Page 122 - Harvard Business Review (November-December, 2017)

JEFF GLUECK WHAT I’M READING…

I’m a big fan of the New Yorker’s long- The Genesis Code, on genetic
CEO OF form articles. You don’t find that kind of engineering; Ratf**ked,
about how gerrymandering
coverage on Venezuela or Syria elsewhere.
FOURSQUARE My wife gets Vanity Fair, so I sometimes is distorting American
turn to that for lighter reading and some democracy; and Stirring It Up, a memoir by Gary
incredible business journalism. Other Hirshberg, the former CEO of Stonyfield Farm.
favorite websites and newsletters include I’d hoped to finish Alexander Hamilton, by Ron
Business Insider, the Verge, TechCrunch, Chernow, before I saw the musical Hamilton, but
the New York Times, the Wall Street I got through only three-quarters before the show.
Journal, and the Skimm. I have a Both are moving character studies that put you into
few books on my nightstand: the historical moment.

magine you were the For many companies in such
person at BP headquarters predicaments, the first call often
SYNTHESIS in 2010 who got the first goes to a crisis management
consultant, or “fixer.” But
call: A drilling platform
in the Gulf of Mexico had
LEADING, NOT MANAGING, Iexploded and sunk, killing according to James Haggerty,
who specializes in this work,
if you’re caught so flat-footed
11 workers—and allowing oil to
IN CRISIS leak into the ocean at a rate of that you need outside help
43 barrels a minute. What would
immediately, you’re already
behind. In Chief Crisis Officer,
you do? Which colleagues would
BY DANIEL MCGINN you convene, and which of the he suggests that companies
myriad problems would you
take three preemptive steps:
address first? Would you put out designate an insider who will
a press statement or a tweet or manage any situation that might
send a spokesperson to the scene? arise (not the CEO, but someone
Would your focus be on managing trusted enough to make a big
the situation—or actually leading decision—such as the CEO’s chief
the company through it? of staff, an experienced PR hand,
Particularly in the age of or an assistant general counsel);
Twitter, it’s more important appoint a rapid response team to
than ever for organizations to help that person; and give that
swiftly and adeptly respond to a team some scenario training.
crisis—whether it’s a full-blown Haggerty classifies crises
disaster or merely a disgruntled according to their speed (an
customer’s tweet that’s starting “exploding” crisis versus an
to spread. In surveys, executives “unfolding,” slower-moving
now rank “reputation risks” one, such as a big lawsuit),
among their top worries, largely and examines nuts-and-bolts
because bad news travels so issues, such as limiting media
much faster than it used to. A access. His focus is tactical: He
Forbes headline, written after argues that companies should
video of a passenger being create a laminated, one-page
dragged off a plane went viral last crisis playbook, similar to what
spring, succinctly sums up the an NFL coach carries on the
danger: “How United Became sidelines. Calling BP’s response
the World’s Most Hated Airline to Deepwater Horizon “one of the
in One Day.” worst PR responses the world has

Chief Crisis Officer: VALENTYN VOLKOV/ISTOCK; FREEPIK/FLATICON
Structure and
Leadership for Effective
Communications Response
James F. Haggerty
American Bar Association, 2017

164 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017