Way back in May I posted what I thought was a long-shot suggestion that Shelley Sterling should grab control of the Clippers away from her husband and sell the damn team. At the time I thought it was the equivalent of one of those half-court buzzer beating attempts that almost never goes in. I thought she … More Way to Go Mrs. Sterling
Look, I’m against lying in general. I think it’s a bad practice and leads to all sorts of personal breakdowns. Whenever I’m brought in on a media crisis one of the very first things I establish with my clients is that they should NEVER, under any circumstances, tell a provable lie. By that, I mean … More Why You Should NEVER Tell a Provable Lie
Mostly I post here from the perspective of a crisis communications expert but this time I’m wearing a different hat. In addition to advising on strategic communications and PR I’m the VP of Research and Strategy for Jury Insight, where we apply the techniques of political message testing and market research to extremely high-stakes litigation. … More Why Johns Hopkins Overpaid by at Least $150 Million in OB-GYN Class Action
This is what years of thinking in PowerPoint will do to a brain. Microsoft Lays off thousands in worst memo ever.Great breakdown by NY Magazine. I just can’t figure out why any executive feels the need for 10,000 words of business strategy preamble before giving his audience the bad news. Small bit of advice, when … More Let Me Bore You To Tears So You’ll Be Glad You’re Getting Laid Off
Khosla gives the San Jose Merc the first official interview since the Surfrider vs. Martin’s Beach LLC trial concludes.
I wrote earlier about a court case being tried in San Mateo County over coastal access to a place called Martin’s Beach. This case pits tech-billionaire Vinod Khosla againt, well, almost everyone except his own lawyers, but the plaintiff of record is the Surfrider Foundation. Arguments in the case, aptly titled Surfrider vs. Martin’s Beach … More Why a Billionaire Should Never Cry, “Class Warfare!”
One thing crisis PR professionals deal with constantly is the intense distortion that happens as a complex story blows up into a huge media phenomenon. More coverage doesn’t mean better coverage. Rather, it’s usually reductionist coverage. Like taking a movie and breaking it back down into a treatment. This NYT mini-documentary does a wonderful job looking … More How the McDonalds Coffee Spill Story Grew Bigger and Smaller at the Same Time
The Original Spin 