Thought Leadership–Crisis Articles
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Uber CEO Kalanick’s Resignation Is Not The Best Answer
Leadership, “Reputation Matters,” Forbes, June 21, 2017
I am sad that Travis Kalanick had to resign. As news of the Uber CEO’s resignation is digested by the world’s media analysts and leadership pundits, I would like to put forth a contrarian point of view – especially coming from such an outspoken advocate of gender equity in organizations. I do not think this is the biggest win that we who are interested in a bias and harassment-free workplace could have hoped for. Not by a long-shot.
Reformation vs. Resignation
Kalanick’s reformation would have been such a more powerful and optimistic story. It would have shown that, yes, personal transformation is possible, even among tone-deaf, frat-boy, start-up executives. And it could have shown that once a leader is made to, and allowed to, grow up, he or she can own it, and then transform a culture. […read more]
How United Became The World’s Most Hated Airline In One Day
Leadership, “Reputation Matters,” Forbes, January 18, 2017
It’s no longer crisis as usual for United Airlines, or anyone else. Live social media posting has changed what you can get away with in a crisis — forever.
It used to be that if an airline made as monumental a mistake as United Airlines just did by causing a paying customer who had done nothing wrong to be dragged off a plane screaming, bloodying him up along the way in front of all his fellow passengers, they might still have gotten away with it.
After all, on a plane, passengers were basically incommunicado, so people couldn’t have protested easily, and they might not have been believed, especially if the airline denied it or called it an “overreaction.” The populace tends to believe its leaders in these situations, if compelling evidence to the contrary doesn’t exist. It rather makes one wonder about how many times such a debacle has happened before, and just not been caught on video.
But today all that changed. Live footage of the assault of an innocent passenger by security personnel was captured and immediately posted on social media around the world, instantly making United one of the most hated companies in the world. […read more]
Crisis management in food retail
Food Marketing Institute and Oliver Wyman, Boardroom, March 2016
Anticipated or not, when a crisis strikes a company, CEOs must be prepared to respond immediately in order to lead their organizations through a potentially catastrophic event. Within the last 5 years alone, the food industry has been at risk for a wide spectrum of crises, including E. coli and norovirus outbreaks in fresh food, cybercrime such as high-tech SQL injection attacks aimed to steal customer data, natural disasters, and traditional and social media public relations disasters. While there are certainly aspects of a crisis response that can be planned in advance, each incident inevitably requires a unique approach.
In many crisis situations, the reputation of a company hangs in the balance and can literally vanish overnight if the crisis is not addressed immediately and correctly. The expansion of social media in recent years has exacerbated this trend, bringing widespread, factually incorrect, and damaging attention to issues such “pink slime” and the presence of horse meat in beef products. These issues have gone viral and, in some cases, pushed companies to the brink of bankruptcy. Interestingly, reputation is rarely the top priority identified by a crisis incident response team. However, given how quickly exaggerations and mistruths spread, reputation does need to remain top-of-mind for every executive in a crisis. […read more]
Which Republican Candidate Would You Trust In A Foxhole?
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, October 29, 2015
Arguably, our American president is really the world’s Crisis-Leader-in-Chief. We rely on him – or her – to calmly, wisely, and brilliantly lead us through untold global craziness, back to economic progress, justice, security, and freedom.
So, politics aside, let’s try to rate last night’s 10 Republican debaters on their crisis leadership performance. In other words, when the going gets rough, which candidate would you want next to you in a foxhole? More importantly, who would you trust to get you out? […read more]
Resilience — New Research Helps Us Bounce Back Quicker, Better From Life’s Trials And Tragedies
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, August 31, 2015
How do we become more resilient leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, parents, people? Here’s a quick checklist, informed by new brain research:
- Practice overcoming hurdles in everyday life
- Have a purpose
- Accept reality with a positive attitude
- Learn how to improvise
- Meditate (mindfulness training)
- Exercise
- Develop an abiding sense of humor
- Build strong support networks
- Look for role models
- Keep your mind flexible
- Face your fears
- Reframe
- Nurture a strong sense of self
- Know when to be kind to yourself
- Be compassionate
Resilience is a concept that exists in almost every culture around the world: the ability to bounce back from adversity, from whatever setbacks life deals you, in order to come back and conquer another day.
Resilience has been the Holy Grail for those individuals or organizations that have gone through crisis and adversity and want, literally, to “get their lives back.”
But while it has always been known that some people, and some organizations, recover better than others, new brain and behavioral research is now shedding some light on why. Even better, it is showing that we can cultivate resilience in ourselves before we even need it. […read more]
Airbnb Meets The Bates Motel: Crisis Lessons For The Overly Trusting Traveler
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, August 17, 2015
“Never get into a car with a stranger” my mom told me throughout my childhood. “Don’t trust your safety to someone you don’t know really well, and even then be vigilant, because they may not have your best interests at heart the way we do.”
But how does this old-school advice jibe with the Airbnb, Uber, “sharing economy” generation who are driven by unlicensed strangers and stay in people’s — who they don’t know — homes around the world? What happens when your Airbnb host turns into Norman Bates? (Or your guest turns out to be the Zodiac killer?)
It is indefensible how ill-prepared Airbnb, Uber, and a host of other high-flying, trust-based sharing companies are for crisis, and customer and provider protection when trust goes awry. It is equally shocking how unprepared their trusting customers and providers are when they realize their trust is misplaced.
“Trust is hard won but easily lost,” the saying goes. But in the new sharing economy, it actually might be the exact opposite: trust is too easily given, and too hard lost. And the lessons, to individuals as well as companies, are tough ones. So, what lessons should companies, and the consumers who patronize them, learn? […read more]
You Have 15 Minutes To Respond To A Crisis: A Checklist of Dos And Don’ts
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, August 6, 2015
When a crisis hits, how you respond in the first 15 minutes can make or break your organization – and your reputation.
While we all know that crisis management training is critical for leaders and boards today, much of it still tends to be shopworn, focusing on the lessons of yesterday. The new climate of ultra urgency is rarely emphasized sufficiently.
Yet I have found that in those first 15 minutes of a crisis your response must be exactly the right message, delivered in exactly the right words, to the right audiences, in just the right way – or you will have to deal with your mistakes for days, weeks, even months to come.
Immediate response and indelible accountability – that’s a tall order for any leader. […read more]
Kindness Amidst Conflict: Respect Across Diversity
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, April 30, 2015
Have you noticed how the world is getting meaner and meaner? Not just over social media, prime time television, or the legislative process, but everyday — as authority becomes less trustworthy, and attacks against leaders, as well as anyone who seems “different,” turn more personal, ugly and destructive.
If I don’t “like” what you have to say, or you disagree with me in any way, I can take to Yik Yak, or almost any social media platform, and anonymously damn you to hell and back. Or worse. […read more]
The Girl Scout Cookie Indicator of Success – The Ultimate Pipeline for Women’s Leadership and Innovation
Davia Temin, CommPRO.biz, March 18, 2015
When I started my corporate marketing and communications company 17 years ago, after running corporate marketing for GE Capital, and it became quite successful quite quickly, the one person who wasn’t surprised at all was my Mom. Why? “Well, dear, you sold so very many cookies,” she said. “You filled up the garage and every room in the house with cookies you were selling. I knew then that you had it in you to be a truly successful entrepreneur.”
And it’s true – I call it the Girl Scout Cookie Indicator of Success. Just as I sold more cookies than any girl in Ohio my year, so women who sold more cookies than any other girl in their state are populating the corridors of power – in Congress, communications, executive suites, newsrooms, board rooms, science, and nonprofit organizations. Girl Scouts is, and has always been, a fast track for success for countless numbers of girls and women.
And this is the reason I started to volunteer for Girl Scouts of Greater New York and then the national organization in the first place. […read more]
Staying Ahead of the Game: The Steps to Effective Crisis Communications Planning
PR Newswire, March 12, 2015
Don’t wait for a crisis to hit before considering your communications strategy. Getting caught off guard can mean the difference between success and failure, especially if your competitors are quick to respond. Take action today to ensure tomorrow’s stability.
View PR Newswire’s on-demand webinar to obtain the tips and tools needed to craft an effective crisis plan. Davia Temin, CEO, Temin & Co. and Colleen Pizarev, VP, Communications Strategies, PR Newswire discuss: creating a crisis plan and messaging effectively; the role of boards in crisis; listening best practices and your social media response. […read more]
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"Reputation Matters" White Papers seek to offer deeper insight on a wide range of topics we help clients address.