BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

A few weeks back, New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin asked a question that' s on a lot of Americans' minds - "Where' s the Plan, Wall Street?"

With so much focus on the government' s efforts to dig the country out of financial crisis, it seems as if we' ve forgotten that the private sector has a vital role to play as well. With a massive regulatory overhaul in the works, securities litigation on the rise, and the SEC in take-no-prisoners mode, the stakes simply couldn' t be higher.

The time has come for Wall Street to lead. And while there may not be a cure-all panacea for what ails the economy, there are steps that companies should take to restore confidence in our markets and individual companies.

Many of the 15 leadership strategies listed below have been covered in greater detail on Bulletproof before. Others will be the focus of future posts that will provide deeper understanding of the concepts at hand. Either way, I invite all of you to add to this list via the comment application below if you feel we' ve overlooked anything that might help Wall Street send the right messages in the coming months.

15 Strategies for Leading in a Down Economy:

1. Over-communicate.
2. Run to the light. Run to the problems, not away from them. Be first to discuss sensitive issues rather than waiting for regulators, legislators, journalists, bloggers, and plaintiffs to do it first.
3. Treat bloggers like traditional journalists.
4. Be for something. Identify opportunities to define the new way forward.
5. Be transparent and accountable.
6. Stop explaining and start earning trust.
7. If accepting TARP funds, fully appreciate your new stockholders are the American taxpayers.
8. Lead the new thinking on compensation.
9. Tie bonuses to risk, and sacrifice them whenever appropriate.
10. Make the government a partner in the quest for solutions. Cooperate, cooperate, cooperate.
11. Make outplacement an asset.
12. Communicate effectively internally. Your employees are afraid and do not understand what is coming next.
13. Focus on long-term solutions, rather than pretending it is business as usual.
14. Work in concert with competitors to develop industry-wide leadership recommendations.
15. Act symbolically by eliminating the excesses of the past.