Don’t Keep Wishing and Hoping. Do.

Life isn’t a sequence of serendipity. It’s what you make of it.

As the legend goes, after all the evil escaped from Pandora’s jar, all that remained was hope — and mankind has never stopped hoping.

Take a cue from Dusty Springfield’s iconic song Wishin’ and Hopin’:

Wishin’ and hopin’ and thinkin’ and prayin’

Plannin’ and dreamin’ each night of his charms

That won’t get you into his arms

So if you’re lookin’ to find love you can share

All you gotta do is hold him, and kiss him and love him

And show him that you care

For more tips like these, check out A Board Member’s Guide to Crisis PR: Protecting You & Your Organization’s Reputation.

When faced with typical business challenges, it’s often easier to picture a clear path forward:

You know you deserve a promotion. What are you doing to make sure your boss notices?
Revenues are off because sales are slow. What’s your solution?
Have a great idea for a new widget or smartphone app? What are you doing to bring it to fruition?

Here are some hopes our Board member clients have had in the wake of a crisis. Any of these sound familiar?

“I hope that this all goes away.”
“I wish that members understood how complicated this situation is. I’m doing the best I can!”
“It was an honest mistake.”

The dynamics of Crisis & Reputation Management are straightforward. To succeed, you don’t just hope for the best. You take control.

Analyze your options. Know what the other side has done — and what they’ll do next.

Be honest about what people (including the media) know — and what they might find out. Figure out how to create the advantage by going on offense — or how to shift a negative to your benefit.

Stay focused on your main goal, learn to triage, and delegate. Most likely, you hope to keep the issue below the public’s radar. If you can’t, have a backup plan and be ready to implement it on a moment’s notice. Better to have a strategy in place and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Answer the question you want, not the one that’s asked. Inquiries will pour in from all sides. While it’s important to listen to the concerns and issues being raised, remember to stick to your core mission and talking points — they’re there for a reason.

So, what are you doing to make your hopes and wishes come true?

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.