All posts by James Donnelly

Three Tough Q’s: Judy Hoffman

When I first formed the mission of this blog, I knew it would be an interesting experiment.  Crisis management experts and communications coaches are a spirited bunch.  Encouraging dialogue and debate on these topics should lead to interesting, educational places.  That’s the goal for all ye who browse here. 

What I didn’t count on, however, was how interesting the networking has become in such a short time.  Take Judy Hoffman, for example, founder of JCH Enterprises.  The blog was a few posts old when Judy reached out, sent warm complements and also offered me a copy of her book, Keeping Cool on the Hot Seat.  It’s a solid read of the foundations of dealing with (mostly local) media in times of crisis.  Check it out, if you get the chance.

We’ve traded emails and my fellow North Carolina neighbor graciously accepted the offer to answer Three Tough Q’s:

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“Ask the Crisis Manager” Vol. 1, No. 2: Search engine results and planning for nonprofit/educational sector

I’m really pleased with the quality of questions received for this feature.  Please keep those great questions coming.  Here’s the latest installment of “Ask the Crisis Manager.”

S. Wallace:  My client has done a lot of very good work for his company, but it’s the one negative thing he did that’s popping up at the top of the Google searches.  How can I get that one negative thing moved down on the Google results so that it’s not top of mind for people? 

  Continue reading “Ask the Crisis Manager” Vol. 1, No. 2: Search engine results and planning for nonprofit/educational sector

The Disabling Dozen (Part 2 of 2): Common Crisis Plan Impediments

I hope you enjoyed the first half of this list

Here is the sequel of common barriers to having a practical, actionable crisis plan. 

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The Disabling Dozen (Part 1 of 2): Common Crisis Plan Impediments

Quick – what’s worse:  having no crisis plan, or having an unwieldy crisis plan?

Consider that the latter is worse for an organization that lets its fate ride solely on the contents of that plan, without cultivating an experienced team to execute its clunky contents.  In other words:  it’s a bad plan to trust only a plan; it’s disastrous if the written plan isn’t actionable. 

Crisis managers should review of their written plans against this checklist of worst practices to see if a re-write is due:

Continue reading The Disabling Dozen (Part 1 of 2): Common Crisis Plan Impediments

Three Tough Q’s: Peter Sandman

I’m delighted to launch this interview series – dubbed Three Tough Q’s – with one of the true luminaries of risk and crisis communication, Peter Sandman.  If you haven’t had the privilege, I encourage you to attend one of Peter’s speaking engagements or tap the cornucopia of resources on his Web site

Interview highlights appear here, but each question also links to the complete, robust responses that appear on Peter’s Web site. 

Without further ado – enter, Sandman:

Continue reading Three Tough Q’s: Peter Sandman