Crisis Management Thoughts » Crisis Communications

Nightmare or Reality?

Jonathan Bernstein — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:10:10 +0000

I had a nightmare last night that our reputation was going down the drain while we held committee meetings to try and figure out how to respond.

– Anonymous CEO

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Superficial

Jonathan Bernstein — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:14:33 +0000

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.

– Thomas Paine

The Semblance of Communication

Jonathan Bernstein — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:45:49 +0000

Many of us achieve only the semblance of communication with others; what we say is often not contingent on what the other has just said, and neither of us is aware that we are not communicating.

– Desy Safan-Gerard

Running with Scissors

Jonathan Bernstein — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:26:56 +0000

Running a business without a crisis management plan is like running with scissors.

– Pamela Baggett-Wallis

The Principle of Contempt

Jonathan Bernstein — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 04:06:27 +0000

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance — that principle is contempt prior to investigation.

– Herbert Spencer

The Roots

Jonathan Bernstein — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:43:47 +0000

The roots of some reputation management issues are very simple — like not paying your vendors when you promised to.

– Jonathan Bernstein

Priorities

Jonathan Bernstein — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:57:28 +0000

If communication is not your top priority, all of your other priorities are at risk.

– Bob Aronson

Us v. Them

Jonathan Bernstein — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:04:16 +0000

Are you too stuck in “Us v. Them” to put yourselves in Their shoes and figure out how to connect with Them?

– Jonathan Bernstein

It’ll Never Happen

Jonathan Bernstein — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:45:37 +0000

What have you sworn will “never happen” to your organization?

– Jonathan Bernstein

Crisis-Fueled

Jonathan Bernstein — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:42:32 +0000

Crisis-fueled fear brings out the best and worst in crisis managers.

– Jonathan Bernstein

Professional Chicken Little

Jonathan Bernstein — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:31:27 +0000

Sometimes I feel like a professional ‘Chicken Little,’ which I suppose is better than being an amateur ostrich.

– Jonathan Bernstein

Is it Positioning or Spin?

Jonathan Bernstein — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:56:26 +0000

Positioning is helping your stakeholders understand your message the way you intended it to be understood. Spinning is trying to get your stakeholders to believe something you know isn’t true.

– Jonathan Bernstein

Disasters Don’t Care

Jonathan Bernstein — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:00:07 +0000

Disasters don’t care that you plan to roll out your crisis preparedness program over a four-year period, starting next year. Which is remarkably similar to what you said LAST year. If the shoe fits…

– Jonathan Bernstein

Crisis Preparedness

Jonathan Bernstein — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:53:01 +0000

Others’ hindsight COULD become your foresight. That’s the very essence of crisis preparedness.

– Jonathan Bernstein

Critic Crisis Management

Jonathan Bernstein — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:40:28 +0000

If a critic is intent on making himself look like an idiot, you’re often better off letting him do that versus attempting to refute him.

– Jonathan Bernstein

No Respect!

Jonathan Bernstein — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:39:19 +0000

Crisis preparation has to incorporate the concept that crises don’t respect holidays, vacations, or sleep schedules.

– Jonathan Bernstein

Reporter Remorse

Jonathan Bernstein — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:32:51 +0000

The longer you talk to a reporter, the greater the chance you’ll say something you’ll regret.

– Jonathan Bernstein

Urgent Tones

Jonathan Bernstein — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:58:49 +0000

It’s usually not politically wise to “tell” a client (or your boss) what to do with regard to crisis prevention or response. Making suggestions is a better way to go. But you have to communicate urgency, the sort of tone you might use when saying, “I suggest that you not light a match when you’re standing in a pool of gasoline.”

– Jonathan Bernstein

Below the Radar

Jonathan Bernstein — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:53:47 +0000

Flying below the radar is no guarantee that a missile isn’t about to hit you in the ass

– Jonathan Bernstein

Road to Hell

Jonathan Bernstein — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:09:21 +0000

The road to hell may be paved with good intentions — but why, when organizations find themselves on that road, do they often guard it instead of taking another road?

– Jonathan Bernstein

Hair on Fire

Jonathan Bernstein — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:15:24 +0000

Crisis Communications is exactly like Issues Management, only with your hair on fire.

– Rick Kelly, Senior Vice President, Neiman Communications

The Bridges

Jonathan Bernstein — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:58:48 +0000

The bridges you cross before you come to them are almost always over rivers that aren’t there.

– T. S. Eliot

Failed Writers

Jonathan Bernstein — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:57:30 +0000

Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.

– T. S. Eliot

Media Reality

Jonathan Bernstein — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:37:14 +0000

In a vacuum, the media will create its own reality.

–Kim Perry, Kim Perry Consulting, Santa Fe, NM

Know Thine Enemy

Jonathan Bernstein — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:15:32 +0000

In marketing we call them the competition. In crisis communications we call them the opposition. In both cases, to know them is to know what we have to do to compete for the attention and loyalties of our mutual publics.

– Jonathan Bernstein

Perception and Feelings

Jonathan Bernstein — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:37:10 +0000

“When a crisis first breaks, perception and feelings are far more important to your audiences than facts and actual legal liability. A crisis communications professional has to think with his heart, not just his head.”

– Jonathan Bernstein

“No comment.”

Jonathan Bernstein — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:07:23 +0000

“Saying ‘no comment’ is not the same thing as making no comment — but both communicate a message.”

– Jonathan Bernstein

Listen, learn, act.

Jonathan Bernstein — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:06:53 +0000

“Listen, learn, act. In that order. That’s not just good for interpersonal communications, it’s good for business”

– Jonathan Bernstein

Definition of a Crisis

Jonathan Bernstein — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:58:44 +0000

“The decisive state of things, or the point of time when an affair is arrive to its highth, and must soon terminate or suffer a material change.”

– definition of crisis from Webster’s 1828 dictionary