BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

While last week’s announcement that Wright County Egg was recalling a record-breaking 380 million eggs because of a salmonella outbreak certainly qualified as a nightmare scenario, it was a crisis a well-prepared agribusiness company should be able to manage. Even with the next week’s news that the total number of affected eggs ballooned to more than half-a-billion, the situation wasn’t necessarily fatal. Unfortunately for Wright County Egg, however, survival in such lingering high-profile crises often ... READ MORE

A story in The Economist last week detailed a now-famous 2008 protest that took place at the London headquarters of Unilever. Greenpeace activists outraged with the company’s use of palm oil in its products dressed as orangutans and scaled its corporate office building, disrupted business, and displayed banners condemning Unilever for damaging the ecosystem. The publicity stunt won widespread media attention and it wasn’t long before the company was forced to commit to obtaining palm oil ... READ MORE

Yesterday’s Associated Press headline reporting that “a sense of normalcy” has returned to Augusta National says it all. Even before Tiger Woods hit his first professional golf shot since allegations of serial infidelity first broke back in December, it seemed that the fans, players, and press gathered at The Masters were ready to move past his well-documented personal problems and put the focus where it belongs at any major championship – the game. Even as salacious ... READ MORE

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

As the dust settles on the Tiger Woods drama, all eyes are turning to the disgraced golfer’s long list of lucrative product endorsements. Some have dropped Tiger while others are staying the course. None appear to be willing to ignore his notorious fall from grace. It’s just the latest example of risks you take when you wrap your brand around a celebrity. When the going is good everyone wins. When something suddenly goes wrong, the brand ... READ MORE

When Tiger Woods hits a 300-yard drive on the golf course, it’s hardly big news. But when he takes a 300-yard drive at 2:30 a.m. that ends in a crash at the foot of his neighbor’s driveway, it’s another story altogether. If you’re an avid sports fan like me, chances are you spent some time this weekend glued to ESPNews for the latest information on what was reported to be a “serious” single-car accident involving a ... READ MORE

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of speaking at the CEO Forum in Colorado Springs. At this gathering of top CEOs form across the country, I focused my remarks on one question: Why do crisis situations make the reputations of some countries and companies and break the reputations of others? From Beijing to Wall Street, we have found that there are three reasons why some companies fail in a crisis: The first is fear, which overwhelms ... READ MORE

More often than not, the most successful responses to business crises are about more than just the company at the center of controversy. Think of Johnson & Johnson’s response to the Tylenol tampering of the early 1980s or El Al’s handling of hijackings in the 1970s. Those companies leveraged their own problems into solutions that ultimately changed entire industries for the better. That’s the foremost goal of any crisis communications engagement – and it’s precisely ... READ MORE

In the months since he safely landed U.S. Airways flight 1549 on the Hudson River after a collision with birds took out both engines, the word “miracle” has been used time and again to describe Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s heroic crisis response. But with the more we learn about the man who saved 155 lives on that faithful day, the more we see that this was no miracle at all. Sully was the right man, ... READ MORE

In times of adversity, there is nothing more important than surrounding yourself with the right people. Effective crisis management always starts with an abundance mentality - a desire to first understand as many different perspectives as time will allow before seeking to be understood by the myriad stakeholders that are awaiting your next move. That's how strong leaders find the win-win in any situation, how they turn adversaries into partners, and how they identify opportunity ... READ MORE