What Were They Thinking?: Crisis Communication: The Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless

By Steve Adubato

Book Overview

Some corporations spend millions of dollars on so-called "crisis communication plans." Others offer lip service, avoiding the subject like the plague. They simply hope for the best, praying that they never face a crisis. Either way, as Steve Adubato says, "Wishful thinking is no substitute for a strategic plan." Nationally recognized communication coach and four-time Emmy Awardûwinning broadcaster Steve Adubato has been teaching, writing, and thinking about comm¡unication, leadership, and crisis communication for nearly two decades. In What Were They Thinking? Adubato examines twenty-two controversial and complex public relations and media mishaps, many of which were played out in public. Among cases and people discussed are: The Johnson & Johnson Tylenol scare: Perhaps the best crisis management ever Don Imus: Sometimes saying "sorry" is too little too late Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: Authority does not put you above questioning Bill O'Reilly: Know when to stop defending yourself and save face Former EPA Administrator Christie Whitman: Proof that your written words can come back to haunt you Hurricane Katrina: A natural disaster that led to a larger governmental disaster The Catholic Church's pedophilia scandal: Denial won't get rid of the skeletons in your closet Arranged in short chapters detailing each case individually, the book provides a brief history of the topics and answers the questions: Who got it right? Who got it wrong? What can the rest of us learn from them?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813543614
• ISBN13: 9780813543611
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Easy Reading, Interesting, Informative, Inspiring

This book is easy to read because it's divided into short sections on different corporations and people, each one reviewed as a case study in crisis communication. I would have liked it if the opening comments wrapped to the end and we learned what the author did with his own crisis. I would have liked more systematic formatting of points in the individual case studies. Each seemed to have been written without regard to how the others were presented. I would have liked more progression of ideas. Instead, the lessons from each case study seem to be pretty much about the same. But I liked this book. I liked reading about the crises in communication, many of which I was very familiar with, and some which were new to me. I liked the basic points being made. And I've passed this book on to my boss, because I think the message is worthwhile. Every business, agency, non-profit corporation, governmental entity, and public figure should have a crisis communication plan.

Very entertaining

Saw this in a local Borders and rushed home to get it for my kindle. Not available, so I rushed back and bought it at Borders. Quite entertaining and easy to read. Each chapter can be digested as a seperate helping. Not just about corporations but discusses some big communication problems...think IMUS, Rudolph Guiliani and Dick Chaney! Lot's to learn at the individual level and some good tips for what to do when things go wrong. Useful for Managers also not just the Big Boys.