By Danny Sullivan
After reading the recently unveiled 101 Dumbest Moments in Business of 2007, assembled by the recently defunct Business 2.0 Magazine, I was struck by the thought that most of the events likely resulted in extensive hair loss for the PR folk involved.
Crisis management is a core competency of any decent PR firm, but I’ll be surprised if you can find many folk out there who actually enjoy that particular component of their work.
Most of the events described in the list probably had the same effect on the respective PR departments as dropping a tube of mentos into a bottle of Coke. A panic explosion. Emergency meetings to decide what kind of spin to place on the situation to fix things… herds of flacks running around shouting on phones… that sort of thing.
But the mad panic usually isn’t worth the blood, sweat or tears. The media froth around an issue will almost always disappear in fairly short order (unless it appears again in these end of year lists) and the best way to handle the short term frenzy is to treat it calmly and honestly. If a business blunder has truly been committed, then it’s best to face up to things and draw a line under the matter.
Far better to spend your time discussing what approach should be taken after the storm has passed than pulling out hair trying to influence the immediate situation.
Still, I hope 2008 is a crisis-free year for me, and I hope it is for you too. Happy holidays!
