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America’s Leadership Crisis: Davia Temin — How Do We Fix It? podcast with host Richard Davies
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Companies: Crisis and Common Ground — Let's Find Common Ground podcast with hosts Richard Davies and Ashley Milne-Tyte.
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Communicating with Authority and Compassion in Crisis or Opportunity — Voice America’s Out of the Comfort Zone with host Wanda Wallace.
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Leading Through Crisis & Chaos — Know the Rules of the Game® Podcast with host Desiree Patno & Special Guest Davia Temin.
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Temps at the Top — Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal.
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You Can Eradicate Sexual Harassment in Your Organization — Monday Morning Radio.
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Leading in a ‘Me Too’ Era
In the era of #MeToo, leaders need to know what to do to prevent the problem in the first place.
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Temin and Company is often quoted in print, broadcast and social media on topical issues as well as industry trends.
Following is a list of links to those articles, beginning with the most recent.
The True Cost of Firing a CEO
Matthew Boyle, Bloomberg, August 19, 2025
When Starbucks Corp. tapped Brian Niccol as chief executive officer in 2024, it cited the “critical need for a transformative leader” in justifying the hire. If performance significantly improves, stock payouts mean the corner-office switch could cost the company $130 million.
Finding the new CEO, negotiating his or her new contract and communicating the change in leadership to investors, the media, employees and other stakeholders are tasks typically delegated to outside experts.
Clients “usually want you 25 hours a day and eight days a week,” said Davia Temin, founder and CEO of crisis-communications firm Temin & Co. A CEO ouster and replacement “will take even more time,” she added. How much more? Temin shrugged: “I can’t even begin to estimate.” […read more]
Kiss-Cam Incident a Stark Reminder for Boards — and CEOs — That ‘Wink-Wink’ Days Are Over
Lindsay Frost, Agenda, August 11, 2025
Social media erupted last month when footage at a Coldplay concert revealed that tech company Astronomer CEO Andy Byron was having an intimate moment with Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot. But such an incident is not isolated.
Between Jan. 1, 2017, and July 20, 2025, there were 44 CEOs at Russell 3000 companies who left related to misconduct allegations, seven of which were linked to employee relationships, according to an Exechange analysis of CEO departures. Both Byron and Cabot stepped down shortly after the video made waves.
Social media and heightened employee scrutiny have made these incidents more public and thus created a bigger impact on company reputation, sources told Agenda. For boards, it’s increasingly important not only to ensure the CEO is aware of and signs policies related to employee relationships and codes of conduct broadly, but also to have strong communications, succession and other mitigation plans in place to take charge of and restore stakeholder faith in the company if such an event occurs.
“We are in a transition from the ‘wink-wink, nod-nod, just don’t let us catch you’ period to now saying, ‘If we ask our people to abide by these rules, we have to abide by them, too,'” said Davia Temin, president and CEO of management consultancy Temin and Company Inc. And it’s up to the board to lead this effort, she added. […read more]
Is the Great Remote Work Experiment Over?
Frederic Lee, Agenda, July 21, 2025
Starbucks is the latest big company to ramp up in-office requirements for corporate staff, as chief executive Brian Niccol issued a directive to workers last week raising the time required on-site to four days per week, rather than three.
A number of different work philosophies have emerged in recent years, said Davia Temin, president and CEO of management consultancy Temin and Company Inc. Temin said that when she first started working, she had one answer for every request from bosses: Yes.
But now, work-life balance concerns are shifting some workers’ approach. One such example is when workers reject certain job tasks because of personal responsibility, such as having to pick up their children from school.
Meanwhile, the debate over the benefits and drawbacks of remote and hybrid work has roiled the corporate world since companies moved large swaths of their workforces off-site during pandemic-induced social distancing measures in 2020 and 2021. When and how often to bring them back has been a matter of intense debate ever since.
Many employees at traditional industrial companies and those that produce a physical product don’t have the option of not being present, said Temin. CEOs may want white-collar workers at those companies to also come in out of a sense of fairness.
Meanwhile, CEOs of more white-collar sectors initially seemed inclined toward a flexible work setup for employees that could involve remote work, said Temin. […read more]
CEO Bravado Risks ‘Trivializing’ Geopolitical Crisis
Frederic Lee, Agenda, August 9, 2024
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has found a new potential opponent in the ring in Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who challenged Musk to a matchup after the billionaire questioned Maduro’s proclaimed victory in his country’s recent presidential election.
The back-and-forth amounts to theatrical gamesmanship and telegraphed testosterone — similar to last year’s much-hyped showdown between Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — Davia Temin, president and CEO of management consultancy Temin and Company Inc., told Agenda. Yet Musk has now gone “way beyond that” in his new situation involving the Venezuelan election.
Business leaders need to take great care in terms of the weight of their words, said Temin. In the intense current geopolitical environment, it’s a time for deliberation, moderation and “trying to cool things down — not heat them up.” Boards need to think through their positions before going public with them, she said. […read more]
Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz Made PR Blunder With Late Apology
Matthew Boyle, Bloomberg, July 19, 2024
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer George Kurtz co-wrote a book that’s commonly referred to as the bible of computer security. When it comes to crisis management, though, he’s on shakier ground.
In a post on social media platform X early Friday morning about a botched software update that crashed countless computer systems globally, Kurtz made clear the incident was not a cyberattack, his firm had identified the problem, and deployed a “fix.” What he didn’t say — at least at first — was the magic phrase that public-relations experts advise all businesses to shout from the rooftops at times like this: “I’m sorry.”
“A CEO needs a nuanced and emotionally truthful response,” said Davia Temin, founder and CEO of crisis-communications firm Temin & Co. “This is a response scrubbed by a legal team with lawsuits in mind. It holds little to no accountability, which is what makes apologies so powerful. And it positions Kurtz almost as an AI voice — automated, soulless. In fact, ChatGPT does a better job of appearing to care than he does.” […read more]
Kyte Baby CEO issues two apologies in remote working row
Richard Quest, CNN’s Quest Means Business, January 24, 2024
Davia Temin joins CNN’s Richard Quest to discuss Kyte Baby CEO’s apologies for denying the remote work request from a mother whose baby is in the NICU.
“Take a loss, but do the right thing because perception matters…It’s doing the right thing, and sometimes that’s not the right thing for your pocket.”
JPMorgan settles with Jeffrey Epstein victims for $290 million
Nupur Anand, Lananh Nguyen, Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel, Reuters, June 12, 2023
JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay about $290 million to settle a class action lawsuit by Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, resolving a large part of litigation over the bank’s relationship with the disgraced financier.
Monday’s settlement follows months of embarrassing disclosures that JPMorgan ignored internal warnings and overlooked red flags about Epstein because he had been a valuable client.
Davia Temin, chief executive of crisis management firm Temin and Co, said settling rather than fighting to the end sends “the right message across Wall Street.” […read more]
Exclusive: JPMorgan employees gripe about Dimon’s return-to-office edict
Nupur Anand and Lananh Nguyen, Reuters, April 27, 2023
JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon sent a clear message to employees this month: get back to the office. It touched a nerve among his staff.
The largest U.S. lender’s employees inundated an internal messaging forum with criticism after its operating committee posted an edict entitled, “The importance of being together.” Some staffers pushed back, calling the message “tone deaf” and “divisive.”
In the nearly 700-word note on April 12 that sent ripples across the financial industry, the bank asked managing directors to return to the office five days a week and warned other employees working on hybrid schedules that they needed to show up three days a week or face consequences.
Davia Temin said employers may roll back pandemic flexibility and demand more in-office working as a recession looms and workers vie to keep their jobs.
“Working from home was introduced during extraordinary times and leaders have the right to change that, especially now as we are likely to be getting into a recession where profitability will be key,” Temin said. “It is not a God-given right, so it can be changed.” […read more]
Don’t Cry. Don’t Curse. Just Deliver the Bad News, Experts Say
Neanda Salvaterra, Agenda, April 21, 2023
The message for CEOs when delivering tough news, particularly that hits employees in the pocketbook, is to communicate that they are willing to share the burden and take a pay cut, said experts. Something to avoid? Telling employees not to think about what to do if they don’t get paid.
MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen faced pushback from the public this week for not displaying sufficient empathy and for telling workers to “leave pity city” during a Zoom call in March. Owen made her comments in response to employees raising concerns about staying motivated and potentially not being paid their bonuses due to the company’s experiencing financial hardships.
If a message has been damaging, then experts advise leaders to show contrition and encourage the public to recognize that executives are only humans who can make mistakes and deserve to be extended a bit of grace, according to Davia Temin, president and CEO of risk consulting firm Temin & Co.
“An apology is important. So is trying to change the conversation to ‘all of us are in this together,’” said Temin. She noted that viral moments can be especially tricky to navigate for women.
“The expectations of women leaders are different from expectations of male leaders; psychologists have said employees still expect a woman CEO to be a good mother,” said Temin. “In this instance and in any good organization, empathy and compassion goes both ways. I worry we are responding with anger as opposed to with understanding [and by] saying, ‘She must be under pressure. She’s got to make numbers for office furniture. People aren’t going back to the office as much, and she is trying to take care of her people.’” […read more]
Southwest’s Silver Lining: Memories of Gaffes Fade Fast
Ryan Beene, Bloomberg, December 29, 2022
Southwest Airlines Co.’s 2022 nightmare before Christmas is unlikely to inflict long-lasting damage to the carrier’s reputation if management compensates customers and makes good on vows of operational changes, communications and management professionals say.
In recent days, social media has been flooded by angry Southwest customers after storms and shaky computer systems forced the airline, the largest domestic carrier in the US, to cancel more than 13,000 flights. Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan has issued multiple apologies while employees work overtime to clean up the mess, which officials in Washington vow to scrutinize.
“It isn’t enough for even a well-meaning CEO to give his word,” Temin said. “It has to start a real series of events and change.” […read more]
Podcasts »
Leading Through Crisis & Chaos
Know the Rules of the Game® Podcast: with host Desiree Patno & Special Guest Davia Temin.
To listen, Click Here.
Temps at the Top — Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal
To listen, Click Here.
You Can Eradicate Sexual Harassment in Your Organization — Monday Morning Radio
To listen, Click Here.
...more »