The Skill Set That Got You Into the C-Suite Isn’t Necessarily the Skill Set You Need to Manage a Crisis
By Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications
In today’s high-stakes environment, rising to the C-suite is one challenge. Navigating a full-blown crisis is another entirely. Leading an organization into financial success, operational growth or market dominance does not automatically prepare you for the turbulence of public scrutiny, viral misinformation or emotional social media backlash. While your boardroom acumen and strategic foresight earned your seat at the table, a crisis demands a sharper, faster and more nuanced set of skills: credibility under pressure, narrative control in real time and decisiveness when seconds matter.
Increasingly, reputations teeter in the Court of Public Opinion well before any court of law convenes. Today’s crises are digital by design. Twitter threads, livestreams, and Reddit forums can blow up in minutes, and public sentiment can shift just as quickly. When controversy erupts, your immediate response sets the tone: Will you appear transparent and authoritative, or defensive and evasive?
What your executive experience may not fully address are the mechanics of rapid-response messaging, stakeholder-targeted communication and empathetic, yet firm leadership on camera and online.
These aren’t optional add-ons—they’re the core competencies of modern reputational leadership.
That’s where your crisis preparedness must shift from being “nice to have” to being mission-critical. Our seminars, crafted and delivered by seasoned practitioners Bruce Hennes and Thom Fladung, are designed precisely to bridge that gap, to help you, your executive teams and legal advisors to act and respond with unshakable confidence and purpose.
Because in the era of instantaneous opinion, the question is no longer if your communication will be tested, but when. And when it is, the only winning outcome is clarity,
Our fast-paced seminars, delivered by veteran crisis management and communications specialists Bruce Hennes and Thom Fladung all focus on highly strategic approaches to communicating during a wide variety of situations, enabling you to serve the needs of your stakeholders, move your message forward or mount a defense against a sudden onslaught from traditional or social media.
Many of our seminars also address “non-crisis” situations (e.g. management changes, mergers & acquisitions, program expansions, presenting with executive presence and creating relationships with members of the media).
If you’d like to bring us in to speak at a conference or to your organization, virtually or in-person, as a keynote, for your practice group, for a section luncheon, as a value-add for your existing clients or as a new business development event, please give us a call at 216-321-7774 or drop us a line at info@crisiscommunications.com. For a select list of previous seminar sponsors, click here.
Because The Court of Public Opinion is Always in Session
Seminars for Attorneys
- Crisis Communications for Attorneys & Their Clients *
- Crisis Communications and Social Media for Attorneys & Public Officials
- Winning on Social Media: Crisis Management in an Echo Chamber
- Social Media and the Courts: A New Frontier
- Tools, Tips & Tactics – Responding to Sensationalized Journalism
- Projecting Leadership & Executive Presence
Seminars for Education Executives
- Crisis Communications for Education Officials & Their Attorneys *
- Crisis Communications and Your School in the Social Media Era
Seminars for Health Care & Elder Care Executives
- Crisis Communications for Health Care Executives & Their Attorneys *
- Mergers, Acquisitions & Management Transitions: Using Crisis Communications Principles to Achieve Better Outcomes
- Projecting Leadership & Executive Presence
* Our “signature seminars” can easily be crafted to be directly relevant to the specific needs of your organization or industry. For details, please give us a call at the number above.
NOTE: All of the seminars listed above are typically one-hour long, though some of them lend themselves to a 90-minute or two-hour format. We also offer a 4-hour seminar that includes “extreme” crisis communications, aimed at elected officials, police and fire chiefs, often done in partnership with local emergency management agencies and boards of health.