Page 100 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

1
The New Dynamics of Financial Crisis 81
8
critics and adversaries. Lawyers are usually conservative, and they dis-
courage the kind of calculated risk-taking that lies behind any good
communication. But successful crisis management strategies are often
dramatic. It is hard to imagine, for example, that lawyers instinctively
rallied around JetBlue’s Customer Bill of Rights and public apology
on YouTube after its crisis in the winter of 2007. Conversely, it is easy to
see the hand of legal restraint in Exxon’s ‘no comment’ stance after the
Valdez tragedy, or in NASA’s evasive and sluggish conduct after the
Challenger space shuttle explosion.
The solution, again, is to assimilate both the legal and public rela-
tions perspective, and to ensure that each function is operating
together as a team. Most of the time, contact between communications
and legal has to do with the control and vetting of public material, and
in this sense contains an element of tension. This is one reason why the
kind of crisis planning and role-playing discussed elsewhere in this
book, where attorneys and communications professionals practise
working as a team in a simulated crisis ‘wargame’, are so important.

The psychology of financial crisis

Let us turn now to failures in spokesperson communication. By way of
approaching the topic, it is well to pause and consider the psycholog-
ical dynamics that come to the fore in the key players when a crisis first
strikes.
Management and their financial audiences often have different and
potentially discordant reactions in the face of a crisis. Most CEOs
and top executives are can-do optimists. Unless they are facing a clear
and unmitigated catastrophe, their first instinct is often to underesti-
mate the crisis and overestimate their ability to get it fixed. Financial
audiences, on the other hand, are often experiencing hyper-reality.
They have been surprised, their reputations have been damaged, and
they are in the dark. That place where CEO denial and the share-
holder/analyst anxiety meet can be dangerous.
For the CEO spokesperson, this is not the moment for sunny-eyed
optimism and sugar-coated assurances. Be determined – but above all
be realistic. Remember that probably never again in the crisis will
financial audiences be as prepared as they are at this moment to hear
and bear the worst. Put out all the bad news that you know. Show suit-
able emotion. Admit what you don’t know. If you think it could get
worse, say so. Commit to a reasonable and workable timeframe to get
answers. Begin to build back.