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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.
Think that email is private? Think again — then think some more
Anna Robaton, CBS MoneyWatch, October 24, 2016
Email hacks have apparently become the new normal. Just over the last several months, hackers have leaked emails belonging to several highly influential people. The hacked emails, some containing embarrassing tidbits, have been a major theme in the presidential campaign.
The recent spate of public-figure hacks also serves as a reminder to think twice about what you write in your emails, said Davia Temin, an executive coach and crisis manager who has worked with victims of hacks.
Many business and government leaders, she said, have long known that they shouldn’t expect privacy with regard to email, which can be subpoenaed in lawsuits or government investigations or land in the wrong hands through forwarding.
“Folks who are in high levels of leadership within corporations or other organizations pretty much know intellectually that they should never put in an email something they wouldn’t want” covered by the media, said Temin. She noted, though, that many still find it difficult to censor themselves. […read more]
Crisis of the Week: Tyson Finds Itself in Game of Reputation Chicken
Ben DiPietro, The Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal, October 19, 2016
Food processor Tyson Foods Inc. takes crisis center stage after being accused of rigging poultry prices. Lawsuits filed against Tyson allege the company and other producers engaged in fixing prices for its poultry products, prompting one analyst to issue a report suggesting the issue could become a big problem for Tyson—news that sent the company’s stock price lower. Other reports struck a different tone about the company, and the stock rebounded the next week.
Tyson sent out a statement in which it vowed to defend itself against the allegations, saying: “While we don’t normally make substantive comments regarding pending litigation, we dispute the allegations in the complaints as well as the speculative conclusions reached by the analyst, and we will defend ourselves in court.”
Using the company’s statement, the experts break down its response, how well it communicated its message, and what it should do next?
“Tyson Foods felt it had to respond when an industry analyst advising hedge funds issued a report that sent the company’s share price into a dive,” says Davia Temin. “And probably, to its lawyers, it did seem like a spirited and substantive response–but not really. In reality it was a three-sentence statement that said almost nothing.” […read more]
For Business Leaders, Hacking Attacks Get Personal
Rober McMillan and Rachel Feintzeig, The Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2016
Businesses have spent years fighting off internet intruders bent on stealing corporate secrets. Now, leaders of those businesses must also worry whether hackers will use personal information or private emails to embarrass them or seriously damage the company.
Davia Temin, an executive coach and crisis manager who has worked with victims of hacks, says her clients fret about a Sony-style hack happening to them. Fast-rising executives are particularly worried that a leak could derail their careers, so she advises them to keep their communications bland.
“You can’t let your entire personality necessarily come out in your email,” she said. […read more]
Crisis of the Week: Delta Grounded After Computer Crash
Ben DiPietro, The Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal, August 22, 2016
Delta Air Lines finds itself in the crisis spotlight following a power failure that led to a crash of its computer network that prompted the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights on the first day alone, with around 1,000 more flights canceled on the second and third days of the event.
The company’s chief executive, Ed Bastian, apologized in a video statement and took full responsibility for the system meltdown, saying in a second video statement the snafu was a one-time event started by a power outage and a small fire. The company provided updates, offered travelers $200 vouchers, waived flight-change fees and put hundreds of fliers up in hotels.
Using the statements made by the airline and the comments of Mr. Bastian, the experts evaluate how well Delta handled this crisis.
“Delta did not improve its reputation for trustworthiness with its early statements about its recent computer system crash causing thousands of cancelled flights,” says Davia Temin. “Delta appeared to be more worried about minimizing its damage first, only [later] acknowledging the full severity of the situation–during which time social media was ablaze with customer rage and protest.” […read more]
Intel Reinvents Itself to Stay King in a Changing World
Cade Metz, Wired, August 12, 2016
Intel is bigger than all but 50 other U.S. companies, and that’s because of something called the CPU. For decades, Intel has supplied a majority of the chips that sit at the heart of our personal computers, including desktops as well as laptops. When you use the Internet, you use Intel. But the chip market is now shifting in new directions. And as it shifts, Intel is remaking itself in an effort to stay on top of the heap. […read more]
Davia Temin to Talk of Importance of Identifying, Living One’s Legacy
Deborah Trefts, The Chautauquan Daily, July 25, 2016
At 1 p.m. Monday at the Women’s Club, as part of the Chautauqua Professional Women’s Network series, Davia Temin will speak about “Living Your Legacy Every Day, and Having Fun Doing It!” This will be her third CPWN talk since 2013.
Temin said this is one of her best talks ever.
“This one is about the essential. Branding is fun, but on the superficial end of it,” she said. “This is about essence, legacy and living a cohesive, purposed life day in and day out. There’s a reason The Purpose Driven Life is second in sales after the Bible.”
The song in the hit Broadway musical Hamilton — “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” — is for her emblematic of what legacy is about. She said everyone has been worried about it, from the ancient Romans to America’s founding fathers to its leaders in the 1950s and the present.
“It has nothing to do with money,” Temin said. “Rather it is about handcrafting the story you leave behind for the world.” […read more]
Women-Only Poker Tournament a Bet on Career Advancement
Louise Dewast, ABC News, July 11, 2016
Davia Temin was one of 55 CEOs, entrepreneurs, artists and businesswomen from various industries invited to play at a women-only poker tournament in London last month. The event was organized by Heidi Messer, a New York entrepreneur and investor who first launched the tournament in her Manhattan apartment a couple of years ago.
Messer saw the power in the unspoken connection between powerful men in business — created through golf, fraternities or sporting events — and decided it was time for women to have the same. […read more]
Crisis of the Week: Signet Confronts Diamond Debacle
Ben DiPietro, The Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal, June 13, 2016
The crisis this week involves Signet Jewelers, which is battling allegations employees substituted premium diamonds with cheaper, man-made substitutes. The company’s stock price declined following the reports.
Signet—which owns national jewelry-store brands Jared, Kay Jewelers and Zales—issued a statement strongly refuting the allegations. “Signet Jewelers’ entire team culture is directed toward ensuring that we earn and maintain customer trust,” the company said. “Incidents of misconduct, which are exceedingly rare, are dealt with swiftly and appropriately.”
Using only the statement issued by the company, the experts break down the effectiveness of its communications, highlighting what’s good about its messaging and tone and delivery, and what’s not so good. How should the company proceed?
Davia Temin, chief executive, Temin and Co.: “Disparagement of a company’s reputation these days can come from all sides, including Wall Street and social media. Signet has just experienced incoming on both fronts, with Wall Street’s questioning of its credit business far more worrisome, as it appears to have some validity and can affect share price valuation immediately, necessitating real business-model changes. It is very difficult to respond publicly to such a situation, as it is changing rapidly, and one can never make assertions that might need to be taken back later, as more information comes to light. Signet has done what it can, so far, although a more fulsome statement will have to be forthcoming at some point.
“As to attacks on social media regarding gem swapping, Signet has done many things quite right in its response, but it just did not go far enough and was not quite as earnest as it could have been in my opinion. The statement it issued was comprehensive, specific and acknowledged what consumers are looking for when buying a diamond. Wisely, it did not mention the specific allegations against it until the second paragraph. I might not have mentioned them at all. Moreover, I would not have relied on trite phrases that, when used, serve to fuel disbelief because they are so trite, such as ‘take seriously,’ ‘earn trust,’ etc.
“Trust is a hard thing to claim you have earned: You earn it or you don’t. Signet says rightly it ‘seeks’ to earn trust, which speaks to its intent, and that is good. But what it does not do is speak to the specifics of whether there is any merit in the reports of its detractors, and what it has done about it. It needs that one element added to its proclamations of good intent to be really believable, and not to be viewed as press release double-speak.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
Should Boards Foster Customer-Centricity?
Tony Chapelle, Agenda, June 13, 2016
Many corporate executives and board directors advocate the benefits of the corporate organizational structure known as customer centricity. Rather than organizing a business into product or regional units, about 30% of Fortune 500 companies have set themselves up according to customer segments.
Recently, panelists at the global conference for the WomenCorporateDirectors Foundation discussed the concepts of centricity, customer satisfaction, marketing, loyalty and retention.
Davia Temin, a strategy and reputation consultant and CEO of Temin and Company in New York, says there aren’t many alternatives to being customer-centric in the long run. “It used to be that whether you [just] paid lip service to customer service was between you and the customer,” she says. “But today, when someone walks out of your store and has a bad experience, they can go to Twitter, Facebook or Yik Yak. So the board’s governance muscles have to get strengthened around the customer service experience because it’s a reputational opportunity, but also risk.” […read more]
The Morning Risk Report: A Crisis Plan Only Takes You So Far
Ben DiPietro, The Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal, May 10, 2016
Every organization needs a crisis-response plan, but those plans won’t address every situation, while the time to put out a proper response continues to shrink given the growing role social play plays in disseminating news.
So, Johnson & Johnson Corp. is still held up as gold standard for crisis response for the way it handled a nationwide Tylenol recall in 1982, but if the company took three days to respond today it would be roundly criticized, said Davia Temin, chief executive of crisis management firm Temin and Co. “Now, they would be lucky to have five minutes,” she said last week at the Women Corporate Directors conference. “You need a crisis plan, but it would be a huge mistake to think you will follow it.” […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 »