ROM: Crisis Management & The Law
How PR Pros & Lawyers Can Work Together Effectively
Featuring Jonathan Bernstein, Richard Levick and Ed Novak
On February 23, 2005, Jonathan Bernstein played talk show host and expert commentator in a one-hour teleseminar featuring internationally renowned litigation PR expert Richard Levick and one of the country's top white collar crime attorneys, Ed Novak. This CD-ROM is a "must have" to play for the executive staff of any organization, for practice group meetings at law firms, or for the entire staff of any PR agency.
Go to www.thecrisismanager.com to read more details about and/or to order this CD-ROM, and to learn of other educational and training materials produced by Jonathan Bernstein.
PLAIN ENGLISH DISCLOSURE
Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. has formal or informal co-promotional and mutually beneficial business associations with a number of the services we mention periodically in this newsletter. No, we can't go into details because that's confidential, proprietary, etc. But our relationship is NOT "arm's distance" and you should know that, since we regularly write about these services as we use them for crisis and issues management or other purposes. That said, you should also know that Bernstein Crisis Management sought the relationships because its staff is convinced that these services are the best of their kind for Bernstein Crisis Management's needs and those of its clients. If you have any questions about these relationships, please contact Jonathan Bernstein, (626) 825-3838.
ABOUT THE EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, a national crisis management public relations agency providing 24/7 access to crisis response professionals. The agency engages in the full spectrum of crisis management services: crisis prevention, response, planning & training. He has been in the public relations field since 1982, following five-year stints in both military intelligence and investigative reporting. Write to jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. is located at 180 S. Mountain Trail, Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Telephone: (626) 825-3838.
GUEST AUTHORS
GUEST AUTHORS are very welcome to submit material for "Crisis Manager." There is no fee paid, but most guest authors have reported receiving business inquiries as a result of appearing in this publication. Case histories, experience-based lessons, commentary on current news events and editorial opinion are all eligible for consideration. Submission is not a guarantee of acceptance.
LINKS
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