Crisis Management Musts: Employee Communication

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communication, crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Response, Jonathan Bernstein 3 Comments

Don’t keep your employees in the dark When it’s time to go into full-on crisis management mode, many organizations are focused purely on A) cleaning up the situation, and B) communicating with outside stakeholders, whether that means customers, investors or the media. Here’s the problem with that – your employees, …

Playing Chicken with Crisis Management

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, crisis planning, crisis preparation, crisis preparedness, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein 1 Comment

Having a plan in place means you won’t be left scrambling when crises appear In order to be as effective as possible, crisis planning needs to come before a crisis actually hits. While it is possible to create and enact a plan after things get messy, it’s never easy. In …

Crisis Management Tactics: Updates on Updates

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, reputation management 1 Comment

“We’re working on it” can buy more time than you expect When you encounter a crisis, the pressure to immediately make a statement is immense. Not only will your stakeholders be clamoring for you to talk, and angry if you don’t, but you also risk damaging rumor or innuendo taking root …

ESPN Benches Smith for Domestic Violence Comments

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communication, crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, PR, public relations, reputation management, sports crisis management Leave a Comment

Understandably angry stakeholders and poor crisis management leave sports reporter in a bad spot ESPN anchor Stephen A. Smith won’t be stepping up to the mic for at least a week following his on-air comments regarding domestic violence – specifically that women should avoid “provoking” men into assaulting them. Smith …

OKCupid – PR Genius or Crisis Management Mess?

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Erik Bernstein, internet crisis management, internet reputation management, Jonathan Bernstein, online crisis management, online reputation management, PR, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

Dating site seems to be applying the dubious principle of “any publicity is good publicity” Move over Facebook, because OKCupid just hopped on the user experimentation train! In a blog post published Monday, one of the dating site’s founders, Christian Rudder, proudly proclaims “We Experiment On Human Beings!” From the …

Chase’s (ineffective) Compassion-Free Crisis Management

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communication, crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

Lack of much-needed compassion leaves bank’s communications falling flat Having a debit or credit card charge declined is both frustrating and embarrassing no matter who you are or what you’re buying, something we would expect a bank to be aware of. That’s why, when we spotted the below email from …

Crisis Management Musts – Keeping a Healthy Trust Account

Jonathan Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, PR, public relations, reputation management, strategic reputation management Leave a Comment

Considering how stakeholders will react to change is key The impact of stakeholder trust on reputation and the bottom line is at an all-time high, yet organizations are burning what little faith their proponents have left on a daily basis through penny pinching, poor customer service, or a simple lack of …

Lessons from American Apparel’s 4th of July Social Media Fail

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Erik Bernstein, internet crisis management, internet reputation management, Jonathan Bernstein, online crisis management, online reputation management, PR, public relations, reputation management, social media, social media crisis management, social media reputation management 1 Comment

Major mistake highlights importance of experienced guidance for social media managers Why is it that organizations feel perfectly comfortable handing full control of their social media accounts over to employees barely old enough to drive, or outsourcing to someone who doesn’t even live in the same country as their audience? …

Crises are Also Great Opportunities

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations Leave a Comment

[Editor’s note: The following post comes to us from friend and colleague Janine Hills, founder and CEO of Vuma Reputation Management. While it’s normal to feel a crisis is nothing but negative, Janine presents a strong argument for the advantages to be gained by facing difficulty head-on.] Adversity has its …

Crisis Management Quotables…on The Damage One Lie Can Do

Erik Bernstein crisis communications, crisis management, crisis management quotables, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

17th century wisdom that’s even more true in the 21st This time around, our Crisis Management Quotable comes to us courtesy of a 17th century Spaniard who wore many hats, from scholar and philosopher to army chaplain. A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity. — Baltasar Gracián The meaning …

Reputation Management Lessons from Wall Street

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, financial industry crisis management, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, reputation management Leave a Comment

Financial services firms still feeling the pain from sullied reputations The events of the past half-decade (or more) have left the average American utterly untrusting of those in the financial industry, for good reason. Although obviously there are exceptions to the rule, the bad behavior displayed has left a lasting …

Saline Shortage Puts Hospitals in Crisis Management Mode

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

Are you prepared to face a break in the supply chain? Hospitals around the U.S. are in full-blown crisis management mode after learning manufacturers won’t be able to meet demand for one of their most common and vital supplies. Sterile saline, the saltwater mixture used for everything from treating dehydration …

Crisis Management Dangers in “The Cloud”

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, cyber security, cyber threats, cybersecurity, data breach, Erik Bernstein, internet crisis management, internet security, IT, Jonathan Bernstein Leave a Comment

Should you be trusting cloud storage with valuable data? Storing data in “the cloud” has become enormously popular, yet a lack of understanding about exactly what is okay to store there, and how secure cloud services are, has led to massive security threats becoming commonplace. We would even go so far …

Analyzing P.F. Chang’s Crisis Management for Data Breach

Jonathan Bernstein computer security, crisis communications, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, crisis public relations, Crisis Response, cyber security, cyber threats, Cyberheist, data breach, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, reputation management 2 Comments

Was the popular chain’s crisis management a four-star effort? The data breach at P.F. Chang’s came to light in mid-June of this year, with the organization claiming to have learned of the situation June 10. Crisis management started out in troubled waters when a massive number of news organizations and …

Pressure Forces Crisis Management from Food Industry

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Another example of stakeholders’ power to force change The food and drink industry has come under fire on issues from health to environmental practices. Now, feeling a financial squeeze, The Consumer Goods Forum, an industry network including some 400 organizations from 70 countries around the globe, is announcing sweeping changes …