The Best Way to Manage a Crisis Is to Prevent It

To refer to the analogy at the beginning of Chapter 1, crisis management is as much like fire prevention as it is firefighting. Just as the resources needed to prevent a fire pale in comparison to those needed to fight one (not to mention the danger involved), the resources needed to prevent a crisis are far less than those that need to be mustered once a crisis has broken out.

 

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INAPPROPRIATE DEFENSE

Never defend your company and/or its employees “at all costs.” Humans make mistakes; everyone understands that. Mature businesspeople acknowledge their mistakes, quickly make appropriate apologies and amends, and often save the customer/client relationship.

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Crisis prevention costs are always a tiny fraction of the losses typically incurred as a result of crises for which there has been inadequate preparation. I’ve seen many companies and organizations incur millions of dollars in legal, operational, and public relations/marketing costs as the result of a crisis that could have been avoided with adequate preparation.