Introduction by Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications Ensuring the safety of students is a collective responsibility, with school board members and superintendents playing a crucial role. In today’s world, where school safety is increasingly at stake, it is imperative that these leaders receive adequate crisis management training and share lessons learned to effectively address the challenges […]
Hennes Communications has been named among the top crisis PR firms in the U.S. by Chambers and Partners, the leading independent professional legal research company in the world. Hennes Communications is one of only 18 communication consulting firms included in the list for 2024. Bruce Hennes, chief executive officer, also received an individual ranking by […]
From The New York Times… A story can entertain and inform; it can also deceive and manipulate. Perhaps few stories are as seductive as the ones we tell ourselves about ourselves — those reasonable, principled creatures so many of us presume ourselves to be. As Annalee Newitz writes in “Stories Are Weapons,” propaganda is premised […]
From our good friend in Australia, Tony Jaques, at Issues Outcome. Check out his website here. With universities tying themselves in knots over free speech and campus protests, and corporations struggling to decide what to say on high profile issues, it’s time to revisit whether management should speak up or shut up. Despite the headlines […]
Published by Tony Jaques for Managing Outcomes When responding to a crisis or a major issue, CEOs need to speak clearly, with authority and empathy. What then to make of the latest advice from consultants McKinsey, whose expert on “go-to-market and omnichannel strategy, agile sales and marketing transformation” proposes that Chief Executives should be their […]
Why ‘meaning-making’ matters In every crisis, it is essential that government and public sector leaders provide a compelling story. A good crisis narrative teaches the public about the realities of the predicament. It conveys what leaders know, do not know and cannot know, and what they are doing to figure out as much as possible. […]
By Philip M. Napoli and Asa Royal for Nieman Lab Here’s a term you may be hearing with increasing frequency: “Fact-based journalism.” The Associated Press uses it in fund-raising appeals, as does ProPublica, and our local NPR affiliate. The National Association of Broadcasters and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting both describe themselves as purveyors of “fact-based journalism” in their public relations materials. Even […]
By Constantinos C. Markides and Andrew MacLennan for Harvard Business Review A pilot once told us a story about an accident on an early morning flight in the 1950s. As the aircraft accelerated to take off, the captain noticed his flight engineer’s sullen expression and called out, “Cheer up, George.” But in his sleepy state, […]
By Eric Rose writing for PR News… This recent headline would make any crisis communicator cringe: “Amazon’s plans to advance its interests in California laid bare in leaked memo.” The story, which unfolded through a leaked internal memo, shed light on Amazon’s growth strategy in the Southern California region and its 2024 internal community outreach plans. […]
From our colleague, Annie Searle… Like practitioners in other disciplines that continue to evolve in a complex technological world, the maturity of risk managers varies widely. In recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, we’ve seen corporate managers rebrand themselves into this field or get promoted into it without necessarily understanding risk frameworks or methodologies. There […]