The Four Stages of Highly Effective Crisis Management: How to Manage the Media in the Digital Age

A Note from the Author

It is my fervent hope that when you read my book that you will feel inspired to manage the media differently in a crisis, but most of all I want you to know that there are very predictable patterns in how the media (and we, in citizen journalism land) report a crisis. You see we humans are a predictable bunch – we like to see and hear things in a certain way at a certain time.

We also like to hear stories about heroes, we cannot resist the villains – we are really voyeurs. We rubber neck when someone has an accident. Now, thanks to social media, human behavior is out there for the world to see! Never before has here been such transparency of the human condition. And we self-correct, we stretch the truth, or shrink the facts to suit our perceptions, values and views of life.

The book is filled with plenty of examples that will give you insights into the fragility of the human condition and why certain questions get asked when and why people behave the way they do in a crisis. It’s simple really – we default to type, and that type may not be to our liking, but then again it might be. Think of Rudy Giuliani during 9/11. He was on the skids before that tragedy but rose to the challenge and became almost Churchillian-like. He spoke for New York and its pain. All good leaders do. Tony Hayward, the ex-BP CEO defaulted to type also; one we didn’t particularly like when he uttered those infamous words, “I want my life back” during the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Enjoy the read and do please let me know what you think.