From wildfires in Hawaii to hurricanes in Florida, and sweltering heat, ice storms, boil-water notices, tornadoes, and extended service outages everywhere in between, 2023 has provided many crises (or near crises) on which utility communicators must communicate. That’s why we sat down with Thomas Fladung (left), managing partner at Hennes Communications, a crisis communications firm, to assess the current state of […]
By Jack Shafer for Politico It was 30 years ago that novelist-filmmaker-physician Michael Crichton lowered his stethoscope to the chest of the media business and denounced it as dying, if not dead. The diagnosis began as a National Press Club speech, but he promptly adapted it into magazine form and published it in Wired under the […]
By Kathleen Meyer for Business Wire Crises happen when they are least expected, which is why every organization should have a crisis communication plan in place. Crises communications refers to information that is shared when an event occurs that impacts customers or a company’s reputation. The intent is to mitigate negativity, ensure all employees and […]
By Adam Petrilli for Entrepreneur Business reputation is the public perception of the brand, its products or services and its treatment of employees and customers. A good reputation serves a company well, but a lousy reputation inflicts damage and potential ruin. That is not to say a company cannot come back from negative reviews or missteps. Reputation management is […]
By Eva Rothenberg for CNN Innocent until proven guilty might hold up in the court of law, but the court of public opinion tends to play by hazier rules. From celebrity scandals to business blunders, crisis communication is a cornerstone of public relations. It’s a specialty of PR dealing with protecting reputation, because a blow to […]
By Bob Ward for The Guardian Can you spot fake news? Here are the headlines of three recent stories that received wide coverage: “Putin issues international arrest warrant for George Soros”; “A baby born in California was named heart eyes emoji”; “Criminal farts so loudly he gives away his hiding place”. Did you recognise that […]
By Minda Zetlin for INC. How good are you at having a conversation? If you’re like most people, you may wonder about your own conversational skills. The truth is, being good at conversation is as much about what you don’t say as it is about what you do say. In an insightful post for Psychology Today, Dave Smallen, […]
From Joe Novarro, writing for Politico I learned that humans are fairly good at lying — but they’re lousy at concealing their true emotions, especially when stressed. We reveal our unspoken thoughts in our bodies: faces flushed with embarrassment, lips pursed at unwelcome questions, fingers covering the neck dimple when discussing a touchy subject. I […]
By James Seaton for PRNews Nonprofit executives often build up years of experience addressing gaps in education, affordable housing, healthcare, animal welfare, voter registration and other social issues that can be leveraged through thought leadership in the media. Yet it can be easy for them to shrink at the opportunity. Their hesitations are grounded in […]
Hennes Communications has been named among the top crisis PR firms in the U.S. by Chambers and Partners, considered the leading independent professional legal research company in the world. Hennes is one of only 16 communication consulting firms included in the list for 2023. “We are thrilled to be included in what is probably the […]
