Something is happening right now. Can you help today?

Yes. Call rather than email. The first hour shapes the week, and the most useful thing we can do in it is stop a well-intentioned reply from making the story bigger.

Should we always respond?

No. A large share of issues die without oxygen, and responding is what turns them into a story. The judgement is whether the claim is spreading, whether it is factually wrong, and whether the audience that matters has seen it.

What does readiness actually involve?

A scenario map for your sector, pre-approved holding statements, a named response team with an escalation chain, trained spokespeople, and one rehearsal. Most of the value is in having decided who decides.

Do you work with our legal team?

Always. Legal minimises liability and communications minimises reputational damage, and those two goals pull apart under pressure. Agreeing where the line sits in advance is part of readiness work.

Home · Services · Crisis & Issues Management

Risk practice

Most crises are not
caused by the event.
They are caused by
the response

The facts are usually survivable. What does lasting damage is the eleven hours of silence, the contradictory quote from a second executive, or the statement that reads as though nobody involved was sorry. We plan for that before it happens, and we run the room when it does.

We need help now → Build a plan first

Incident log · illustrative01:10

Severity 2 — contained

ISSUEESCALATEDCRISISEXISTENTIAL

00:04A screenshot starts circulating on a trade handle.

00:09Two reporters email the generic press address.

00:12Holding statement approved and issued.

00:26Employees briefed before the first article publishes.

00:41Facts verified. Spokesperson confirmed. Timeline written.

01:10Full statement issued to every affected audience at once.

Not everything is a crisis

Treating every negative mention as an emergency exhausts a team and trains it to ignore the real one. We triage on two axes only — how fast it is spreading, and how much it can actually cost you. The grid walks itself; hover any point to hold it.

low impacthigh impact

Contain & prepare Act now Routine Monitor

← spreading slowlyspreading fast →

SEVEN SITUATIONS, FOUR RESPONSES Impact against speed The vertical axis is what it can cost you. The horizontal is how fast it is travelling. Only the top-right quadrant needs a decision inside the hour — everything else has more time than instinct suggests.

Most organisations over-respond in the bottom-right and under-respond in the top-left.

The holding statement, in ninety seconds

The first thing you publish is rarely the full story — it is proof that you know, that you care, and that something specific happens next. Pick the situation and watch one assemble.

What has happened

What you know

Who is affected

Notice what is absent: speculation, blame, the word "unfortunately", and any promise you cannot keep by the deadline you just set.

Draft holding statement

What readiness actually buys you

Not the ability to prevent an incident. The ability to spend the first hour executing instead of arguing about who is allowed to speak.

Before 01Scenario mapThe eight or ten things most likely to happen in your sector, each with a rough response already sketched.

Before 02Pre-approved statementsHolding language cleared by legal in calm conditions, so the first response does not need a committee.

Before 03A named teamWho convenes, who decides, who speaks and who is unreachable on a Sunday. Written down.

Before 04Trained spokespeopleTwo or three people who have been through hostile questioning in a room, not just briefed on paper.

Before 05MonitoringYou should learn about it from a dashboard, not from a journalist asking for comment.

Before 06One rehearsalA two-hour simulation finds every gap in the plan, and it is always the approval chain.

If it is happening now, call. Do not email.

If it is not, this is the cheapest month you will ever spend on it — a plan costs a fraction of a bad week.

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