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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.
Dealing with a data breach or hacker crisis
Doug Barney, GFI Blog, August 5, 2015
Data breaches are getting worse and more expensive every day and it often takes far too long to clean up the mess. Recently the media was inundated with cases of big brands being hacked and millions of personal records were affected. Websites like AdultFinder and Ashley Madison are just two of these high profile cases, and apart from the immeasurable damage such breaches can have on customers, they also deal a big blow to the brand’s reputation.
In the worst of cases, the breach isn’t discovered, even if the data is being put to criminal or evil use right under an organization’s nose. Part of the problem, according to a crisis management consultant at the conference Unintended Consequences: Impacts of the Internet of Things (IoT) & Big Data is that many companies tackle these events all wrong.
“I am going to ask you to throw away every rule of crisis management you have ever known, as we explore how cybercrime is rewriting the crisis management rule book,” said Davia Temin, CEO of Temin and Company in the conference’s keynote address. […read more]
Crisis of the Week: Accounting Problems Hobble Toshiba
Ben DiPietro, The Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal, July 27, 2015
The crisis this week involves the actions taken by Toshiba Corp. in the wake of an accounting scandal that saw the company overstate earnings by more than $1.2 billion over seven years. The fallout from the scandal escalated last week, when the company announced the resignation of Chief Executive and board Vice Chairman Hisao Tanaka and a reorganization of its board in which half the members are stepping down. A report from the company into the overstatement said its three most recent CEOs all played roles in inflating the company’s operating profit.
Looking only at the statements of company officials, and the actions taken in removing the CEO and reshuffling the board, we asked the crisis management experts how well has the company handled this crisis? Where has it done particularly well? Where has it fallen short? What should it do next?
Davia Temin responds: “It is extraordinarily difficult for a company to buck its own tradition and culture. Japanese companies have always been opaque and less than communicative, and are not known for admitting to misdeeds until they are absolutely forced to–and sometimes not even then. Much pain could have been avoided had they owned up to their problems quickly, rather than doubled down through denial.” […read more]
Crisis manager, executive coach Temin to discuss resilience, bouncing back
Deborah Trefts, The Daily Chautauquan, July 13, 2015
Some people take life’s curveballs and crises in stride; they handle adversity remarkably well. Others take longer — or seem unable — to move on. They get stuck or fall apart.
“Nobody gets out of this life unscathed,” said Davia Temin, a global reputation strategist, crisis manager and executive coach.
At 1 p.m. today at the Chautauqua Women’s Club House, Temin will give a talk titled “Resilience: Bouncing Back from Life’s Slings and Arrows,” as part of the Chautauqua Professional Women’s Network series. It will include new research about what people can do to influence their reaction to fate. […read more]
Most Companies Approach Crisis Management in ‘All the Wrong Ways’
Tara Seals, Infosecurity Magazine, June 23, 2015
More than two-thirds of US executives are worried that cyber-threats will impact their company’s growth, but it is probable that companies are preparing for the inevitable business and reputational hits of a cyber-attack in all the wrong ways.
“Traditional crisis management techniques may be time-honored, but often they are static, formulaic and constrained—simply not adequate for the dynamic, nuanced, multi-faceted and ubiquitous nature of cybercrimes today,” said reputation and crisis strategist Davia Temin, CEO of Temin and Co. “In reality, cyber-crisis management is a combination of crisis management, and emergency and terrorist response, which necessitates internal and external cooperation and communication of an unprecedented nature.
As such, it straddles the line between enterprise risk management, business continuity, emergency response, reputation management and corporate governance, she added—a fact that too few organizations embrace. […read more]
Crisis of the Week: Kiss-and-Tell Fears After Adult Friend Finder Breach
Ben DiPietro, The Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2015
The crisis this week is the one involving Adult Friend Finder, the hookup dating site that suffered a data breach that exposed its users’ sexual secrets. Among the data allegedly stolen were details about the sexual preferences of the site’s members, including whether they were married. The U.K. television station that broke the story said it found a database of 3.9 million site members on a hacker forum.
The company that runs the site, FriendFinder Networks Inc., last week issued a statement saying it was investigating the reports, taking steps to protect members’ information, had hired a data security firm and was working with law enforcement agencies. It wouldn’t confirm the full scope of the breach until its investigation was completed, but said there was no evidence of financial information or passwords being compromised.
Looking at the company’s statement and its actions to date, how well has it responded to this crisis? Where is its response falling short? What more can the company do at this point?
Davia Temin, president and CEO, Temin and Co.: “This is crisis management at the shadow fringe of commerce. While pornography, and other businesses involved in sex trade such as Adult Friend Finder, have always been the ‘early adopters’ of new Internet and social media technologies, they are woefully late to the game of crisis management. For a site that one tech expert calls ‘one of the most heavily-trafficked websites in the world,’ and that collects some of the most private and potentially embarrassing data in the world, the owners of the site have made every crisis management mistake in the book regarding cyber data breaches.” […read more]
Women Can Learn as Much From Competent Women as Men
Carol Hymowitz, BloombergBusiness, May 7, 2015
When Frontier Communications then-Chief Executive Officer Maggie Wilderotter sought to make a big acquisition last year, she reached out to some of the best dealmakers she knew. That was to be expected—her intended prey would double the size of the telecommunications company. The bigger surprise was that all her major players in the deal wear skirts.
Like Wilderotter, many women who’ve reached top management are doing deals together or recruiting and recommending one another for jobs, consulting work, and boardroom seats. Davia Temin, a former GE Capital top executive who runs the crisis management consultant firm Temin and Company has met clients through the Women’s Forum of New York, which has an invitation-only membership of more than 450 executives and professionals, and belongs to advocacy groups including the Women’s Forum and WomenCorporateDirectors.
“Groups that used to be a refuge” where women could commiserate about their isolation in male-dominated workplaces “have become a destination,” she says. […read more]
How can directors address reputational risks?
Elizabeth Judd, Corporate Secretary, April 21, 2015
With three-quarters of companies naming reputational risk as a top risk concern, directors are increasingly seeking methods of risk oversight that are independent of management.
Reputational risk can come in many guises, from cyber-security to environmental, human rights, regulatory compliance, product recalls, fraud, succession planning, quality and even cultural risks. Beyond known risks, there are the ‘known unknowns’, sometimes called ‘black swan’ events.
‘It’s very hard for directors of any organization to get a full handle on what the reputational risks are,’ says Davia Temin, CEO and founder of Manhattan- based reputation consultant Temin and Company. ‘While there are always predictable risks – airlines will have crashes, for example, while consumer goods companies will have fraud or security breaches – some of the worst crises are the ones that come from left field.’ […read more]
Crisis of the Week: Ice Cream Recall Snags Blue Bell
Ben DiPietro, The Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal, April 14, 2015
This week we look at Blue Bell Creameries L.P. and how it is handling a recall of ice cream products linked to a listeria outbreak. Three people died in Kansas, and while health officials in Kansas say listeriosis didn’t cause the deaths, they said the tainted ice cream products might have been a contributing factor. Illnesses linked to the tainted ice cream products also were reported in Texas.
The company has issued three product recalls, temporarily shut down the plant where the products were being made, and the chief executive issued a statement apologizing and saying the company is working with federal inspectors as they conduct their investigation. The crisis experts evaluated the company’s actions and statements for how effective they were in assuring customers and telling the company’s side of the story.
Davia B. Temin, president and CEO, Temin and Co.: “From all their public actions, it does not look as if Blue Bell has sided with their customers–only themselves–breaking a cardinal rule of crisis management. Listing their errors: One, they were behind the story, not in front of it; it looks as if they were forced into action. Two, once they finally did institute a recall, it was overly complicated. Forcing customers to ‘find the SKU number’ on the bottom of the container to see if their ice cream is safe is onerous.
“Three, similarly troublesome are Blue Bell’s cascading recalls. Clearly the company limited its recalls too narrowly at the outset, and then has had to issue multiple recalls. Every time they are forced to issue a new recall, their credibility is compromised. Listeria is a serious illness; it would have been far better to issue a broad recall and then reintroduce products swiftly and with assurance.
“Four, most of their communications are bloodless, ‘corporate-eze’ and ineffective. There appears to be little remorse, or human touch. Even the letter from their CEO feels as if it were written by a lawyer. Of course lawyers must weigh in, but even if lawyers do write the CEO letter, it must not read that way. A little humanity goes a very long way in a crisis, and Blue Bell seems not to have figured that out soon enough.”
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
Lafley Pivots From Builder to Demolition Man as He Shrinks P&G
Carol Hymowitz and Lauren Coleman-Lochner, Bloomberg Business, April 14, 2015
A.G. Lafley helped turn Procter & Gamble Co. into the world’s largest consumer-products company. Now the builder has turned demolition man, shedding billions in assets because P&G is too large to compete.
Lafley, 67, interrupted his retirement in 2013 to revive P&G and telegraphed early on that he didn’t plan to stay long. Having announced plans to exit as many as 100 product lines in the past two years, he’s likely to step aside as chief executive officer by the annual meeting in October, according to people familiar with his plans. Before then, Lafley aims to divest at least $19 billion more in assets, slimming the company down to 65 leading brands, such as Tide, Crest and Pampers, which generate 86 percent of P&G’s $83 billion in revenue.
“It’s painful to dismantle something you built,” said Davia Temin, who runs Temin & Co., a crisis management consultant. “Most CEOs I’ve worked with, when faced with this, say ‘I’m a builder, let someone else shrink it,’ but Lafley’s showing he can pivot when that’s what the business demands.” […read more]
Forging Thought Leadership into a Titanium-Strong Marketing Tool
Dean Rotbart, Monday Morning Radio, March 23, 2015
This week on Monday Morning Radio, Davia Temin tells listeners how to forge thought leadership and reputation management into titanium-strong marketing tools – both for yourself, and for your company or products.
Davia is interviewed by Dean Rotbart, co-host of Business Unconventional, the one-hour radio newsmagazine that aired weekly on News/Talk 710 KNUS AM in Denver. […read more]
To listen to the interview, CLICK HERE.
To download the podcast from iTunes, CLICK HERE.
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 »