Many corporate executives, lawyers, and board of directors suffer from groupthink when confronted with a crisis, restructuring or litigation, which results in a communications meltdown that hurts a company's number one asset its reputation. This failure to understand how to communicate in distressed situations results in lost credibility and trust on a global basis in front of many target audiences: customers, employees, vendors, business partners, media, analysts, lenders, bankers, regulatory agencies, and elected officials. If you are a CEO, CFO, board director, or general counsel, understanding how to communicate in a distressed situation is crucial. This book gives examples of corporations who failed to communicate effectively in a crisis, litigation, or restructuring. By analyzing real-life examples, it offers innovative solutions and communications strategies for decision makers to help avoid groupthink and keep your good reputations intact.
David Silver is the Chief Executive Officer of Silver Public Relations, a public relations and investor relations firm in Los Angeles focusing on crisis, litigation, and restructuring financial public relations for publicly traded companies and private corporations. He has counseled more than 1,000 national and global corporations and its boardroom executives in his 25 years as a financial public relations executive.His proprietary crisis and litigation communications audits are sought out by corporations as he focuses on the cause-and-effect of corporate crises. He has written for a number of newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and the Daily Journal, has been profiled in the Leaders and Success page of Investor's Business Daily, and has been interviewed by CBS national news and other network news media as a crisis and litigation public relations expert.
AcknowledgmentsForewordIntroduction: Groupthink RevisitedPart I: Case Studies Chapter 1: Managing Reputation in Distressed MarketsChapter 2: Litigation and the Court of Public OpinionChapter 3: The BP Disaster in the Gulf & Rampant Groupthink in the C-SuiteChapter 4: Leading by Example: Steve Jobs and Effective Corporate Communication at WorkPart II: Theories & Paradigms Chapter 5: The Role of Communication TheoriesChapter 6: The Evolution of Public Relations into the PR-IR NexusPart III: Remaking Corporate AmericaChapter 7: Anatomy of a CrisisChapter 8: The Communications AuditChapter 9: Reeducating Corporate AmericaChapter 10: Effective Communication for Litigation, Mergers, and AcquisitionsConclusionBibliographyIndex
David Silver has written a highly readable primer that is a must for C-Suite executives. Silver makes the powerful case that if corporations do not properly communicate to confront and manage crises, the consequences can be embarrassing, expensive, and sometimes fatal. -Stephen G. Moyer, author of Distressed Debt Analysis, former Portfolio Manager, PIMCO; This book reviews reputational management issues, litigation conflicts, and the execution of effective internal and external communications campaigns. When faced with any of these issues, explore the thoughtful examinations found in these pages for expert guidance. -Edward W. Wedbush, Founder and President of Wedbush Securities; "Silver highlights the problems that usually brilliant CEOs who fail miserably in these situations; and it has pervaded corporations and financial institutions for decades. He looks at the problems afflicting corporate America with its "no comment" or evading the press in a crisis or litigation. This new book will serve as a model for the correct way to handle crisis and litigations public relations issues, since the fourth estate is the ultimate gatekeeper to reputations in the court of public opinion. He also provides his proprietary communications audit that helps in the investigation and intelligence-gathering process that allows boardroom executives to be better prepared in minimizing the risk factor." -Paul Wiener
