Shell’s Apology For Purchasing Russian Oil During Ukraine Crisis

Erik Bernstein Crisis Response

When the people speak, corporations listen Shell has joined a long list of companies being forced by public pressure into crisis management over not taking the hint to back out of business ventures with Russia as the invasion of Ukraine escalated. Thought it didn’t violate any official Western sanctions, Shell’s …

Avoiding the Legal Response Syndrome

Erik Bernstein litigation-related crisis management

  [Editor’s note: Australian crisis expert Dr. Tony Jaques has just published a new book which addresses the challenge of how to balance legal and communication advice when a crisis strikes: Crisis Counsel: Navigating legal and communication Conflict (Rothstein 2020). In this extract, he introduces the idea of what he …

Coronavirus and the Permanently Changed Face of 21st Century Crisis Management

Erik Bernstein crisis preparedness

  The face of 21st Century crisis management has been permanently changed, for worse and for better, by the coronavirus threat. We have always preached the idea of preparing for the worst while hoping for the best. The reality is that most organizations don’t fully prepare for the worst cases, …

Words Matter! Use the right ones.

Erik Bernstein crisis communications

  [Editor’s note: This guest post from crisis pro Janie Jordan highlights the importance of avoiding negative language in your crisis communications. While it’s more natural for many people to use words like don’t, not, won’t, or can’t when describing situations, substituting more positive or at least neutral ways to …

5 Reasons To Call A Crisis Management Consultant Today

Erik Bernstein crisis management consultant

Do you need a professional opinion? While it’s an established best practice to make crisis management a part of day-to-day business, we know the reality is that not everyone has room on their plate to truly make it a priority every single day. That said, it’s important to remember there’s …

COVID-19 crisis management: Preventing and responding to system flaws

Erik Bernstein Crisis Prevention

Preventing issues where you can Unprecedented volumes of email are slowing servers and crashing some systems. Customer service lines for many businesses are completely overwhelmed no matter how well staffed they thought they were. Websites are crashing, running erratically, and otherwise not performing as usual as a result of extremely …

Freakout Crisis Management: The Wrong Way to Respond to COVID-19

Erik Bernstein Crisis Response

Freaking out is not a crisis management plan Headless chickens running amok appear to be in charge of many organizations – including media outlets – in response to the spread of COVID-19 globally and its imminent status as a pandemic. Freakout Crisis Management is not an effective means of responding …

Do Your Crisis Management Firefighters Practice Their Skills?

Erik Bernstein crisis preparedness

Planning is important, but plans require practice to be used properly in a crisis Imagine you came upon a firefighting team just arrived at the scene of a fire, all milling around with leaders shouting conflicting orders, firefighters not recalling how to properly set up and use their equipment, and …

Crisis Manager On The Spot Returns!

Erik Bernstein crisis expert

Join us for quick pro tips from real crisis management consultants We’re bringing back a popular Bernstein Crisis Management series of short, informative blog posts, “Crisis Manager On The Spot”! These will typically feature questions for a crisis management consultant or other crisis-related expert, submitted by curious readers and our …

Know These Leadership Diseases So You Can Avoid Them

Erik Bernstein crisis leadership

  [Editor’s note: The author of this post, Paul Biddle MBE, has 23 years in UK Law Enforcement along with multiple tours of Iraq & Afghanistan. In other words, he knows some things about real world crisis management and crisis leadership. Today he explores issues, or as he calls them diseases, …