Good crisis management means being aware of, and preparing for, the possible outcomes of your actions
There’s been a lot of discussion about demands from hackers that Sony not release “The Interview” due to its targeting of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, but in a recent interview with PRWeek Bernstein Crisis Management president Jonathan Bernstein brought up a side of the issue that few have mentioned:
“What Sony did was the equivalent of waltzing into a bad neighborhood with a pocketful of cash hanging out when it named [Kim Jong-un] as the target of its new film,” says Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management. “What the people there should be saying is: ‘We take responsibility for this, we used poor judgment, and here’s how we’re going to fix it and cop a better attitude in terms of the two executives steeped in it.’”
It’s clear that Sony discarded even the possibility of action by its target, and was left reeling as a result. Bottom line is, when you know you’re poking a bee’s nest, you need to have a plan to cope with the potential outcomes, from the very mild to the most extreme. It’s just smart crisis management.
——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-
[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]
– See more at: https://staging.management.org/blogs/crisis-management/2014/12/10/instagrams-300-million-users-and-crisis-management/#sthash.8JpyJXk4.dpuf