Author: Jonathan & Erik Bernstein

Editor’s note: We don’t usually cross-post between our two blogs, but given recent events we feel it’s important for the following to reach as many eyes as possible.

I know something about terrorists.

From 1972-74 I was part of a US Army counterintelligence operation that successfully infiltrated a front group for what became known as the “Red Army Faction,” a terrorist organization in Europe that killed dozens.

From 1975-77 I worked out of the US Army Intelligence Command’s Ft. Meade HQ, where I read daily classified “Terrorism Reports” from around the globe, activity that seldom made the news back here in the good ol’ “safe” USA.

The names have changed, the nature of the beast has not. We Americans aren’t only at risk abroad, but in our own cities, at our own major events, and at virtually any other public location.

So if you’ve been playing ostrich, get your head out of that hole, because the only way to protect yourself is awareness. The best form of crisis management has and will always be crisis prevention.

Every citizen of Israel knows the warning signs because suicide bombers and other terrorist attackers have been unfortunately commonplace over the years. Russians are more aware than ever because of attacks by the same group, radical Chechens, that are allegedly responsible for the Boston bombing. In the UK, until peace was finally made with the Irish Republican Army, every Brit was hyper-aware of the risk factors every time they went out in public.

Now it’s our turn, and here’s where to start – The FBI’s “Preventing Terrorist Attacks” page. If you want more info, follow any of the many links provided at that page. And share the info with your loved ones. If we all do this, more terrorists will be detected before they can strike, others will have their plans at least somewhat thwarted. Can we prevent them all? Of course not. But the experience of other countries is that we can do a lot more than we’re doing now, as individual citizens.

There is no way law enforcement agencies can do the job themselves, we have to take individual responsibility as well.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

When it rains, it pours. Just ask Carnival’s crisis management team.

In yet another blow to a Carnival Cruise Line’s barely-standing reputation, a CDC report detailing the failure of the ship “Fascination” to meet cleanliness and food service standards is making the media rounds.

Here’s a sample of what’s being said, from an ABC News article by Genevieve Shaw Brown:

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave an “unsatisfactory” rating to the Carnival Fascination, essentially a failing grade on a health inspection. A satisfactory rating from the CDC is a score of 85 or higher. The Fascination scored an 84.

The report outlines violations ranging from not enough chlorine in the pool to flies and a “roach nymph” found at a juice dispenser. In one case, there was no “sneeze guard” over some items on the food line.

Would we be calling this revelation, from a report written February 21, mere days after the Triumph finally made port, a crisis if Carnival hadn’t been in the middle of a string of disasters? Honestly, probably not. Just missing a passing score on inspections really isn’t all that unusual for the food service industry, especially for buffet-style eating where food is served in such massive quantities, and typically the story wouldn’t even make the news.

The fact that Carnival’s reputation has already been put in question is the one reason why this story, and any single negative incident that occurs surrounding the company for at least the next couple of months, is going to be headline news.

Thing is, that’s the problem with allowing your reputation to slip. You have no cushion of goodwill to fall back on, no brand ambassadors to leap to your defense, and reporters know that any story where a tarnished brand is being heaped with more mud is an easy sell to both editors and readers.

Carnival is going to have to be, literally, flawless in its operations, as well as much more proactive in terms of its crisis management and reputation repair efforts, if it wants to swing the court of public opinion back its way. Unfortunately, right now the company is up a creek, and, from the looks of it, nobody’s paddling.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Claiming ignorance is not good crisis management

As a consumer, how much confidence would you lose in a company if they couldn’t tell you where they picked up 50,000 tons of meat? The Dutch suppliers being questioned in the latest horsemeat development may as well be saying, “hey, we’re either lying to you or horribly incompetent, your call!”

In following quote, from a NY Times article, Stephen Castle details the return of a situation that the European meat industry surely wishes would go away for good:

After disappearing briefly from public view, the scandal over horse meat sold as beef re-emerged on Wednesday with an alert over 50,000 tons of meat sold across Europe and an earlier recall of a product in Britain containing a veterinary drug banned from the human food chain.

The Dutch food safety authority said it was trying to trace meat sold to 130 companies in the Netherlands and 370 in 15 other countries, including France, Germany and Spain. The Dutch suppliers of the meat were unable to say where the 50,000 tons in question originated, said Tjitte Mastenbroek, spokesman for the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority.

While there was much talk of simplifying the supply chain and keeping better track of exactly where shipments of meat come from, and go to, the wheels of big business move slowly, and there has been little done in that regard as a result of either apathy, or, for some, perhaps the thought that the more complicated things are, the harder it is for anyone to take the blame.

The reality is that when the industry has to do major public crisis management for meat mix-ups over, and over, and over again, the reputation of every organization involved is at risk. The way to ensure that your reputation stays strong is to embrace Crisis Management 101, increasing transparency in operations and reaching out to consumers to share as much information as possible. Of course, you can always try the old ostrich approach, but while your head’s buried in the sand, remember what’s sticking straight up in the air.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

View things through your audience’s eyes and gain valuable crisis communications insights

It’s become fairly accepted that, when found to be in the wrong, organizations should explain what happened, how they plan to set things right, and how they plan to prevent the same issue from occurring again.

One critical factor that’s often missing, however, is described below in a quote from Cheryl Smithem’s Charleston PR blog:

If your firm finds itself involved in a scandalous situation, always put yourself in the emotional place of an outside onlooker. Feel their intense emotions – then respond to those emotions with sincere statements of sympathy for the victims. While you must also address the details of the incident and how it will be prevented in the future, any missteps in addressing the intense emotions of onlookers who put themselves in the place of the victim will leave your firm damaged, no matter how well you mitigate physical or financial damage.

While Cheryl’s post addressed the handling of the sexual abuse case at South Carolina military college, The Citadel, the same rules apply to just about any crisis.

If you want stakeholders to be receptive to your crisis management messaging, you first have to convince them that you care about them, and understand the negative emotions they are feeling. We’ve all heard the term, “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes,” right? Well, before you even begin to craft your crisis messaging, take a mental walk in the shoes – and hearts – of the affected parties, and do your very best to understand what they are thinking, and feeling, at that very moment.

A hallmark of a great crisis manager is the ability to empathize. Get in tune with your stakeholders, say the words that are needed to unlock their ears, and your messaging can do its work.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Nearly 11 million pounds of frozen foods pulled from shelves

According to USA Today, Rich Products has called for the recall of nearly 11 million pounds of frozen mini cheeseburgers, sandwiches, quesadillas, pizzas and other snacks sold under the Farm Rich, Market Day and Schwan’s brands because of potential E. coli contamination.

So often when we write about recalls, it’s tough to even find mention of the issue on the company page, and we were disappointed to find that was the case on the main Rich Products page as well. To be fair, there are two separate press releases regarding the recall linked in the site’s news center, but it’s a world of difference compared that to the highly transparent way the situation is being handled on the front pages of the websites belonging to both Rich Products-owned Farm Rich, which features a full-page spread on the recall, and independent reseller Market Day, which has installed a large banner at the top of its home screen:

Schwan’s silence

Schwan’s, another independent reseller, neglected to post anything at all on its site regarding the recall, not even in the news section. Instead, it’s pulled all products named in the recall from its virtual shelves without explanation, certainly not the response that Crisis Management 101 would dictate.

Responsible recall

Overall, Rich Products is handling the recall responsibly, voluntarily expanding the number of products included in order to better protect its customers and sharing information with the public. The Farm Rich foods site is where its crisis management really shines, though. Not only does it allow visitors to spot recall information right away, but, as you can see in the image, there is also a link to a full FAQ regarding the FDA and USDA news releases on the topic. When we visited the page, the visibility and amount of information instantly available gave the clear impression that Farm Rich being transparent in its recall process, and that the company cares about the safety and well-being of its customers.

Good work Rich Products, and especially to the Farm Rich web team, you’ve got your priorities straight.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Shocking footage shows coach shoving, throwing balls at player’s heads

Rutgers University is facing a major crisis after video showing men’s basketball coach Mike Rice hurling basketballs at player’s heads, shoving, yanking collars, and screaming homophopic slurs was broadcast on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” this afternoon.

Video of Rutgers practices from the past two years was acquired by ESPN, which broadcast just seconds of what producers say is dozens of hours of damning footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVoOtpDuZwA

No surprise to Rutgers

The thing that’s really going to make crisis management an uphill climb is that this comes as no surprise to the college. A thirty minute video containing similar clips was shown to athletic department officials last year, but Rice recived a $50,000 fine and a three-game suspension, essentially a slap on the wrist when it comes to college sports.

Of course, the first reaction from athletic director Tim Pernetti was to dig himself a deeper hole, defending the lack of serious punishment, as well as insufficient disclosure, for, as he called it, the “first offense.”

Well, if the ESPN footage is any indication, his first, second, third and fourth chances have been used up as well. If any person walked up to another in the middle of the street and threw a basketball at their head, kicked them, or even grabbed them by their collar and pulled, they would be charged with assault. Why you would ever try to defend taking those same actions against young adults who are under your care is beyond us, and we’re sure the Rutgers PR department is sweating bullets right now.

Send in the cleanup crew

Already, media outlets across the country are calling for Rice to be fired, and a closer look to be taken at the entire Rutgers sports system. This isn’t going to blow over, the only way to put out the fire is for Rutgers to take action.

Our advice? Clean house. Fire Rice, and fire Tim Pernetti, the director who allowed this abuse to go virtually unpunished and still continues to attempt to minimize its significance. That’s not enough, though. Rutgers will have to re-train its entire athletic staff, and do so publicly enough to assure parents that this is indeed a safe place to send their children to school.

Don’t sweep it under the rug

College programs, just like any other organization, need to learn this lesson – you don’t sweep nasty business under the rug. No matter how well you think it’s buried, no matter how long in the past it may have been, it’s going to come out, and when it does you will look all the more guilty for having hidden things in the first place.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Unprecedented attack demonstrates the dangers that lie ahead

Around the world, ‘net users are experiencing slowed connections as a result of what may be the largest cyber battle to date. Spam fighting group Spamhaus has been facing an extended and incredibly powerful DDoS attack from Cyberbunker, a Dutch web host recently blacklisted for hosting a large number of users with malicious intentions, that far exceeds any attacks seen before.

The BBC’s Dave Lee interviewed Spamhaus CEO Steve Linford, who explained more about the situation:

The attackers have used a tactic known as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), which floods the intended target with large amounts of traffic in an attempt to render it unreachable.

In this case, Spamhaus’s Domain Name System (DNS) servers were targeted – the infrastructure that joins domain names, such as bbc.co.uk, the website’s numerical internet protocol address.

Mr Linford said the attack’s power would be strong enough to take down government internet infrastructure.

“If you aimed this at Downing Street they would be down instantly,” he said. “They would be completely off the internet.”

He added: “These attacks are peaking at 300 Gbps (gigabits per second).

“Normally when there are attacks against major banks, we’re talking about 50 Gbps”

Put simply, this attack has enough force behind it to instantly knock just about any organization offline for as long as the attackers wished to sustain it. The only way Spamhaus is staying online is through its own incredibly thorough preparation and the support of several major players, including Google, sharing resources to help bear the brunt of the attacks. If you’re trying to convince a reluctant CEO that it’s time to beef up your web security, well, this should do the trick.

The new wave of crisis management is here, and it’s all about cyber threats. Not only must you plan and prepare for those directed against your own organization, but any that target organizations up and down the supply chain, as well as the web in general.

If this leap in power is any indication, future cyber battles could result in so much disruption that the entire internet is slowed to a crawl, a devastating situation considering just how much we reply on connectivity to keep things running.

The cyber threat is real, people, and the time to prepare is now. Get on it, or risk becoming another casualty on the battlefield.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Good crisis management means always verifying sources

Tools for generating iPhone messages have become incredibly popular for creating funny memes to be posted on social media, but until we saw a recent post on the SteamFeed blog we weren’t aware that there is now a tool that replicates, very accurately, a tweet with any text you desire.

Obviously this tool wasn’t created with malice in mind, but as with many forms of technology it’s quite the double-edged sword. Steamfeed’s Daniel Herbert summed up the dangers involved nicely in his blog post, here’s a quote:

1. Fake Reputation and Endorsements

Imagine if you’re an industry professional, trying to make it big. You want a super great endorsement on Twitter from the leading experts in your industry. Or you’re launching this scam product, maybe some ridiculous social media certification, and you want to get endorsements from big names in the industry and satisfied clients. Well, it’s now easier to fake it.

Before, when you saw a Twitter screenshot of an endorsement, reference, or testimonial, it was legit. You believed it, and it gave extra credibility to the person who’s endorsed. Now, it could easily be faked, making self-proclaimed “gurus” look like they know what they’re doing, with fake endorsements, from “real” clients. This is in the same boat as buying fake followers/likes to make yourself look more “important.”

2. Damaged & Ruined Reputations and Bullying/Harassment

There are always petty people out there, trying to ruin others’ achievements. It sucks, but it’s true. If anyone wanted to start some fake drama, accuse people of saying nasty things, or accuse someone of bullying, they could easily create a fake tweet screenshot now, blog about it, and create some real damage towards someone’s reputation. If people search for the real tweets, you could easily say they’ve been deleted, and nobody can argue who’s right or wrong. Since most people don’t know about this tool, they would be more inclined on believing the person that’s creating a ruckus, than the poor person getting attacked. Not cool.

How do you prevent yourself, or your organization, from falling victim to faked tweets, texts, or any other type of fabricated messages?

This definitely falls under Crisis Management 101 – always check your sources! You simply can not rely on images from a third party. Go straight to the source, whether that means logging on to Twitter or actually picking up the phone and calling someone to verify that what you saw was indeed legit.

As we engage more and more in the digital space, human verification increases in value. Even as you rush to react, remember that a delay is less costly than a mistake. Take a step back, make sure things are as they seem, then proceed.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Strong policies are the only way to protect yourself from backlash over employee conduct

You’ve probably heard about the Adria Richards “public shaming” mess already, but for those haven’t here’s a recap.

At developer conference PyCon, well-known developer evangelist Adria Richards overheard a pair of male attendees from gaming company PlayHaven making what she took to be sexist jokes using terms like “dongles” and “forking.” In other words, not particularly appropriate, but certainly not out of character for a couple of male techies having what they thought to be a private conversation.

Instead of turning around and asking them to keep it clean, Ricards tweeted a photo of the pair, then proceeded to ask, on Twitter, for help dealing with the situation, as well as texting PyCon staff. Conference organizers confronted the two men, and, according to a post on PyCon’s own page, both expressed regret and apologized at that time.

Things get ugly

Richards blogged about the situation, drawing major ‘net attention, and then things got really ugly.

One of the male devs, a father of three, revealed that he had been fired as a result of the Twitter shaming, setting off a massive outcry. The social media accounts of all companies involved were absolutely swamped with incensed posters arguing both sides, and Richard’s employer, SendGrid, was even hit with a massive DDoS attack.

One picture, two jobs

Finally, SendGrid had enough, and decided to terminate Richards, effective immediately.

The right or wrong of the situation is still being hashed out in arguments across the web, and we’ll leave that for other pages. What we’re interested in is how organizations can avoid or reduce the potentially negative impact of employee actions.

Especially given the fluid nature of social media, norms are changing more rapidly than ever, and of course vary wildly depending on the social makeup of a group, location, and any number of other factors.

C.Y.A.

The only way to give yourself a leg to stand on when addressing personal behavior is to establish clear, firm and legally compliant policies. That way, should an employee cross the line you can’t be accused of having a knee-jerk reaction, caving to pressure, or doing anything other than following through on the policies they knew and chose to violate.

Don’t just slap a couple of pages in the new hire handbook and consider it set, either, we all know nobody’s reading anything in there except how many vacation days they get and what time they need to show up for work. Create your policies, back them up with education and regular re-training, and don’t forget to revisit them frequently to see if changes are called for.

Situations like this are only going to become more common as the ‘net blurs borders, both cultural and geographical. Make sure your butt is covered, prepare employee conduct policies today.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

[Editor’s note: In this guest submission, Jason Snyder, VP of WordWrite Communications, explains why it’s critical for hospitals to invest in crisis communications and reputation management planning, especially in this period of healthcare reform.]

Hospitals, rife with risk, need a crisis communications plan

“As long as they spell my name right.”

There are plenty of naïve people whose view on getting publicity is that unsophisticated. Ask former Congressman Anthony Weiner, whose “Weinergate” Twitter photos destroyed his political career, whether he agrees. Weiner was likely spelled correctly thousands of times in media coverage of the infamously inappropriate picture he tweeted to a 21-year-old college student.

More savvy business leaders will tell you that in some cases, the best headline they’ve ever read is the one they didn’t read. In other words, an organization’s ability to effectively manage crisis situations before they become headlines is, or should be, a highly valued skill.

And there are few places where crises can take place more often than a hospital.

Consider these headlines, none of which the hospital’s CEO was likely happy about reading:

Baby Switched At Minneapolis Hospital, Breastfed By Wrong Mom

Report Looks at Hospital in Outbreak of Hepatitis

Parkland patient tells Dallas County officials hospital left medical tube in arm

HIPPA violations, lab errors and compliance violations happen regularly at hospitals. Even the country’s best hospitals make mistakes. It’s human nature. It’s inherent in the business. Whether such breaches are inexcusable or unforgivable is up for debate.

What is inexcusable, though, is knowing that these violations can and will happen yet being unprepared to handle them. Having a crisis plan in place that considers, among other things, which administrators to contact; how legal counsel gets involved; and how, if at all, patients are informed is the first step in managing what could become a public relations crisis if not properly managed. A significant portion of the crisis plan should be a detailed strategy for communications.

Many hospitals have long-time staffers who simply “know what to do” in these situations and therefore can manage through them. But what happens when those staffers quit or retire or they’re on vacation? What happens when middle management and front-line staff are left to take on an aggressive reporter whose satellite truck is parked in front of the emergency room entrance?

Hospital communications staff do a tremendous amount of work promoting their hospital through public relations and marketing communications. Communications departments are usually understaffed and pulled in dozens of directions. It’s no surprise, then, that taking the time to develop and memorize well conceived crisis communications plans and to train the appropriate staff in how to execute them can fall by the wayside.

As healthcare reform marches on, reimbursement is more closely linked to quality. Quality affects community benefit. Community benefit affects perception and reputation, and tax-exempt status is under fire. So an investment in crisis communications planning is not only smart, it’s vital. Working with a trusted partner to develop and practice the crisis plans will give communications staffers the time and peace of mind they need for their proactive work earning the kinds of headlines CEOs do want to read, not the ones that keep them up at night.

Jason Snyder is senior vice president of WordWrite Communications. He can be reached at 412-246-0340, ext. 26 or jason.snyder@wordwritepr.com

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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