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Texas Storm Communications Show Stark Messaging Contrasts

By Nicole Schuman, writing for PRNews… On top of a global pandemic and unprecedented economic downturn, Texans also had to deal with the fury of Mother Nature over the past week, when an unlikely winter storm wreaked havoc on one of the nation’s largest states. In an area not exactly used to dealing with snow, […]


Tone-Deaf or Bad Timing? Lady Gaga’s Reputation Management Nightmare

by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications “Help! I’ve been shot! I’m bleeding out of my chest!” Wednesday night on Sunset Boulevard. A man walking three French bulldogs is jumped by two creeps demanding he hand over the pricey animals. He refuses. One of the assailants blasts him in the chest with a semi-automatic weapon. Two of […]


Monumental Crisis Management FAIL: Ted Cruz’s Mexican Vacation

By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications As is now clear to the entire country, Senator Ted Cruz apparently skipped class the day they taught Crisis Management 101.  As his constituents and fellow Texans faced a winter storm that may be the costliest in the state’s history, boiling snow for drinking water and burning furniture to heat […]


KPMG’s Bill Michael Resigns After Telling Staff to ‘Stop Moaning’

Recently, we were asked to comment on the story below.  Our quick analysis:  it’s not like he said something accidental, or something he didn’t mean. His words clearly expressed his beliefs. And those beliefs were not consistent with the values of KPMG – and appropriate action was taken. From Mark Sweney & Joanna Partridge writing in […]


What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership

From Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams writing for the Harvard Business School: “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” — Admiral James Stockdale. In August, while most developed […]


Goodell Super Bowl Pre-Game Interview Showcases PR Fundamentals

Nicole Schuman at PRNews writes: From a PR standpoint, highlights of CBS’s Super Bowl pregame show didn’t come from Miley Cyrus’s concert for essential workers or the moving piece celebrating the 30th anniversary of Whitney Houston’s performance of the national anthem. It came from a simple interview that many viewers may have missed while preparing […]


What’s Next When Your Apology is Not Accepted

From Michael Toebe, writing in SmartBrief: Apology, even a sincere, well-meaning one, is not always accepted. One’s name, credibility and reputation are mud. Forgiveness and trust are not granted. What then? It can prove helpful to go through a detailed, yet simple process to increase the odds of your apology eventually being well-received. Start with […]


The Stupidity Defense

From our esteemed colleague, Dr. Peter Sandman: It comes up in my consulting at least once a month. Something bad has happened on my client’s watch, and now the client has to own up to it. The key question (or at least one key question) is why it happened. And the principal contenders for best […]


When Should You Correct Fake News on Social Media Sites?

by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications The tempo of client calls we field about dealing with social media misinformation continues to increase. Our mantra has always been: Stridently correct factual errors the second you see them  posted. But what if you get wind that a disgruntled former employee or a special interest group is planning to […]


Negative Online Client Reviews: ABA Gives Some Tips for Responding

Preface by Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications Last week, writing in Law for Lawyers, a publication of the Thompson Hine law firm, our friend Karen Rubin wrote about how attorneys should deal with negative online reviews.  We’ve taken the liberty of adding this preface to her excellent article: When considering a response to a negative lawyer […]


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