01.02.09
ISSN:1528-3836
© 2009 Jonathan Bernstein
Circulation: 4,500+
Estimated Readership: 17,000+
JUST A THOUGHT
Resolve, and thou art free
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
CRISIS MANAGER UNIVERSITY
A Crisis Management Resolution For 2009
By Jonathan Bernstein
To start the New Year off right, I wanted to offer you the format for a resolution that can and, in my opinion, should be adopted by any organization that has not engaged in comprehensive crisis planning.
CRISIS MANAGEMENT RESOLUTION
(Name of Your Organization Here)
WHEREAS, (name of organization) is vulnerable to (add if appropriate: and has endured) a wide variety of crises;
WHEREAS, (name of organization) knows/strongly suspects that it is underprepared to engage in the best-possible crisis prevention and response;
WHEREAS, (name of organization)'s leadership is concerned that this lack of preparedness could cause significant preventable damage to (name of organization);
NOW THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED, That (name of organization) will engage in a multi-disciplinary vulnerability assessment process that will provide the intelligence necessary for immediate, mid-range and long-term crisis prevention and planning;
RESOLVED, That (name of organization) will engage in crisis planning that will address business continuity, disaster preparedness, crisis communications and online reputation management.
RESOLVED, That (name of organization) will consider internal stakeholders as important as external stakeholders;
RESOLVED, That (name of organization) will ensure that personnel are trained to implement all crisis-related plans.
RESOLVED, That (name of organization) will ensure that all plans are tested through appropriate exercises and/or drills.
RESOLVED, That a process of ensuring that all plans remain updated to changes in the internal and external operating environment;
RESOLVED, That (name of organization)'s board of directors/leadership team/(or similar descriptive) will complete the initial cycle of vulnerability assessment, planning, training and testing no later than (date);
RESOLVED this __ day of (month), 2009, in (city, state).
(signatures of resolving body members)
notifu.com — Crisis Notification For Free?
There are some first-class services that make it possible, for a price, to send broadcast notifications out to stakeholders using multiple contact systems (e.g., phone, email, text), and receive confirmation that the message was received. All good crisis communications plans include the use of such a service to gather your team together, to alert stakeholders, etc.
notifu.com does it for free.
It's a start-up operation by a couple of self-described "serial entrepreneurs" who have launched other successful businesses that were then snapped up by savvy investors. I don't know notifu.com's future, but I do know that if you've balked at getting such a service for financial considerations, you might want to give this one a try.
Bernstein Crisis Management Celebrates 15th Anniversary
I launched my business on January 4, 1994, initially dubbing it "Bernstein Communications" and resolving to create a client-service focused business delivering national-caliber expertise at rates that agencies supporting large infrastructures simply can't match.
The rapid expansion of Internet-centered communications and the fact that I happened to be, proudly, a geek, allowed me to form one of the earliest "virtual agencies," bringing together teams of talented people from around the country (and ultimately, from around the world) in a manner specifically tailored to the needs of each client — all without the burden of payroll and the pass-on costs to clients.
I was blessed, apparently, with a good idea. Bernstein Crisis Management today continues to enjoy relationships with a wide variety of clients and referral sources who "keep coming back for more." While I often can't name clients, I'm very pleased to be able to say that I'm the "go-to crisis guy" for companies such as craigslist and California Pizza Kitchen. I and my expert consultants, just in the past year, have engaged in crisis prevention, planning, training and response activities with multi-billion dollar companies, and with private individuals. With for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. With publicly held and privately owned entities.
Thank you — my clients, my referral sources, my talented contractors — for helping my business prosper and, in some cases for becoming my friend as well.
Have an Opinion? Blog It!
The Bernstein Crisis Management Blog exists for your editor and his readers to spout off about crisis management related topics. If I haven't already started a topic you're interested in, then be part of the solution and suggest one to me by writing to jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
CRISIS MANAGER BUSINESS ANNOUNCEMENTS
Keeping the Wolves at Bay 3.0 Reviewed
"Keeping the Wolves at Bay" is much more than another media training guide - it is perhaps one of the most concise, insightful, useful and savvy guides to strategic thinking about reputation issues available.
Gerald Baron
Founder & CEO of PIER System and host of Crisisblogger.com
"It's like a Swiss Army knife — lots of cool tools in a compact package. In case of emergency, grab this."
Steven R. Van Hook, PhD
Publisher, About Public Relations
In addition to individual and business usage, the manual is now being required as a textbook at Seton Hall University, Grand Canyon University, and Singapore Management University, amongst others. It is available in both PDF and hard copy formats at www.thecrisismanager.com, with reseller arrangements available for collegiate bookstores.
Jonathan Bernstein also offers on-site media training worldwide, using this manual as the basis for training. Write to jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
Disaster Prep 101
Bernstein Crisis Management is pleased to present one of the most comprehensive and user-friendly family preparedness texts available today. "Disaster Prep 101." by Paul Purcell, goes above and beyond the simplistic "72-hour kit" concept and provides simple, yet detailed educational material that will drastically improve the ability of any family to respond to all manner of disasters or emergencies. This preparedness package contains over 400 pages of well-organized, original preparedness material written in an easy-to-understand, non-panic format; 80 pages of family data forms and worksheets (many of which are also useful to the employer); and a 2-CD set containing two interactive and searchable links collections for additional educational sources; all the family data forms and worksheets in softcopy format; and a complete emergency reference library of over 450 additional books and training manuals! US$59.95. Available here.
PLAIN ENGLISH DISCLOSURE
Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. has formal or informal co-promotional and mutually beneficial business associations with a number of the services we mention periodically in this newsletter. No, we can't go into details because that's confidential, proprietary, etc. But our relationship is NOT "arm's distance" and you should know that, since we regularly write about these services as we use them for crisis and issues management or other purposes. That said, you should also know that Bernstein Crisis Management sought the relationships because its staff is convinced that these services are the best of their kind for Bernstein Crisis Management's needs and those of its clients. If you have any questions about these relationships, please contact Jonathan Bernstein, (626) 825-3838.
ABOUT THE EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, 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@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
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.
LINKS
When I find a site that I think will be useful to my readers or site visitors, I put it on our Links page. If you have a site that would be of specific use to crisis managers and want to discuss a link exchange or other cooperative effort, please write to me, jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
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.
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Articles in "Crisis Manager" were, unless otherwise noted, written and copyrighted by Jonathan Bernstein. Permission to reprint will often be granted for no charge. Write to jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
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