Crisis Communications: The Definitive Guide to Managing the Message

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You Can’t MakeThis Stuff Up

“I’d like my life back.”

With those five whiny words at the height of one of the planet’s worst environmental crises, one of the world’s most successful CEOs cracked publicly under the strain of crisis-induced stress. That pathetic plaint forever sealed his reputation as a seemingly unfeeling, gaffe-prone dunderhead whose glamorous, jet-setting lifestyle was inconvenienced by the tragic loss of 11 lives during a massive oil rig explosion, the resulting runaway oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the heartbreaking loss of livelihoods for countless thousands of area families—all caused by his company, his minions, and their combined sins. That one ill-chosen utterance, in full view of the world’s media,¹ at once ...