Know Your Enemy
“You just have to learn that shelling isn’t personal….” More than a decade ago I was having a conversation with a grizzled veteran of oil exploration and production in Africa. We were discussing unusual safety risks when he mentioned his company’s experience with storing of crude oil in tank farms. They were operating in a […]
Four Weddings and a Funeral
If we’re asked to give a speech at a wedding, not one of us will use the services of a public relations or marketing professional to deliver our speech for us. Imagine that you’re attending a wedding, a beautiful, impactful time. When the bride’s and groom’s families and friends gather, we all experience a mixture […]
Locked, Loaded and Out of Luck
What causes great communicators to stumble in an escalating crisis? Sometimes our capability gets in our way.
Three Questions That Will Shape Your Strategy
There’s an adage for all responses: Incidents never happen at headquarters, and they never happen during work hours. This is patently not accurate, but it is prevalent. Your entire operation may be located next to, even around your headquarters facility, or you may hold several far flung facilities. Your operations may run nine-to-five, or around […]
Keeping Your Communication Rights
How do you maintain your voice with changing stakeholders and changing response environments? Incidents and their responses aren’t static; they grow and shrink, settle down and flare up. Each change threatens your ability to maintain a conversation with your stakeholders. An understanding of an incident’s life-cycle can help you understand how your communication process and […]