BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

Last week, suspended Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas wrote an open letter published in the Washington Post in which he admitted wrongdoing and promised to do his best to transform his recent missteps into a learning experience for all of Washington D.C.’s youth. “I understand the importance of teaching nonviolence to kids in today's world,” Arenas wrote. “That message of nonviolence will be front and center as I try to rebuild my relationship with young people ... READ MORE

After weeks, even months, of mishandling its recall of a faulty gas-pedal in millions of its cars, Toyota appears to be getting its communications act in gear. The automaker’s senior executives are now following the basic principles of crisis communications. They’re apologizing to customers, offering details on the cause of the pedal’s malfunction, providing dealers with needed replacement parts and vowing to do everything possible to prevent another such incident from happening again. In short, they ... READ MORE

During last week’s State of the Union Address, President Obama signaled the dawn of a new age for nuclear power. “To create more of these clean energy jobs,” the President said, “we need more production, more efficiency, and more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country.” As I wrote in a column that was just published on TheStreet.com, the nuclear power industry has come a long ... READ MORE

Last month, a largely unnoticed wrinkle emerged in the executive compensation debate that promises to take on added significance in the coming months. Soon, it won’t just be C-Suite pay practices that are under the microscope; the board members who decide executive compensation policy will be in the spotlight as well – though not for the reason many might think. In a story published by Reuters last December, directors at Nabors Industries were scrutinized not because ... READ MORE

As the UN-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen began their first official day, Lisa Jackson, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was in Washington, D.C. starting the week with a bang. She announced an “endangerment finding” that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare and that emissions of such gases could now be regulated by the EPA under the federal Clean Air Act. According to administration officials, the endangerment finding will serve as the foundation ... READ MORE

By every account, the last two weeks have not been kind to Tiger Woods – not the person, nor the billion dollar brand. For days on end, new revelations emerged with every passing hour. Racy “sext messages” from alleged lovers were posted online, confusing and ambiguous statements from the golfer himself were posted to his website, and all the while the media frenzy picked up steam. As an avid golfer and someone who counts himself a fan ... READ MORE

In just the last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued at least 36 subpoenas to brokerage houses and hedge funds as the agency continues to make it clear that it means business when it comes to insider trading. Last month, federal authorities arrested 20 individuals connected with the now defunct Galleon Group. It isn’t an overstatement to say that federal authorities have embarked on a new era of insider trading investigations and prosecutions ... READ MORE

The top six social media tips to know before you leave the office. When reputational problems strike your brand in today’s digital realm, moving quickly to own the online messaging landscape can make the difference between a short lived bump in the branding road and a crippling long-term crisis.   How can organizations guard their reputations and protect their bottom lines when online critics launch viral assaults? The key is to be first in the online race to ... READ MORE

Last week, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that crystallizes the preeminent challenge of crisis communications in the Information Age. The piece is entitled "The Ten Year Century" - and in it, Tom Hayes and Michael Malone chronicle modern society's dizzying pace of change and what it means to each and every one of us. Hayes and Malone point to a decade that has seen massive technological growth (and an even larger expansion ... READ MORE

It took a week, but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos finally did the right thing - and in the end, what Amazon did to create a controversy about its popular Kindle device, and how it handled the fallout, offer valuable lessons for companies on the cutting edge of the digital media economy. It all started with an old book, ironically George Orwell's 1984, which tells the story of a totalitarian dictatorship overseen by a mysterious tyrant called ... READ MORE