Errant tweets, offended followers and weak crisis management – a bad combination The city of Vaughan, located a bit north of Toronto, was the latest organization to find itself in crisis as a result of rogue tweets. Last week, in the midst of a snowstorm, the following tweet went out …
Practice for Crisis Preparedness
Perfect crisis management takes practice, practice, practice Practice makes perfect. We’ve heard it from parents, teachers and coaches all of our lives, so why do so many organizations neglect the fact that they need to practice their crisis management plans in order to effectively put them into practice for the …
Horsemeat Crisis Stampedes Across Europe
What crisis management steps should EU meat producers take as scandal grows? [WARNING: The following blog post may contain puns dangerous to one’s sanity.] As British police and regulators raid meat processors and slaughterhouses with unbridled enthusiasm, and French prosecutors open a formal judicial investigation into whether there was fraud …
Give the People What They Want
You can defuse many crises just by saying, “We hear you.” These days, it’s just as likely that a stakeholder with a question is going to turn to social media as pick up a phone and call your customer service line. Yet statistics show that some 70% of inquiries from …
Social Media Hijacking – an Inside Job
Don’t make this crisis management mistake, control your social media accounts Chances are, unless you’re a very small organization, someone (or several someones) besides the CEO or president is running your official social media accounts. In fact, it’s quite common for higher ups in organizations we speak with to not …
PepsiCo Removes Controversial Ingredient after Online Petition
Although the company denies its actions were influenced by an online petition that received more than 200,000 signatures, the 15-year-old who started the petition has claimed victory. Corporations are being held accountable by the public like never before thanks to the Internet. Beverage giant PepsiCo announced that it would no …
Popeye’s Favorite Needs Crisis Management after CDC Report
News outlets pile on leafy greens following findings from the CDC If we were spinach farmers, we’d be calling a crisis management firm today. In an example of how the way news is reported can create crises, most major news publications this week ran a story on the CDC’s latest …
Boeing Not Flying Solo in Dreamliner Crisis
Airlines conducting crisis management on the ground as well There has been much ado about Boeing’s crisis situation following the grounding of its 787 Dreamliners, but what about early adopters of the aircraft, like Japan’s All Nippon Airways? In a recent Bloomberg article, Chris Cooper and Kiyotaka Matsuda spoke with …
Crisis Simulations for the Win
As in other pursuits, you have to train to be good at crisis management Would you step on stage to perform a play without ever going through rehearsals? Do you think you’d be successful at the free-throw line if you skipped every practice? The answer, obviously, is no, yet organizations …
L.A. Catholic Officials Caught in Scandal…again
New documents further damage an already-battered reputation As a result of ignoring the basic tenets of crisis management, not to mention human decency, for years the Catholic church takes a major reputation hit every few months as new revelations expose the scope of child molestations by clergymen, as well as …
Crisis Management for Tomorrow
The incident is over, but the crisis has just begun Most organizations understand the need to have crisis management plans to cope with immediate issues like fires, machinery failures or violence in the workplace. However, crises aren’t over just because the incident’s drawn to a close. In fact, they’re only …
States Flunk Public Health Crisis Evaluation
Study reveals many states not prepared for public health crisis management If the health scares and natural disasters of recent years have shown us anything, it’s that state governments are expected, and needed, to lend a hand in getting us through crises with minimal damage. In order to evaluate the …
Crisis Prevention Plans Make a Difference
Stop trouble the smart way – by not letting it start in the first place There’s a reason we’re quite fond of the saying, “the best form of crisis management is crisis prevention.” Sure, the big publicity comes from swooping in to salvage a disaster in progress, but few realize …
IBM, Bribery and Crisis Management
If you’re caught, pay the price, or risk your reputation It’s well known that many countries around the world use and accept bribery so openly that it’s all but an official part of the business culture, but that doesn’t make the consequences any less damaging when an organization gets caught …
Cybersecurity & Crisis Management in 2013
New threats hold potential to create crisis management woes As computers and mobile devices continue to become deeper entwined with all aspects of our daily lives, the potential dangers presented by cybersecurity breaches become exponentially more worrisome. Cyberheist News recently published its “13 Predictions for 2013,” and below we have …