THE CRISIS METHOD
HOW TO APPROACH DIFFICULT DECISIONS, WORK WITH JOURNALISTS, AND ORGANIZE A RESPONSE THAT PROTECTS PEOPLE AND PRESERVES CREDIBILITY
The Crisis Method is intended as guidance for leaders managing a crisis and the advisors working with them; it applies whether the crisis concerns you personally or an institution you lead.
It covers the decisions you must make, the work you must oversee, and the responsibilities to assign to others.
ONE: PRINCIPLES AND STRATEGY
HOW TO APPROACH DIFFICULT DECISIONS, DEVELOP A PERSUASIVE MESSAGE, AND UNDERSTAND THE PEOPLE YOU NEED TO REACH.
I. CORE PRINCIPLES
People before press releases. Protect people, contain the harm, and provide practical help. These duties come first. A polished statement cannot stop preventable harm, assist abandoned customers, or excuse a leader’s inaction. Spin will not work. Communications must focus on the remedy and its timeline.
Good judgment beats good copy. Public communications must flow from responsible decisions, verified facts, and necessary reforms. Neither good writing nor an expression of compassion can substitute for action. Settle the remedies before polishing the prose. A bad policy does not improve in the second draft.
Values must guide a crisis response. You and your advisors have a duty to protect people’s safety, dignity, livelihoods, and trust, and explain how you are doing it. When social or political issues arise, values and responsibilities, rather than a trending argument, must guide your actions.
Respond to the big lie. Swiftly correct false claims likely to cause harm. Lead with verified facts, identify the falsehood briefly, and explain the evidence disproving it. Avoid promoting obscure rumors. Criticism, disagreement, and inconvenient facts are not misinformation. Disliking a claim does not make it false.
The whistleblower is not the crisis. Take allegations seriously without making the whistleblower the problem. Leaders must appoint qualified, independent investigators. Preserve records, protect reporting channels, and prohibit retaliation. Explain the process, oversight, and what findings can be shared. Respect privacy and treat complainants and the accused fairly.
Don’t needlessly disparage critics. When an adversary is wrong, show why. Address the argument without vilifying the person. Personal attacks can alienate undecided people who might otherwise accept your facts. Use humor sparingly. Sarcasm is generally more satisfying to the speaker than persuasive to the listener.
II. THE ART OF MESSAGING
A message is more than facts. A persuasive message has three parts: a discrete body of information, a comparison that frames it, and a defined audience that has not yet made up its mind. Without all three, it is incomplete.
The message triangle. Organize your message triangle around three themes: what is known, what has been done, and what comes next. Support each with a verified fact or specific commitment. The triangle helps speakers remember their points. It does not relieve them of answering the question.
Give every message a job. Decide what the message must accomplish: warn, explain, correct, reassure with evidence, or guide action. Know what your audience should understand and do. Include the facts and instructions that serve that purpose. Sometimes the task is simply to inform. Not every notice needs an argument.
The main point must grab the listener. Lead with what matters most. Use plain English, short sentences, and concrete instructions. Support claims with evidence. Acknowledge harm, uncertainty, and necessary qualifications. Repeat the core message, revising it as facts change. Talking points can organize an answer; they cannot replace it.
III. PUBLIC OPINION
Conduct polling and research to gauge public opinion. Let values guide decisions, but use polling, focus groups, and message testing to learn what people understand, what concerns them, and which explanations persuade them. Research can expose mistaken assumptions and unclear language. It cannot decide what is right or rescue a bad policy.
Speak beyond the briefing room. The announcement you want to make may not be the story a journalist wants to write. Write for and speak to a reasonable person following the news, and squarely address what that person would want to know. The gaggle is not your real audience.
Paid media vs. earned media. Earned media is coverage you seek without buying placement; journalists decide what to publish. Paid media is advertising you purchase, controlling the message and placement. A winning campaign can use both to shift public opinion.
Credibility can’t be bought. Use editorial board meetings, signed opinion pieces, and letters to the editor for their distinct purposes. Enlist credible experts and trusted community voices. Disclose paid relationships. Never invent supporters, fabricate reviews, or present purchased endorsements as independent judgment. Disclosure does not make fabrication honest.
TWO: THE FOURTH ESTATE
HOW TO WORK WITH JOURNALISTS, ESTABLISH GROUND RULES, AND PREPARE TO ANSWER DIFFICULT QUESTIONS.
IV. MEDIA RELATIONS
If it bleeds, it leads. You don’t have to do something wrong for everything to go wrong. The news follows the path of maximum controversy. Mistakes, attacks, and scandals attract attention.
Maintain, but don’t bet on, relationships. Before trouble comes, build relationships, supply reliable information, and respond promptly. Journalists and editors can influence coverage, but their interest guarantees neither publication nor favorable treatment. A friendly lunch is not an editorial policy.
Make their job easier. Give journalists clear timelines, original documents, named experts, and accurately labeled images. Help them verify the story under deadline and resource pressures. Keep working with them when tempers rise. A tight deadline is not evidence of bad faith. Access does not purchase control.
Annoying questions. Repeated questions may annoy, but they may also signal an unanswered concern shared by more people than the journalist. Take them seriously. A persistent journalist may simply be doing the job well. Objecting to a negative angle does nothing to answer the underlying concern.
Grab the right tool. Not every development requires a press release. Use a short statement for confirmed essentials, a briefing for complex questions, and direct contact for urgent clarification. Often a call or text suffices.
V. OFF THE RECORD?
These ground rules apply whenever you or someone speaking on your behalf communicates with a journalist.
Everything is on the record. Treat every exchange with a journalist as publishable and attributable unless there is an explicit agreement beforehand. Establish permitted uses, source descriptions, and confidentiality limits before sharing information. Familiarity does not establish confidentiality. A stopped recorder is not a confidentiality agreement.
Agree first, disclose next. Agree on what “off the record” means before sharing information. It generally prohibits publication, but definitions vary. Specify permitted uses and discuss independent verification. The agreement does not necessarily prevent a journalist from pursuing other sources. Regret is not a retroactive agreement.
Agree on your description. “On background” usually permits publication with an agreed description in place of your name. Negotiate that description and any restrictions before speaking. A detailed description can identify you as readily as a name. The journalist’s editors may also know who you are.
Deep background has its limits. “Deep background” commonly permits use of information without identifying or describing its source. Definitions vary. Agree on the terms before speaking, and do not assume they guarantee anonymity. Use this arrangement sparingly. When public accountability matters, prefer speaking on the record.
Say what you can. Answer fair questions, including uncomfortable ones. Explain limits imposed by privacy, safety, legal duties, or an investigation, and share what you can. “Ongoing investigation” is not a universal exemption from explanation. Avoid speculation, and tell people how unanswered questions will be addressed.
VI. INTERVIEW READINESS
Use this guidance when preparing for an interview, and require the same preparation of anyone speaking on your behalf.
Know more than just your lines. Learn the facts, likely challenges, and limits of your knowledge. Practice concise answers in your own words. Listen and think before answering. Let colleagues challenge weak answers before a journalist does. The follow-up question often reveals whether you understand your first answer.
“I don’t know” is a good answer. When you do not know an answer, say so and explain how you will check. Promise a follow-up only if you can deliver it. Keep the promise. Refer questions beyond your expertise to someone qualified. Certainty is not a qualification.
Answer first, then bridge. Answer the question, correcting any false premise, then connect your answer to relevant facts or action. “Here is what we do know, and here is what we are doing” can help. Substituting an easier question or a slogan wastes everyone’s time.
The camera sees more than words. Choose a format, setting, and manner that suit the situation. Assume that images and clips may be shown without their original context. Avoid staged emotion, misleading visuals, and unverified evidence.
The delivery must fit the situation. Be attentive and composed. Consider those affected by the crisis. Match your tone to the circumstances. A smile can seem callous; nodding can imply agreement. Avoid distracting movements. Silence notifications.
THREE: THE RESPONSE
HOW TO PREPARE FOR A CRISIS, COORDINATE THE RESPONSE, MANAGE TECHNOLOGY, AND KEEP PEOPLE INFORMED.
VII. PREPARATION
Give the communicator a seat at the table. Give your communications advisor or lead a role in major decisions, not merely in announcing them. Whether you lead a corporation, a political campaign, or a nonprofit, those responsible for explaining its conduct need a voice in shaping it.
Your crisis plan: who acts, when, and how. Identify likely threats and warning signs. Name a response leader, deputy, and team. Establish notification deadlines, approval procedures, and templates. Maintain current contacts, backup communications, and a record of decisions. A plan that nobody can use is merely a document.
Build a deep bench of speakers. Consistency cannot depend on one exhausted person. Train spokespeople and backups, and give them the same verified facts. Use technical experts when needed. Leaders must answer for the response. Equip frontline staff to answer routine questions and refer others to someone who can.
Scrimmage often. Rehearse with incomplete facts, an absent chief executive, a disabled website, a fake recording, and hostile questions. Include operational staff, legal advisors, and external partners. Test approvals and handovers. Discuss failures, fix weaknesses, and test again. An exercise that flatters everyone needs harder questions.
VIII. TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Bad news has no business hours. A story can break at any hour and spread worldwide overnight. Newspaper deadlines and evening broadcasts no longer set the pace. The weekend is a staffing problem, not a communications strategy.
Urgent information can’t wait for a news cycle. There is no universally safe hour to release bad news. Know relevant news deadlines and formats, but release urgent information as soon as it is verified. Safety instructions do not belong in an exclusive, and necessary updates cannot wait for a more convenient headline.
Don’t wait for every fact to materialize. Speak once you can verify the essentials. Acknowledge the harm and explain what is known and unknown. Say what people should do and what you are doing. Give the next update’s time and location. Show concern without guessing at causes or responsibility.
Swiftly correct errors. Correct errors in your public communications promptly and visibly. State what was wrong and supply verified facts. Explain what remains unknown and when you expect to know more. Verify claims before making them. Distinguish confirmed facts, reasonable assessments, and unanswered questions.
Issue frequent updates. Issue updates as often as risk and public need require, and sooner when important facts change. Otherwise, explain what remains under review. Arrange around-the-clock staff coverage and clear shift changes. Promise only updates and resolution times you have grounds to expect.replies. Confidence is one of many things a machine can produce without evidence.
X. STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATION
Put affected people first. The loudest voice may not belong to the person in greatest danger. Communicate according to harm, risk, and legitimate need. Identify affected employees, families, customers, donors, communities, regulators, investors, and partners. Give each group useful information through channels that will reach them.
Don’t keep your own people in the dark. Brief staff, advisors, and your own family before or alongside public briefings whenever feasible. If you lead an institution, include the families of leaders and staff when appropriate. Never delay urgent warnings or necessary disclosures. Explain what happened, what to do, where to find help, and whom to contact. People expected to answer questions may need help themselves.
Give stakeholders vital information. When safety is at stake, identify who is affected and specify protective steps. Coordinate instructions with authorities and operational teams. Protect victims’ privacy and follow family notification procedures. Relatives should not learn of a death or injury from your public announcement.
Make sure the message connects. Information helps only when affected people can find, understand, and use it. Use plain language, accessible text, captions, and language assistance. Offer phone, radio, print, or personal contact for those without reliable internet. Work with trusted community groups. Check that people can follow instructions.
Put vital information in one place. Maintain one accessible, authoritative incident page with searchable, time-stamped updates, corrections, and a “reading room” of documents. Keep other channels consistent with it, and maintain a backup means of publishing. People should not have to assemble the facts from scattered posts.
IX. AI AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter is not a real place. Social media can reveal trouble or an emerging issue, but it does not reliably measure public opinion. Angry posts may reflect a vocal minority or an organized campaign. Examine their source and reach. Use sound polling, interviews, and message testing. Volume alone does not establish consensus.
Beware of viral content. Nobody is immune to manipulation. Authenticate suspicious images and recordings before relying on them. Obtain originals, trace the source, and consult forensic specialists. Preserve evidence and report impersonation. Do not dismiss genuine evidence as a deepfake or accept a convincing fabrication as fact.
The humans must remain in charge. Designate a person to take responsibility for all crisis communications. That person must supervise AI use, protect sensitive information, and check facts, sources, privacy, and tone before material is shared. Pause inappropriate scheduled promotions and automated replies. Confidence is one of many things a machine can produce without evidence.
Credibility can’t be bought. Automated accounts and AI-generated personas must not masquerade as genuine public support. Enlist credible experts and trusted community voices online. Disclose paid relationships. Never invent supporters, fabricate reviews, or present purchased endorsements as independent judgment. Disclosure does not make fabrication honest.
Don’t blame the machine. You are accountable when technology you use or oversee causes harm. Have qualified experts shut down or restrict the affected function and preserve records. Explain what happened and how to seek review or relief. Have those experts check the system before restoring it. Hiring a vendor does not outsource responsibility.