All Posts

I hear, “Why is it so hard for people to just admit they messed up?” quite often when discussing issues in my crisis management and communications work, often with a sigh of frustration from a client who is dealing with someone who is doubling down on a mistake instead of owning it. Thankfully, the answer is simple: our brains are wired to protect us from the psychological pain of being wrong. Taking accountability can seem like a threat to our identity. So how do we shift ou

When a company decides to reduce its workforce, the focus is almost entirely on the financial and operational logistics. Spreadsheets are balanced, severance packages are calculated, and legal risks are assessed. The most critical element, which is how the decision is communicated, is frequently treated as an afterthought. This oversight is a strategic mistake. A workforce reduction is a crisis, and how an organization manages it serves as a public stress test of its leadersh

Many organizations don’t have a crisis management plan. They have a document, usually saved on a shared drive nobody has opened since 2019, filled with generic statements about "valuing our customers" and a phone tree that includes three people who no longer work there... When things go wrong (and they will!), the absence of a functional strategy can cause measurable financial damage. The PR firm 5WPR recently quantified this, finding that poor crisis communications cost US b

When a company steps on a landmine, the immediate instinct is almost always defensive. The goal is to minimize the damage, stop the bleeding, and return to the status quo as quickly as possible. But what if the status quo wasn't actually that great to begin with? Some brands fail spectacularly during a crisis, while others use those exact same moments to build loyalty. When we end up at the center of a viral scandal, it’s not unusual to come out of that wanting to use our exp

We don’t know what happened with Scott Mills… but we’ve been invited to guess. That’s the reality of the BBC’s approach to this dismissal. One of the most recognizable voices in British radio was abruptly removed from his breakfast show this week, with “an allegation relating to his personal conduct” given as the explanation. Numerous articles full of speculation subsequently appeared. Everyone is talking about it, but nobody knows for sure what it is. The BBC (as of the date

When A Pattern Shapes The Narrative Chappell Roan recently faced backlash over a misunderstanding. Brazilian footballer Jorginho Frello posted an Instagram story about a negative encounter his stepdaughter (Jude Law’s daughter) had with security in a hotel they and Roan were both staying in, attributing the issue to Roan’s security: Chappell Roan eventually posted a video response: [Transcript]: “I’m just going to tell my half of the story of what happened today with a mother

Social media distorts our perception of how irritated people really are. Here's what to look out for. I’m not immune to the attraction of internet drama. The opposite, in fact. Just like everyone else, I want to figure out who did what, who is right… how angry I should be, and on whose behalf. But because of my work in crisis management strategy, my interest runs a little deeper than most. (At least, I’m choosing to see it that way instead of, perhaps, acknowledging it as an

It's not enough to know why a communication approach will (or won’t) have the desired effect on public perception. Some clients will take “this is what will get you your desired outcome, and this is why,” and go with it; others will get ‘stuck’ on messaging that they think will help them come across better, but will be disastrous for public perception. In those cases, we need to get more into the psychology of why we react the way we do and why others perceive our reaction in