Masters of Disaster
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Masters of Disaster

The Ten Commandments of Damage Control

Christopher Lehane, Mark Fabiani and Bill Guttentag
St. Martin’s Press, 2012
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

CEOs show their true mettle in times of high-profile crisis – when damage control makes the difference between an organization’s failure or survival. A scandal that generates bad publicity can be equally dangerous. Crisis communications consultants Christopher Lehane and Mark Fabiani, working with award-winning writer Bill Guttentag, spell out the best tactics to use when one wrong move in how you or your company communicate about a scandal or failure could cause irreparable damage. Lehane and Fabiani, who planned and implemented former President Bill Clinton’s damage-control strategy during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, know how to cope with crisis. getAbstract recommends their counsel to all who could – on some really bad day – need to act quickly to save their company’s and their own reputation and credibility.

Summary

Welcome to Crisis Land

Scandal has become the fuel that helps feed the information bonfire. Information moves around the world at the speed of light. Today, 140-character tweets can have as much impact as front-page headlines. People quickly leverage any news leak for their own purposes and agendas. Leaders, listeners and viewers no longer trust information as they once did. A “feedback loop of distrust” has replaced the traditional news cycle, creating an ideal environment for scandal.

Scandals take many forms, but produce the same result: The public learns about them immediately. Scandals leave behind more losers – Enron, Lehman Brothers and baseball player Barry Bonds – than winners – Goldman Sachs, Bill Clinton and basketball star Kobe Bryant. If calamity, catastrophe or scandal blow down your door, activate three elements of damage control:

  • “Do no harm” – Get in front of the story, but do not try to spin it to your advantage. Counterspin: Stay honest and transparent. Never pass the buck; hold your organization accountable for its actions.
  • “Take a disciplined approach” – Crises occur in a fog, but you must see beyond the storm...

About the Authors

Christopher Lehane and Mark Fabiani are partners in Fabiani & Lehane, a communications firm that counsels corporate, entertainment, political and professional sports clients. Bill Guttentag is an Oscar-winning feature film and documentary writer-producer-director.

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