I’m a big fan of Amber Naslund’s blog, Altitude Branding. She’s smart, and writes very well, and consistently churns out some of the more thoughtful pieces I see in the marketing/PR/communications space. Not too long ago, she wrote a piece asking those of us who write online to “Quit Pulling Your Punches.” I have a tendency to moderate a lot of what I say, so although I come at this topic from a decidedly different perspective, I read the piece (and most of the comments) and mentally filed it. Continue Reading

Two very different events—the volcanic ash cloud and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill—provide an interesting perspective on risk, probability, and how to respond to a crisis. Both events would be categorized as extraordinarily rare events. Volcanoes erupt all the time, but the vast majority of them do not bring air travel to an entire continent to a screeching halt. Oil spills happen, but one at this depth and this magnitude is unprecedented.

A great deal of the criticism leveled in both cases has to do with the fact that many communicators feel that the response seemed too slow and not planned out. A common refrain is that these situations should have been considered and a response should have been mapped out. But how realistic is that? Continue Reading

One of the things I love most about reading is the way it tends to clear my mind–I’m one of those people who could spend every waking hour thinking about what I need to do, what I’ve done, what I should be doing, etc. It can be exhausting to never let your brain have any down time–it’s also counterproductive, as when you are constantly fixated on details your creativity can be stifled.