Recent burst of serious disruptions highlights need for crisis preparedness and planning Ransomware hackers shut down a critical oil pipeline. A single ship blocks the entire Suez Canal. Animal rights protestors blockade four McDonald’s distribution centers in the UK, impacting 1,300 restaurants. Covid-19 disrupts every aspect of the global supply …
5 Tips: How to Select a Crisis Management Consultant
5 Tips: How to Select a Crisis Management Consultant Choose the right crisis management consultant with this advice from an expert First, what IS a crisis management consultant, at least in the world of PR? Well, the best analogy we’ve ever seen is that of firefighting. If you want to …
Death By Committee
How Some Well-Intentioned Meetings Increase the Risk of Crises Committees can be very useful for hearing different points of view, working out details of plans, and building consensus. Committees can also be the inadvertent cause of completely preventable crises and/or exacerbate the damage from unpreventable crises. I remember around the …
Is There a Loose Cannon on Your Deck?
Is There a Loose Cannon on Your Deck? By Jonathan Bernstein & Anthony Moore Loose cannon referred to an actual weapon before it entered the language as a metaphor. In the days before ships were equipped with fixed-turret guns, muzzle-loading cannons were mounted on wheels and rolled back and forth …
The 10 Biggest Mistakes in Crisis Communications
The 10 Biggest Mistakes in Crisis Communications By Jonathan Bernstein All organizations are vulnerable to crises. Disasters, lawsuits, accusations of impropriety, sudden changes in ownership or management, and other volatile situations will happen. The threat of serious damage to people, property, reputation is real for virtually any organization, and many …
So You Don’t Think You Need Crisis Training, Huh?
I haven’t learned to do anything really well without training and lots of practice. I suspect this is true for you in your personal and professional lives. We all have areas in which we’re naturally more skilled, of course, but without mentors, teachers who have gone down the trail before …
The Very Hard Truth About Your Next Major Natural Disaster
A discussion of some tough-to-swallow disaster preparedness truths, by Jonathan Bernstein If you’ve been denial about disaster preparedness, this may be a good time for you to avert your eyes, because you’re not going to like what I have to say. It centers around this quote by an Emergency Services Coordinator …
How Your Daily Decisions Could Spawn a Crisis
Everyday choices can create serious issues I can’t count the number of crises I’ve seen during my career that started with an operational decision that seemed like a good idea at the time — but which was fatally flawed from the start because decision makers didn’t ask a critical question. …
Crisis Management Quotables…on Expectations and Reputation
Why failing to meet expectations is a fast track to reputation ruin Our Crisis Management Quotable series frequently takes quotes from famous philosophers, political figures, or writers. While those are fantastic, sometimes we like to give it to you straight from a more current source – Bernstein Crisis Management’s president, …
Crisis Management: Reducing Severity and Impact of Recalls
Catching product issues before they create big problems is key to reducing the reputation impact of recalls There has been a serious increase in recalls over the past several years. In large part this is due to greater awareness – consumers are VERY aware of how to let companies and their peers …
Jonathan Bernstein Talks Chipotle with APM’s Marketplace
Discussing the popular chain’s food norovirus contamination crisis Chipotle seemed to be on the verge of navigating its way out of reputation woes brought on by an outbreak of illness in recent patrons spanning seven states. That is, until 80 Boston College students fell ill with norovirus after eating at …
More Giveaways from Bernstein Crisis Management
Sharing valuable lessons with the community As announced recently, we decided to start giving away the formerly $10 PDF version of Jonathan Bernstein’s media training manual, Keeping the Wolves at Bay. Now, from Bernstein Crisis Management’s Home Page, you can choose to download the media training manual or any of these …
We’re Giving Away “Keeping the Wolves at Bay”
KEEPING THE WOLVES AT BAY MEDIA TRAINING MANUAL NOW FREE TO ALL September 16, 2015 – Monrovia, CA — Keeping the Wolves at Bay, the widely used media-training manual published by Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., is now being given away in its PDF format. Formerly …
Allegiant’s Emergency Landing Puts Reputation at Risk
Poor communications and a questionable explanation leaves the airline’s most valuable asset in danger Allegiant Airlines’ emergency landing at a then-closed Fargo, ND airport raised serious questions about safety. And, when your organization revolves around carrying passengers some 30,000+ in the air, that means immediate damage to your reputation. Given …
Crisis Management Best Practices to Combat Cyberbullying
Jonathan Bernstein shares his take on the intersection of crisis management and cyberbullying Whether it’s nuisance behavior like derailing social media conversations or more serious attacks such as releasing personal information and sabotaging review sites, cyberbullying can, and does, create crises. In a video presentation for the American Veterinary Medical …