Surviving a crisis is tough. Preparing eases the pain.
“It’s only a matter of the ‘when,’ not the ‘if,’ that we are going to see something dramatic.”
~ Admiral Michael Rogers, Director of the NSA
It’s a mantra apropos to many of our professions, and often our daily lives.
Hit with a liability lawsuit: doctors. Car accidents: LA drivers. A client won’t listen to your advice: consultants, lawyers, security analysts, financial advisors, insurance brokers, etc. (You get the picture.)
Earlier this month, Rogers testified to the House Intelligence Committee about the inevitability of a cyberattack in the next decade. The U.S., he said, is unprepared and needs to be more proactive to guard itself.
You can’t stop bad things from happening.
There are too many things that can — and often will — go wrong.
But you can strengthen your defenses so that when something bad does happen, you’re better able to bounce back.
With the holiday shopping season is in full swing, we’ll be hearing a lot more about data breaches.
We’ll be reminded of cyber-intrusions at Sony PlayStation Network, Target, Home Depot, and JPMorgan Chase. Between them, the confidential information of 272 million people was stolen. That’s more than 4 out of 5 people in the U.S. Imagine all the infographic possibilities of that statistic alone.
The danger isn’t only external. Sometimes it’s internal. Try as they might, Best Buy’s bandwidth was overwhelmed, causing their site to crash both on Gray Thursday and Black Friday. They had mea culpas to make and ‘splainin’ to do.
Enter The Fixers.
It’s not only about repairing damage after a crisis hits but coming in beforehand to prepare. It’s about spotting vulnerabilities and correcting course before clients hit a proverbial iceberg.
It’s about forming strategies that will carry you successfully through the storm to the other side less scathed.
For a deeper glimpse into our world, see our book on Amazon, A Lawyer’s Guide to Crisis PR: Protecting Your Clients In & From the Media.
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You can reach Roger Gillott and Eden Gillott directly at 310-396-8696.
Gillott Communications is a Los Angeles-based public relations firm that specializes in high-stakes Crisis & Reputation Management with more than 50 years of expertise in strategic communications, corporate public relations, and working with the media.
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