Tag Archives: reputation

crisis response

Tourism Pro Questions on Crisis Management

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Recently, I led a breakout session at the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism.   My topic was “effective crisis management foundations” – a condensed version of a training program that we’ve built at Ketchum.  It’s our belief that you cannot have strong crisis management approaches, nor plans or systems, without the foundation of a strong crisis management leader.   SALES PITCH:  If you’re ever interested in learning more about this leadership training opportunity from Ketchum, drop me a line. 

During the Q&A session, the tourism pros asked questions that may yield lessons for others, so I’ve captured those here.  Disclaimer:  Everything below is paraphrased from memory, since I couldn’t take notes during the session. 

  

Q:   When an organization faces a determined critic, when should criticisms be ignored, and when is it time to address the critic? 

A:    This is difficult to answer specifically because so many factors need to be considered.  However, in general, begin by analyzing the critic…and the criticisms.  Is the critic credible to your audiences that matter?  Is the critic making an impact on your business?  How much traction might the critic or criticisms gain through social media?  Are the criticisms easy to defend, or do they require deeper explanation?  If the latter, is there a way to tell your side of the story in a compelling way?  These are just starter questions, of course – there are many more factors to consider before “getting down in the mud,” if required. 

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"Three Tough Q's" Interview Series

Three Tough Q’s: Mallen Baker

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If you’re in the business of reputation management and/or corporate social responsibility (CSR), you need to be familiar with the musings of Mallen Baker.  Mallen is the founding director of a UK-based website on CSR, Business Respect.  Last month, Mallen was named a contributing editor of Ethical Corporation, a global business intelligence organization.  His bio paints the complete picture, but I really encourage you to follow his blog.  I find his voice to be one of the most persuasive and balanced on CSR and reputation matters.

That is certainly the case below, as Mallen addresses some of the intersections between CSR and crisis management through these Three Tough Q’s:

 

Q1:  In your experience, how often do CSR experts team up with crisis management professionals to assess and address threats, before they become crises?
      
This happens a lot less than it should.  Part of the reason is that we are only gradually improving the understanding of what CSR should be about – that it can play this role of avoiding a crisis.  For too many businesses it remains a low-level function that is about issues seen as peripheral to the business, rather than central to it.

It is changing.  I see more companies appointing internal senior people to CSR or sustainability posts. These companies have understood that they need people with weight and seniority who understand the business extremely well.  Companies that seek to bring outside CSR experts or environmental scientists into their posts are more prone to sidelining those people as specialists.

The most effective CSR teams aim to influence across the business.  They are still in the minority, and many teams are too focused on what goes in the CSR report to make real headway in this regard.

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opinion and insights, planning and prevention

Lady Gaga journalism and the reputation economy

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Two very interesting articles crossed my desktop this week.  Reading them within hours of each other left me head-scratching.

The first was from the Fall 2010 Preview issue of American Journalism Review, titled “Traffic Problems.”  The article summarizes how the ability to track the popularity of specific online articles affects a newsroom’s future focus.  Key callouts:

 High-minded headlines and stories about foreign wars, the federal deficit or environmental despoilage might have paid the bills in the age of Murrow and Cronkite, but they only go so far these days.  Shark videos and “naked Lady Gaga” headlines get major play on “serious” news sites for an obvious and no longer terribly shocking reason: They draw traffic….

“Journalism always put a premium on speed and scoops, but up until recently we never had to make the decision that speed trumps vetting or verification,” observes my colleague Roxanne Roberts. “That dynamic is shifting because of the need for hits. It’s a very slippery slope from an ethical standpoint….”

While there are consequences for being slow, there aren’t many consequences for being wrong, Roberts says: “The feeling nowadays is, ‘we don’t make mistakes, we just make updates.'” By trying to grab traffic at all costs, “We’ve placed the premium not on being correct or thoughtful, but on being first. When you do that, everything is Balloon Boy….”

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"Three Tough Q's" Interview Series

Three Tough Q’s: Ed Eaton

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I’ve had the pleasure of not working with Ed Eaton on two occasions. 

Allow me to explain.

Ed is an MBCI – a member of The Business Continuity Institute – and Principal of related firm Warner Gudlaugsson LLC.  (Ask him about the firm’s name if you get the chance – it’s a good backstory.)

Twice now, Ed and I were supposed to combine talents on assignments for two different organizations.  The first project lost its funding.  The second got postponed.  You can’t win ‘em all.

Fortunately, Ed and I kept in touch and I’ve really appreciated his perspectives.  We’re looking to join forces officially on an assignment soon.  When we do it’ll be like a Dynamic Duo of business continuity and crisis/reputation management.  Pow!  Biff!

Until that super moment materializes, Ed graciously agreed to participate here to answer Three Tough Q’s:

 

Q1:  Do impediments exist between integrated business continuity management and reputation management?

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