Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication: What Your CEO Needs to Know About Reputation Risk and Crisis Management

by James E. Lukaszewski, Kristen Noakes-Fry (Editor)

Crisis is not like other business interruptions. In a crisis, your company spokespersons, managers, and employees must know exactly what to do, what to say, when to say it, and when to do it -- while the whole world is watching! But can you depend on your crisis management plan to make that happen? Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication is your guide to preparing for a crisis and the explosive visibility and reputation risk that come with it. In a masterful book selected as one of "30 Best Business Books of 2013" by Soundview Executive Book Summaries and endorsed by the Business Continuity Institute, Lukaszewski distills four decades of public relations experience into 10 chapters of field-tested advice. Delivered in his straight-talking style and backed with compelling case studies, examples and templates, Lukaszewski explains how to build a crisis management plan and how to put it into action in the real world of media scrutiny, social media, activists, and litigation. How-to's, practical tools, tips, charts, checklists, forms, and templates teach you the simple, sensible, sincere, constructive, positive techniques to reduce contention and to succeed. His key messages teach To recognize how a crisis creates victims a topic rarely covered in traditional communications and operation response planning. To avoid the toxicity of silence. To overcome the abusive, intrusive, and coercive behavior of the media, activists, and critics what he calls the bloviators, bellyachers, back-bench bitchers. To drive attorneys to settle instead of litigate. To use the value of an apology, the atomic energy of empathy. Thought-provoking discussion questions, real-life case studies and examples, comprehensive index, and detailed glossary facilitate both college and professional instruction. Downloadable resources and tools Access a practical toolkit full of innovative and field-tested plans, forms, checklists, tips, and tools to support you as you prepare your organization for effective crisis communication./ Instructional Materials For the classroom, an Instructor s Manual available for use by approved adopters in college courses and professional development training. Also, to assist in instruction, the author makes available his slides, videos, and Skype interaction.

420 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

I'm James E. Lukaszewski (loo-ka-SHEV-skee), an expert in managing and counteracting tough, touchy, sensitive corporate communications issues. I counsel companies facing serious internal and external problems. I'm frequently retained by senior management to directly intervene and manage the resolution of corporate problems and bad news. The situations I help resolve often involve conflict, controversy, community action or activist opposition. The fastest growing portion of my practice involves civil and criminal litigation.

I'm an author (several books, more than 130 articles) and a member of the editorial board for Ragan's Public Relations Journal, a contributing editor to Public Relations Quarterly, a contributing columnist to pr reporter and PR News, a member of InfoCom's Media Relations Insider editorial advisory board, and was the first crisis columnist for the PRSA's member publication, PR Tactics. I'm an internationally recognized speaker on crisis communications management, ethics, media relations, public affairs, and reputation preservation and restoration.

An accredited member of the International Association of Business Communicators (ABC) and the Public Relations Society of America (APR), I'm a member of the PRSA's College of Fellows (Fellow PRSA); Board of Ethics & Professional Standards. I'm recognized by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics as a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). I served as a crisis communications advisor to the International Disaster Advisory Committee, Agency for International Development, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance from 1989 to 1992, and is a civilian advisor to several other federal agencies including the United States Marine Corps. I lecture annually at the U.S. Marine Corp's East Coast Commander's Media Training Symposium and was the second recipient of its Drew Middleton Award. I am the recipient of Ball State University's 2004 National Public Relations Achievement Award, the 2004 Patrick Jackson Award for Distinguished Service to PRSA, the 2005 PR News Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2006 Lloyd B. Dennis Distinguished Leadership Award.

I received my BA in 1974 from Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. I'm a former deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Economic Development and assistant press secretary to former Minnesota Governor Wendell Anderson. I founded Minnesota-based Media Information Systems Corporation in 1978. Prior to founding The Lukaszewski Group Inc. in 1989 I was senior vice president and director of Executive Communication Programs for Georgeson & Company and a partner with Chester Burger Company, both in New York City. My name also appeared in Corporate Legal Times as one of '28 Experts to Call When All Hell Breaks Loose,' and in PR Week as one of 22 'crunch-time counselors who should be on the speed dial in a crisis.