Ono the Ostrich CRISIS MANAGER
The Internet Newsletter about Crisis Management
Editor: Erik Bernstein
Publisher: Jonathan Bernstein

"For Those Who Are Crisis Managers,
Whether They Want to be or Not"


ISSN:1528-3836
© 2015 Jonathan Bernstein

Donald Trump Suffering from Foot-in-Mouth Disease


Volume XVI, Number 11

June 30, 2015

Just a Thought


From the Editor
Even when you already have a reputation as a tremendous blowhard who's demonstrated an affinity for placing foot in mouth you can go too far, and that's exactly what Donald Trump did when he slammed Mexican immigrants during his presidential campaign announcement two weeks ago, stating:

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best...They're sending people who have lots of problems," Trump said. "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people."

Spanish language network Univision was the first to cut ties with Trump, ending its deal to televise Trump's Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants. NBC, which actually co-owns the Miss Universe Organization itself, followed suit and cut ties with Trump after an awkward period in which the network reportedly held intense internal discussions on the many PR and legal issues at play.

While it's inarguably the right move reputation-wise, NBC is now in a precarious situation from a legal standpoint. There's no guarantee they had a behavior contract with Trump as one might for other celebrities they feature due to the working nature of the relationship between the network and the Trump Organization itself, and could well be in for a serious court battle. Trump, as usual, has taken the fight straight into the public eye, declaring to anyone who will listen that he's coming after the two networks. He's already begun bringing the Brian Williams situation into the argument, declaring "they will stand behind lying Brian Williams, but won't stand behind people that tell it like it is, as unpleasant as that may be."

Knowing Trump there's going to be a lot more mud-slinging before this situation is put to rest, and while he's pretty well known as "out there" he's not so far out that his words can't have serious impact if they catch on in the mainstream.

A sticky situation, and a firm reminder to be very, very careful of not only who you make business deals with but also and how you cover your rear when it comes to the contractual side of things. Trump's too good at publicity to let the networks steer this completely out of the public eye, so we'll be watching closely to see how things play out.

- Erik


Interested in reprinting BCM articles or blog posts?
We're happy to give permission for material to be reprinted in hard copy or online!

If you find something you would like to reprint, simply submit a request to jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.


Blogs!

Our blogs on the Bernstein Crisis Management page and at the Free Management Library cover topics ranging from reputation management, to social media, to crisis management case studies and more.
In this section we take look at some of the most popular posts from recent weeks:

Cyber Threats 101 is a quick primer on the types of tech-based attacks you can expect to see and how to best prepare your organization.

Studies show information breaches are a particularly serious threat to financial firms in particular, making Reputation and the Financial Sector a must-read for anyone in the field.

The Army.mil Hack is a Reminder of the Need to Prepare your own organization for the very real possibility of being hacked.

MLB's Cardinals were Caught in a Pickle after the Alleged Astros Hack, and will likely go down in history as the first-ever professional sports team to be caught red-handed after hacking another.

Every organization is likely to make a promise they later realize they can't keep. Recovering from a Failure to Deliver is a case study of just such a situation that highlights both mistakes and failures anyone can learn from.

Customer Service, Reputation, and the Bottom Line are all intertwined. Ignore one, and you're risking serious trouble.

The best workforces are made up of a variety of people with different backgrounds, ideas, and ways of communicating. [Infographic] Conflict in the Workplace will help you to stop temporary clashes from becoming major issues.

Do you have a topic you'd like to see featured in our blogs? Send an email to erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com and there's a good chance you'll be seeing it right here in the next issue!


Apropos of Nothing

Make Some Easy Money

Bernstein Crisis Management pays VERY generous referral commissions, a nice chunk of the first year's business from any referred client.

Avoid The Apology
Clueless advertising folks at Anheuser-Busch eliciting widespread anger with a Bud Lite commercial featuring the tagline "The perfect beer for removing 'no' from your vocabulary for the night";

Sea World launching its disastrous #askseaworld campaign, not thinking through how that hashtag could be comically and sadly hijacked;

Starbucks kicking off - and then aborting - its ill-considered "Race Together" campaign; or,

Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart's hand-picked replacement on "The Daily Show," coming under fierce online criticism for anti-Semitic and otherwise insensitive tweets.

So many of the damaging crises we see making headlines and creating costs every day could have been prevented if someone first asked, "What the (expletive deleted) could go wrong with this idea?" That's the premise behind Bernstein Crisis Management's AvoidTheApology.com.

To learn more, email
erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.

Bernsteins Available to Deliver Free Guest Lectures, Q&A Sessions

Jonathan alone, or the team of Jonathan and Erik Bernstein, are available at no charge to deliver guest lectures and host Q&A sessions with college classes via Skype or Google Hangout.

For our latest presentation we had the pleasure of speaking with Fred Muir's crisis communications class at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

The lectures are fun for us and students, and we're more than happy to allow recording for your future use. All you need at your end is a single computer with webcam and a strong broadband connection for us to appear in your classroom in real-time.

Contact us for more info!

Attention Corporate Boards of Directors (and those who serve them).

If you're connected with a corporate board of directors in some way and think that board would benefit from having a veteran crisis management pro amongst its membership, please contact me. -- Jonathan


Business Announcements

(aka blatant self-promotion)

Preparing Candidates for C-Suite Interviews

In 2014, a client familiar with Jonathan Bernstein's media training techniques suggested that the same methods would help her husband, a candidate for a C-Suite position at several companies, be better focused and prepared for his interviews. She was right and, as he moved through the interview process, the candidate received a number of one-hour trianing sessions by Jonathan, via webcam. That candidate is now the CFO of a $23 billion company and is available as a confidential reference.

Jonathan Bernstein is available to provide the same training to others, write jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com
Are Your Social Media Managers Crisis Trained?

A solid social media manager has quickly become a must-have for organizations of any size, and can make an immense difference by driving in customers and building your positive reputation online.

The problem is, the vast majority are simply not equipped to even identify building crises, much less take the steps necessary to cope with and mitigate the damage that can result.

That's where we come in.

Bernstein Crisis Management is now offering crisis management training for social media managers, both independent and in-house, as well as social media firms.

For an overview of our services, estimates, or more information, contact erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com

Traditional Social Media Training


Want to get your feet wet with social media but don't know where to start? Maybe you have accounts, but aren't sure what to post, or how to reply?

Being active on social media is a must these days, but you have to do it right. Erik Bernstein now offers social media training sessions in person or via Skype for groups and individuals.

For questions or pricing info, please email erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com

Expanded Crisis Manager Bookstore

We've recently expanded the Crisis Manager Bookstore to include offerings from esteemed colleagues like Melissa Agnes, Gerald Baron, Chris Syme and Jim Lukaszewski that cover topics from crisis communication and traditional PR to social media and cutting-edge crisis management. We'll be adding other authors we admire in the weeks ahead.


Visit the new Crisis Manager Bookstore to see all of the material available now!

Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training

Book Cover
JPG

Learn how to deal with traditional or social media during a crisis in this educational and entertaining guide from

Crisis Manager publisher Jonathan Bernstein.

$25 for hard copy, $10 for PDF.

Head to the Crisis Manager Bookstore for more information and/or to purchase.

MgrsGuideCover

Whether you're a seasoned manager, aspiring up-and-comer, or student of crisis management, Jonathan Bernstein's textbook,Manager's Guide to Crisis Management will put you in control of any situation.



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.



About Us

Erik
Bernstein

Jonathan Bernstein is both publisher of Crisis Manager and president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., 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 at: jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.

Erik Bernstein is vice president of Bernstein Crisis Management. Erik started with BCM in 2009 as a writer and subsequently became social media manager for the consultancy itself as well as for a number of BCM clients before moving to the VP position.

Write to Erik at: erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.

Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. is located at 700 S. Myrtle Ave., #404, Monrovia, CA 91016. Telephone: (626) 825-3838.



Legal Disclaimer (aka the small print)

All information contained herein is obtained by Jonathan Bernstein from sources believed by Jonathan Bernstein to be accurate and reliable.

Because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, neither Jonathan Bernstein nor Bernstein Crisis Management is responsible for any errors or omissions. All information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Bernstein Crisis Management and Jonathan Bernstein make no representations and disclaim all express, implied, and statutory warranties of any kind to the user and/or any third party including, without limitation, warranties as to accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose.

Unless due to willful tortuous misconduct or gross negligence, Jonathan Bernstein and Bernstein Crisis Management shall have no liability in tort, contract, or otherwise (and as permitted by law, product liability), to the user and/or any third party.

Under no circumstance shall Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein be liable to the user and/or any third party for any lost profits or lost opportunity, indirect, special, consequential, incidental, or punitive damages whatsoever, even if Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

A service of this newsletter is to provide news summaries and/or snippets to readers. In such instances articles and/or snippets will be reprinted as they are received from the originating party or as they are displayed on the originating website or in the original article. As we do not write the news, we merely point readers to it, under no circumstance shall Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein be liable to the user and/or any third party for any lost profits or lost opportunity, indirect, special, consequential, incidental, or punitive damages whatsoever due to the distribution of said news articles or snippets that lead readers to a full article on a news service's website, even if Bernstein Crisis Management or Jonathan Bernstein has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Authors of the original news story and their publications shall be exclusively held liable. Any corrections to news stories are not mandatory and shall be printed at the discretion of the list moderator after evaluation on a case-by-case basis.

In This Issue
Just A Thought
Blogs!
Apropos of Nothing
Quick Links
Contact

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