How do you live through crises?
You know, the ones in real-time, vivid colour, surround sound, no let up.
When I talk about living through crises, plural, I mean it. The horse meat scandal was one.
Back in 2013, relatively new to crisis communications, my brief was to support a client facing the force of media scrutiny, after processed beef products sold by UK supermarkets were found to contain horse meat.
Rooted to one room, the phone an extension of my ear, time dictated by challenging media calls, social media chatter and client needs – it was the most exceptional 10 days of my life.
I discovered:
- why asking ‘stupid questions’ always pays
- how to manage aggressive, demanding and well informed journalists
- the crisis peak is soon followed by reputational build back requiring equal if not greater resilience.
If you want to talk lived crisis experience, please give me a shout.
