By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications Dr. Amy Acton is Director of the Ohio Department of Health. As such, she stands side-by-side with Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine for the daily 2:00 briefing on COVID-19. Unlike so many politicians that bob, weave, waffle or try to simply command authority and obedience, Dr. Acton speaks of vulnerability and […]
From Sterling Miller: As in-house counsel, you can sum up your priorities in two categories: “Maximize Value Creation” (e.g., M&A) and “Minimize Value Destruction” (e.g., defending “bet the company” litigation). Pretty much all legal work you or the department do will fall under the above. A “crisis” situation falls under potential value destruction and can […]
In this short Ashland University Professional Learning Podcast, Dr. David Silverberg interviews Thom Fladung, managing partner of Hennes Communications, one of the few firms in North America focused exclusively on crisis management and crisis communications. Fladung is also the former managing editor of The Plain Dealer and Detroit Free Press. To listen to Thom talk […]
From Michael Kling, writing for Glean. Public relations experts and other commentators point to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 communications as an example of how leaders should speak to the public during a crisis. Business leaders and PR professionals can examine Cuomo’s press conferences for several crisis communications lessons. While the New York governor […]
Written by Jill Avery and Richard Edelman, writing for the Harvard Business School. As the COVID-19 virus pandemic began to sweep across the world, Doug McMillon and his team at Walmart watched in horror. Suddenly, they realized, tomorrow would be nothing like “business as usual” and everything in the company’s marketing plan, from retail execution […]
Everyone wants to know when we can begin going back to the lives we had just a month or so ago and when businesses will reopen. Knowing that there’s much misinformation out there, we rarely post anything about this particular portion of the COVID-15 debate, but we saw something written by someone with impeccable credentials, […]
From The New York Times: Justice is supposed to be blind. But in courtrooms, decorum matters. Judges typically dress in somber black robes. Lawyers, plaintiffs and defendants are encouraged to dress modestly to signify credibility. Does that change when court hearings are moved online to enable social distancing during the spread of the new coronavirus? Absolutely not, according […]
We are living in uncertain and unprecedented times, so it’s important for you to know that we’ve been here since 1989 – and that our top priority is people. From the safety of our home and yours, we’re here for you. We really are. And we won’t just tell you – we’ll show you. And after […]
By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications For those of us who make a living helping clients communicate during crises, the last few weeks have been breathtaking as we’ve worked with organizations of all types to grapple with the arrival of COVID-19. We’ve moved from developing plans that anticipate a possible positive test result to creating communications […]
Whether it’s a staff meeting on Teams, a webinar on Zoom, a private conversation on FaceTime or a short training video you record on WebEx, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it. And if it’s an interview with a seasoned reporter, the stakes are even higher. You must be prepared to answer […]