Doing business well means being ready to manage and protect your brand’s reputation through challenging times. The formation of crises can be sudden, or they can grow from a series of events and burn slowly. But the plotline of every crisis follows the same arc as a story: context, trigger, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. With solid preparation, you can choose who gets to be the hero—and you take control of your own story. No matter the crisis, crisis communication is your strong and steadfast ally to see you to the other side.

Crisis communication is a powerful tool for businesses as they encounter challenging turning points at their doorstop or on their horizon. It blends five main communication components, each with their own strength and role to support business risk mitigation, preparation, crisis response and recovery.

It’s not tomorrow’s problem. It’s today’s.

Above all, prepare well ahead to avoid the amygdala hijack that derails our ability to think clearly during a crisis.

Coming out the other side

A crisis is a living thing—a catalyst for change.

There’s a reason why the word ‘crisis’ carries a negative association. It’s because change, growth and learning can be uncomfortable. Managing a crisis well is an intensive learning exercise where the consequences are real, but the reputational capital created through it is remembered for a long time afterwards. Keep up the hard work of building your brand because you will emerge stronger than ever on the other side.