ABSTRACT
Time and again, history has proven that effective risk communication, including during a crisis, is one area where businesses can reap more than a pound of cure for an ounce of prevention. Yet, companies continue to let planning and budgets for these efforts slip through the cracks at their own peril.
To be effective, risk communication should be proactive, aligned with corporate missions, purposeful, and practiced. Plans that are not in writing do not exist. And plans that are not shared, tested, and evaluated have little value. As social expectations evolve and social media avenues proliferate, companies guided by principle have real advantages in navigating difficult situations. As the public increasingly grades companies on their response to crisis situations, prepared and principled organizations may likely come out in better shape on the other side of a crisis. Conversely, unprepared and unguided companies are always hobbled at best and bankrupt at worst.
