The Definitive Guide to Communicating in Any Crisis “When facing an already difficult crisis, the last thing a company needs is to make it worse through its own communications – or lack thereof. As one who has lived through a number of [business] crises and served as an independent investigator of the crises of others, I consider Steven Fink’s book to be an excellent guide to avoiding collecting scar tissue of your own by learning from the scar tissue painfully collected by others.”—Norman R. Augustine, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Martin There are few guarantees in business today. Unfortunately, one of them is the inevitability of a crisis having a potentially major effect on your business and your reputation. When your company finds itself in the midst of a crisis, the ripple effects can disrupt lives and business for the foreseeable future if public opinion is not properly shaped and managed. Skillfully managing the perception of the crisis determines the difference between a company’s life or death. Because in the pitched battle between perception and reality, perception always wins. Fortunately, there is a solution. Crisis communications and crisis management legend Steven Fink gives you everything you need to prepare for the inevitable—whether it’s in the form of human error, industrial accidents, criminal behavior, or natural disasters. In this groundbreaking guide, Fink provides a complete toolkit for ensuring smooth communications and lasting business success through any crisis. Crisis Communications offers proactive and preventive methods for preempting potential crises. The book reveals proven strategies for recognizing and averting damaging crisis communications issues before it’s too late. The book also offers ways to deal with mainstream and social media, use them to your advantage, and neutralize and turn around a hostile media environment Steven Fink uses his decades of expertise and experience in crisis communications to help you: UNDERSTAND AND MANAGE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC PERCEPTION AND REALITY CHOOSE THE BEST SPOKESPERSON FOR THE CRISIS PROTECT YOUR BRAND AND REPUTATION THROUGH CRISES LARGE AND SMALL MAKE WISE, VIGILANT, AND DEFENSIBLE DECISIONS UNDER EXTREME CRISIS-INDUCED STRESS TELL THE TRUTH NO MATTER HOW TEMPTING IT MAY BE TO MISLEAD USE SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS TO COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY TO THE PUBLIC ABOUT A CRISIS The explosion of the Internet and, especially, social media, has added a new layer to the business leader’s skill set: the ability to handle a crisis quickly and professionally within moments of its occurrence. Livelihoods depend upon it. With in-depth case studies of Toyota, BP, and Penn State, Crisis Communications provides everything you need to successfully lead your company through today’s rocky landscape of business—where crises large and small loom around every corner, and the lives of businesses and management teams hang in the balance. PRAISE FOR STEVEN FINK’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT “Every major executive in America ought to read at least one book on crisis management. In this way, he or she might be better prepared to deal with the disasters striking organizations at an ever-increasing rate ... The question is: ‘Is Steven Fink’s book one that busy executives ought to read?’ The answer is a resounding yes.”—LOS ANGELES TIMES, FRONT PAGE SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW

The go-to guide for learning what to say and how to say it In this climate of near constant streams of media messages, organizations need to know how to effectively communicate risks to their audiences and what to say when a crisis strikes. Risk and Crisis Communications: Methods and Messages is designed to help organizations understand the essential components of communicating about risks during a crisis, and it carves out a role for safety health and environmental (SH&E) professionals in the process. Covering common theoretical concepts and explaining the positions of noted experts in the field such as Peter Sandman and Vincent Covello, the book provides a fundamental understanding of the process behind crafting effective messages for a variety of different situations and explains the consequences of saying the wrong thing to an emotional audience. Incorporating numerous case studies—including the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and the 2010 H1N1 pandemic—it shows how messages can change the way an audience perceives an event and how they react to it, clearly demonstrating how ineffective messages can create untold difficulties for an organization's public image. Savvy SH&E professionals know that their role in helping to craft risk and crisis messages as well as assisting in the execution of risk communication plans provides a critical path to becoming more valuable members of their organizations. Risk and Crisis Communications: Methods and Messages provides invaluable assistance in helping SH&E professionals add value to their organization.

Crisis communication is high stakes work. For communications managers and PR professionals, it's likely to be the most stressful time of their working life. Crisis Communication Strategies is a must-have handbook which covers the whole span of the crisis from preparing and laying the groundwork before it occurs, during the incident, and the aftermath, including the move to recovery. It guides readers through each phase, providing details of what to consider, what should be done, and tips and checklists for improved responses. Crisis Communication Strategies equips readers to deal with any kind of crisis - whether caused by internal error, customer action, natural disasters, terrorism or political upheaval. Supported by case studies and examples from responses to events including the 2011 Norway terror attacks, the 2018 British Airways data breach, the 2017 Pepsi advert and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans floods, the book explores the role of leadership in a crisis and developing a crisis communication response that has people at the heart of it. Crisis Communication Strategies is the essential guide for PR and communication professionals to protecting your company and building true, long-term resilience.

Crises happen. When they do, organizations must learn to effectively communicate with their internal and external stakeholders, as well as the public, in order to salvage their reputation and achieve long-term positive effects. Ineffective communication during times of crisis can indelibly stain an organization's reputation in the eyes of both the public and the members of the organization. The subject of crisis communication has evolved from a public relations paradigm of reactive image control to an examination of both internal and external communication, which requires proactive as well as reactive planning. There are many challenges in this text, for crisis communication involves more than case analysis; students must examine theories and then apply these principles. This text prepares students by: Providing a theoretical framework for understanding crisis communication Examining the recommendations of academics and practitioners Reviewing cases that required efficient communication during crises Describing the steps and stages for crisis communication planning Crisis Communication is a highly readable blend of theory and practice that provides students with a solid foundation for effective crisis communication.

Masterwork on Crisis Communication and Reputation Risk Selected as One of "30 Best Business Books of 2013" Jim Lukaszewski -- nationally recognized PR expert, executive coach, often called America's Crisis Guru, and noted by Corporate Legal Times as one of "28 experts to call when all hell breaks loose" -- advises exactly what to do, what to say, when to say it, and when to do it, while the whole world is watching.The book is endorsed by the Business Continuity Institute. In this industry-defining book on crisis management and leadership recovery, Lukaszewski jump-starts the discussion by clearly differentiating a crisis from other business interruptions and introduces a concept rarely dealt with in crisis communication and operational response planning: managing the victim dimension of crisis. Delivered in his straight-talking style and backed with compelling case studies, Lukaszewski On Crisis Communication is your guide to preparing for a crisis and the explosive visibility that comes with it. Using case studies, examples and templates, he explains how to build a crisis management plan and how to put it into action in the real world of media scrutiny, social media, activists, and litigation. Lukaszewski distills four decades of experience into 10 chapters of field-tested how-to's, practical tools, tips, charts, checklists, forms, and templates and teaches you:How crises create victims;To avoid the toxicity of silence;To overcome the abusive, intrusive and coercive behavior of bloviators, bellyachers, back-bench bitchers, the media, activists and critics;To drive attorneys to settle instead of litigate;Apology is the atomic energy of empathy;Simple, sensible, sincere, constructive, positive techniques to reduce contention and to succeed!Chapter learning objectives; discussion questions; case studies; real-life examples; and glossary facilitate college and professional development classroom use.

A casebook approach to studying crisis communications means learning from the actions of those who have experienced crises. What did they expect? What actually happened? Were they prepared? What were their strategies? What were their challenges, pressures, and problems? Were the news media adversarial or supportive? If they had to do it again, what would they do differently? These and other questions are answered in the case studies of this second edition. Presenting organizational and individual problems that may become crises and the communication responses to these situations, this revision of Fearn-Banks' very successful text: * presents crisis communication theory, including a critique of the communications of White Star Lines after its Titanic sank on its maiden voyage; * describes ways of determining the most likely and most damaging crises that may strike an organization; * centers on causes of crisis--rumor, "gotcha" television news and the non-expert expert, and crises caused by the news media; * gets into the 21st century and cyberspace-caused crises, including mini-cases of rogue Web sites and e-mail rumors; * explains how to communicate with the news media, lawyers, internal publics or audiences, and external publics; and * includes narrated case studies illustrating how spokespersons and managers used communication in several kinds of crises. The text is supplemented by a workbook, enabling students to test their knowledge and develop their skills. Written as a primer for crisis communications, public relations, and communications management, Crisis Communications serves as an essential resource in the practice of public relations and corporate communications.

When emergencies escalate, knowing what to do in advance is the key. Libraries that are equipped with ready contact information, talking points, and spokespeople at hand are prepared to limit damage from big events or ensure small problems don't escalate.