Reputation Capital

How to Navigate Crises and Protect your Greatest Asset

T.J. Winick

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781523001866
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Public Relations
• Index: Business

A longtime broadcast journalist, ABC News correspondent, and business communication strategist shows how you can craft an honest and authentic response to any scandal, rather than try to deny it, and ultimately bolster your brand.
In twenty years as a television reporter, T. J. Winick covered many scandals, including the British Petroleum oil spill, the Pennsylvania State University football scandal, the Catholic priest molestation scandal, and the Toyota recall of 20092010. The biggest mistake he's seen organizations make in their crisis communication is to try to make it go away by refusing to apologize, declining to comment, or going on the attack-anything to deflect attention. Instead, Winick argues for communicating ethically, with transparency, honesty, authenticity, and empathy. Handled correctly, the way you address an egregious violation of your standards can increase your reputation capital. It can remind people of what those standards are and how strongly you believe in them. Drawing on his intimate insider knowledge of how the media works, Winick addresses every aspect of how to respond to a scandal. He includes the Ten Crisis Commandments-universal dos and don'ts. And he gives practical advice on who you should talk to and when, who should do the talking, how to form a crisis communication team, what tone you should strike in your message, how to work with the media, and much more.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction: Confessions of a Former Reporter
• 1. What Is Your Reputation Capital?
• 2. The Best-Managed Crises (Are the Ones You’ve Never Heard Of)
• 3. The Ten (Crisis) Commandments
• 4. Reputation Road Map: Audiences and Channels
• 5. A Plan to Protect and Defend
• 6. Seven Qualities of Quality Communications
• 7. The CEO as Spokesperson
• 8. Media Matters: The Press as Your Ally
• 9. Social Media and the Rise of the Stakeholder
• 10. Reputation by Association
• 11. Communicating Cultural Competence
• 12. Lessons from a Year in Crisis
• Reputation Capital Case Studies
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Author