Force For Good Communications

Crisis Management X01: Never stop learning, become a student of news events

2009-11-11T11:03:02-05:00

Today's Bulldog Reporter includes an interview with me as author of this blog and author of Feeding Frenzy. The interview focuses, as you might expect, on crisis communications.

Here's one quick take-away: Become a student of current affairs and think about how you'd handle issues in the news:

We don't know what the next crisis will be, but we do know that it's coming. So pay attention to how others are handling crises. Watch the news closely and envision yourself in the crisis. Imagine that you're Robert Gibbs, and ask, how would I handle that? As PR professionals, we should be students of the news, instead of just consumers.

- Jon Harmon

Start thinking about the upside of the business cycle, reinvest in vital communications

2009-11-11T10:24:08-05:00

As the economic recovery slowly begins to take hold, smart business leaders will start activating their companies' recovery plans. That means going after new market opportunities aggressively. And it means starting to invest again in essentials to the business, investments that were deferred during the downturn.

And that may include communication. If your company cut its communication budget to the bone, now is the time to make the case to adequately (not extravagantly) resource smart, effective communication.

Here's an excerpt from an interview I gave to the Bulldog Reporter:

My advice is to start thinking about the upside before your competition does. Think about how the industry will look and how you will gain market share over the competition. The first people who start looking at the horizon—as opposed to at their feet—will have the advantage.

You still want to stay as lean as you can. But this idea of saying "no" to opportunities in the name of cost cutting will not serve companies well.

One thing you should look at in particular is internal communications ... extremely important in difficult times and in times of change.... Employees are worried and insecure—and they need to hear from senior management....Communicating optimism is hugely important for getting employees in the company to buy in to the strategy and work at full capacity. Management and leaders in business should be communicating frequently and candidly. That means listening as well as talking."

- Jon Harmon

Passing of the no-name decade: Drop the oh and ... Celebrate like it was 19-99!

2009-11-09T11:02:02-05:00

A little year-end rant, a little early ...

Hard to believe, but this first decade of the new century, this decade with no name, is almost history.

One bright spot: we finally can get back to talking about a year in two easy-chunks: "Twenty-Ten," "Twenty-Eleven," etc. Just like the good all days of "Nineteen-Ninety Nine."

Ever since we were saddled with "The Year Two Thousand," we've struggled with the two-chunk dates. "Twenty-Nine" just doesn't work. So we inserted the obligatory oh: "Twenty-oh-Nine." It worked well enough. And it allowed us to further abbreviate the year to simply "oh-nine."

But, please, come New Year's Day, drop the oh! I cringe every time I hear someone refer to next year as "oh-ten," as in "the oh-ten emission standards will be tough to meet." (Remember: it's '10 -- not '010!)

- Jon Harmon

Leslie Gaines-Ross has high praise for Feeding Frenzy

2009-11-02T11:30:25-05:00

"For all of us anticipating or living through reputation recoveries and crises now, [Feeding Frenzy] is a must read." -- ReputationXchange.com

So writes no less an authority on reputation than Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, Weber Shandwick's Chief Reputation Strategist and author of CEO Capital and Corporate Reputation.

A brilliant thinker and a terrific writer, Leslie is a friend, but she plays it straight and true. So I especially appreciate her complimenting my writing: "His minute to minute descriptions of the frenzy keeps you on the edge of your seat (if that is how you read)."

- Jon Harmon

Can reporting co-ops save the local newspaper?

2009-10-28T11:30:17-04:00

Newspapers simply will not survive under their existing business model. Readers and advertisers are leaving in droves. Newspapers are losing out to competition from alternative news sites--including aggregators such as Yahoo! News and Google--delivering pithy electronic news bites to on-the-go consumers. Newspapers' own websites are increasingly displacing the printed word, but they haven't been able to sufficiently monetize content as on-line readers resist having to pay for content and advertising hasn't delivered enough revenue.

In the six months from April to September, the top 400 newspaper in the U.S. saw their weekday circulation decline by a staggering 10.6%, and that followed what had been considered a horrific circulation decline of 6.1% the previous six months, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation's latest data.

Unless something changes quickly, you can write the newspaper's obituary.

Along with similar pressures facing traditional television news operations, the death of the newspaper could spell the end to strong, competent news reporting. Who will provide the reporting for the news aggregators to collect and distribute? Or will hard reporting largely go by the waste side, largely replaced by entertainment fluff and gossip? And even if a few strong, national news organizations--such as the Wall Street Journal and USA Today--survive, who will do the indispensable but not very lucrative work of reporting on local issues?

One possible remedy to this dark picture could be provided by local news co-ops. The New York Times has begun publishing a local edition in San Francisco and is moving ahead with plans for a Chicago edition as well, stepping into voids in those markets caused by newspaper bankruptcies. The Wall Street Journal has similar plans. While these localized national papers will put additional financial pressure on truly local newspapers in those markets, they also are spawning news co-ops that may be the future of serious local news journalism.

In Chicago, the non-profit news co-op will be headed by James E. O’Shea, a former editor of the Los Angeles Times and a former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, and other well-regarded journalists will step into key reporting and editing responsibilities. The co-op will provide content for the NY Times' Chicago edition as well as for Chicago public TV and radio stations. It will compete with the news organizations of the Tribune and Sun-Times, both in bankruptcy, at least as long as those newspapers continue to exist.

In smaller markets, perhaps non-profit news co-ops will supply reporting for all of the area's newspaper, broadcast and web news outlets just as pool arrangements today cover national news stories that are either prohibitively expensive or are not conducive to being covered by the full circus of dozens of camera and sound crews.

Whenever a full complement of news organizations are replaced with a single reporting operation, the worry grows about compromised or less than fully objective news coverage. But as the economics of news organizations grows increasingly dismal, it may be the only local alternative.

P.S. - Nearly three years ago, I posed the question here: "Does the newspaper have a future?" But I certainly did not foresee the dire situation newspapers find themselves in currently. In fact, the lead of my post was: "Reports of the death of the newspaper have been greatly exaggerated."

- Jon Harmon

FCC moves forward on needed net neutrality rules

2009-10-23T10:52:25-04:00

(update of previous post...)

The Federal Communications Commission appears to be moving ahead in establishing regulations that would enforce so-called "net neutrality" on Internet providers.

"The FCC voted 5-0 to begin the rule-making process, with the agency's two Republicans dissenting with parts of agency's initial findings," reported MarketWatch.

Once the rule-making process begins, it is almost a foregone conclusion that the regulations will be enacted. That's a good step forward in maintaining an open Internet. Under net neutrality, Internet providers would not be allowed to block access to users of competitive Internet providers.

The FCC appears to be wisely allowing for exceptions--as long as they are openly disclosed--for providers to block spam or other unwanted content, such as child pornography. (Any reasonable step taken to limit child pornography, as well as minors' accidental exposure to pornography, is certainly positive. And consistent with the "Blogger Power" initiative championed here two years ago that gained a groundswell of support from around the globe. Blogger Power achieved some small success in highlighting the issue but we always knew that government action was required for any real victories to be declared. A special thanks to Michigan Congressman Thadeus McCotter for his leadership and support.)

- Jon Harmon

Net neutrality versus the coming mobile meltdown

2009-10-14T13:26:37-04:00

"Net neutrality" is a concept often taken for granted. It is assumed to be a sacred right -- isn't in the Constitution somewhere? But net neutrality may be rapidly becoming untenable in our mobile world as streaming video to handheld devices puts huge new strains on available wireless capacity.

Net neutrality refers to the principle that an internet provider should always allow its users to connect with the users of other internet providers, and should not block the applications and content of other providers. It also has become an article of internet faith that net neutrality means unlimited usage (as opposed to surcharges based on consumption of wireless capacity).

But Holman Jenkins argues in today's Wall Street Journal that unfettered usage is leading to a "mobile meltdown in the making."

Consider: A single You Tube viewing consumes nearly 100 times as much cellular bandwidth as a voice call. In Asia, some 200 million people already watch video on their smart-phones...AdMob reports that mobile Web page requests grew 9% from July to August--a 180% annual growth rate. And Motorola recently went public with worries that a handful of mobile Sling-box users could wipe out cell service in a whole neighborhood.

... the biggest political scrum in the near future won't be over classic net neutrality at all--it will be a battle over usage-based pricing, which is one of the few demands to keep excessive demand in check.

Jenkins calls on the Obama Administration to take steps to free up more wireless spectrum, allow mobile phone operators to merge and to "relax about net neutrality."

But don't expect champions of net neutrality and free, unfettered usage to go quietly in the night.

-- Jon Harmon

Experts make the call: Feeding Frenzy is ‘must reading’

2009-09-29T17:38:56-04:00

In my previous post, I declared (perhaps immodestly) that the intent of my soon-to-be-available book on crisis communications is to be “interesting as well as informative.”

Feeding Frenzy aims to provide readers with the sense of living through the pressure-cooker experience of handling a deluge of media inquiries throughout the epic Ford-Firestone crisis.

So, does the book achieve those ambitions?

I’ll leave it to others to be the judge, beginning with perhaps the most widely respected expert on the contemporary auto industry, along with four highly-regarded thought-leaders in the discipline of public relations.

Here’s what the five of them had to say after reading an advance draft of Feeding Frenzy:

Feeding Frenzy is a view from the inside of one the most intriguing events in the history of modern industry, the highly publicized drama of the Ford-Firestone conflict. Jon Harmon, a key player in the drama, gives us a clear view from the team that lived with the enormous challenge for months on end. His “lessons learned” are highly insightful and valuable for any organization dealing with serious legal conflict. The detail, quality of writing, complexity of the issues and the interesting cast of characters make this a very engaging and educational read.

- Dr. David E. Cole, Chairman, Center for Automotive Research, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Jon Harmon’s Feeding Frenzy is must reading both for CEOs and public relations professionals. His insider account of a real-life business disaster involving two iconic brand names, Ford and Firestone, has all the suspense of a fictional “thriller.” From his perch as a senior Ford communicator, he provides rare perspective on a conflict that engaged lawyers and communicators fighting for mega-stakes – dollars and, even more important, reputation.

- Harold Burson, founding chairman, Burson-Marsteller; named “the 20^th Century’s most influential PR figure” by PR Week.

The Ford-Firestone dispute marked the start of 21^st century crisis communications, an environment where the court of public opinion is often more important than a court of law. Jon Harmon’s “ground zero” examination of these events at Ford provides invaluable insights and lessons to crisis managers everywhere.

- Jonathan Bernstein, President & CEO, Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc; editor/publisher, “Crisis Manager.”

Crisis communications expert Jon Harmon cracks open a famous case of a company under fire and comes away with fresh guidance for the corporate executive who wants to avoid costly mistakes and gain the advantage when things go wrong and critics are on the attack. A must-read for C-suiters.

nnn - E. Bruce Harrison, author, Corporate Greening 2.0

Feeding Frenzy has the compelling narrative drive of a novel. The drama comes alive with details of behind-the-scenes maneuvering and intriguing personalities. It delivers important crisis management lessons that executives need: instant news, the role of the Internet, the melodramatic approach to story telling used by today’s ratings-desperate media – and the role trial attorneys and opportunistic politicians play now that reputations and trust can be lost in a heartbeat.

- Gerald Baron, author, Now Is Too Late: Survival in an Era of Instant News.