In the News–Perception & Psychology
How a Massive KitKat Heist Turned Into Crisis PR Gold
Natasha Khan and Kelly Cloonan, The Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2026
Just how much are 12 metric tons of stolen KitKat bars worth? A lot of promotional gold, it turns out.
It was the brazen chocolate heist heard around the social-media world: Over the weekend, Nestlé confirmed that thieves had swiped 413,793 units of KitKats somewhere along their way from a factory in central Italy to Poland. Both the chocolate bars and the truck carrying them remain missing, though no one was hurt in the theft, it said.
What the Swiss company lost in chocolate, though, it gained back in a public-relations coup—as did multiple other companies quick to hop on the meme bandwagon….
Trying to juice a rival’s bad news for buzz isn’t advisable if it’s something as serious as an oil spill or a plane crash. But weighing in on an international chocolate-bar caper is pretty low-risk, said Davia Temin, the founder of reputation and crisis management consultancy Temin and Company.
“It’s chocolate, it’s Easter,” Temin said. “I don’t think you can go too wrong.” […read more]
CEO Food Fight Breaks Out Online — but Who Wins?
Frederic Lee, Agenda, March 13, 2026
It all started with a burger.
Specifically, what began as an innocent Instagram promotion of McDonald’s most recent new menu item, the Big Arch burger, by CEO Chris Kempczinski, quickly ballooned into a full-fledged Burger War over who can claim the best bite….
Kempczinski’s video was the match that lit the Burger War flame, prompting copycat, one-upper videos from executives at Burger King, Wendy’s, A&W Canada and more — all vying to present their burgers as the most delicious in a true viral moment….
Broadly, the Burger War offers a reason to laugh at a time when there’s so much “not to laugh about” going on in the world — including metastasizing war in the Middle East, rampant inflation, rising oil prices and the continuous unraveling of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s misdeeds, wrote Davia Temin in an email to Agenda. Therefore, holistically, the Burger War is a reminder to corporate leadership to “focus on what we can handle,” wrote Temin.
“The more telegenic the CEO, I suspect the more impact they will have on their bottom lines,” wrote Temin. That’s especially since these short videos have created “buzz” in boardrooms and might urge executive search professionals to add “one more trait” to their list of CEO must-have skills. […read more]
‘Polycrisis’: How to Govern Amid Seismic Geopolitical Shifts
Frederic Lee, Agenda, February 9, 2026
The beginning of 2026 has seen unprecedented actions from the White House that redefine the United States’ geopolitical posture, most notably President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on European countries that don’t back the U.S.’s acquisition of Greenland.
Although the president eventually walked back his threats, the behavior itself represents a sea change in the U.S. geopolitical status quo. It also points to large economic impacts that corporate directors have to address in real time, sources tell Agenda.
The Greenland situation wasn’t the only flashpoint taking place in the early days of this year. Regime change in Venezuela and new breakthroughs in artificial intelligence products have upended some companies’ strategic plans.
Currently directors are living through “polycrisis,” given the confluence of technological, geopolitical and economic concerns facing the corporate world today, Davia Temin, president and CEO of management consultancy Temin and Company Inc., told Agenda.
“Everybody is concerned with the speed at which change is happening,” she said, adding that business leaders don’t want to be “left behind.”
Because everything is moving so fast in the world, it can be challenging to find specific expertise to help advise business leaders on a particular subject at a moment’s notice, said Temin. Boards should consider ramping up geopolitical briefings and walk through various scenarios as they game out strategic plans, sources said.
“Imagine if you were on the board of an oil company right now,” she said, referencing the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and subsequent takeover of the country, including certain oil revenues. […read more]
Agentic Age Demands New Oversight Framework
Frederic Lee, Agenda, February 2, 2026
As advancements in artificial intelligence technology progress at a rapid clip, business leaders fear being left behind technologically.
Companies are regularly rolling out new tools developed from AI technology, lately including agentic AI, which can autonomously perform tasks and make decisions with minimal human intervention. As a result, directors need to meet the new oversight demands that these new AI developments call for, which includes taking advantage of the new technology themselves, sources tell Agenda. That will allow them to understand the advantages — and the drawbacks.
Agentic AI refers to an AI system where the AI doesn’t just take orders but is programmed to generally run itself as an “agent,” Davia Temin, president and CEO of management consultancy Temin and Company Inc., told Agenda. Such a process raises workforce and workflow questions due to the lack of a human control, she explained. “This is a whole new area.”
Directors must stay educated in order to deal with technological advancements like agentic AI, said Temin, emphasizing “good board hygiene” practices such as bringing in educational speakers for board meetings. More and more, business leaders are also working with technological experts for help with strategic planning, said Temin. […read more]
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]
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.”
Bloomberg Markets: The Close 11/07/2023
Romaine Bostick, Katie Griefeld and Scarlet Fu, Bloomberg Markets “The Close,” November 7, 2023
Romaine Bostick, Katie Griefeld and Scarlet Fu bring you the latest news and analysis leading up to the final minutes and seconds before and after the closing bell on Wall Street.
Davia Temin joins hosts Scarlet Fu and Katie Griefeld to discuss Boomerang CEOs and whether companies that bring back chief executives in the hope of fixing some problems – such as Starbucks, Dollar General, DuPont, and Disney – use a winning strategy.
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