ScenarioYou are an employee at D&B Investigations, a firm that c.docx

Scenario
You are an employee at D&B Investigations, a firm that
contracts with individuals, companies, and government agencies
to conduct computer forensics investigations. D&B employees
are expected to observe the following tenets, which the
company views as the foundation for its success:
· Give concerted attention to clients’ needs and concerns.
· Follow proper procedures and stay informed about legal
issues.
· Maintain the necessary skill set to apply effective
investigative techniques using the latest technologies.
Your manager has just scheduled a meeting with an important
prospective client, and she has asked you to be part of the team
that is preparing for the meeting. The prospective client is
Brendan Oliver, a well-known celebrity. Last night, Mr.
Oliver’s public relations team discovered that someone obtained
three photos that were shot on his smartphone, and tried to sell
the photos to the media. Due to the sensitive nature of the
photos, Mr. Oliver and his team have not yet contacted law
enforcement. They would like to know if D&B can provide any
guidance or support related to the investigation—or, at the very
least, if D&B can help them prevent similar incidents from
occurring in the future. At this time, they do not know how the
photos were acquired. The public relations team is wondering if
a friend, family member, or employee could have gained direct
access to Mr. Oliver’s phone and obtained the photos that way,
although the phone is usually locked with a passcode when Mr.
Oliver is not using it. In addition, Mr. Oliver emailed the photos
to one other person several months ago. He has not spoken with
that person in the last few weeks, but he does not believe that
person would have shared the photos with anyone else.
Your manager plans to use this initial meeting with Mr. Oliver

and his public relations team to establish rapport, learn more
about the case, and demonstrate the firm’s expertise. The
company sees this as an opportunity to build future business,
regardless of whether they are retained to help with the
investigation of this case.
Tasks
To help the team prepare for the meeting, your manager asks
you (and your colleagues) to consider and record your responses
the following questions:
· What is the nature of the alleged crime, and how does the
nature of the crime influence a prospective investigation?
· Based on the limited information provided in the scenario,
what is the rationale for launching an investigation that uses
computer forensic activities? Would D&B and/or law
enforcement need
· additional information in order to determine if they should
proceed with an investigation? Why or why not?
· What would you share with the client about how investigators
prepare for and conduct a computer forensics investigation?
Identify three to five key points that are most relevant to this
case.
· What sources of evidence would investigators likely examine
in this case? Provide concrete examples and explain your
rationale.
· What should the client, investigators, and others do—or not
do—to ensure that evidence could be used in a court of law?
Using layman’s terms, explain laws and legal concepts that
should be taken into account during the collection, analysis, and
presentation of evidence.
· What questions and concerns do you think the client will
have?
· What questions should the team ask the client to learn more
about the case and determine the next steps?
Required Resources

· Course textbook
· Internet access
Submission Requirements
· Format: Microsoft Word (or compatible)
· Font: Arial, 12-point, double-space
· Citation Style: Follow your school’s preferred style guide
· Length: 5–7 pages
Self-Assessment Checklist
· I effectively documented the causes for investigation.
· I effectively documented key points related to the collection,
analysis, and presentation of computer forensic evidence.
· I successfully identified potential sources of evidence.
· I summarized laws and legal concepts that apply to this case.
· I created a professional, well-developed report with proper
documentation, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
To explore the expanding use of social media inemergency
communications, the American PublicHealth Association, Booz
Allen Hamilton Inc.,The George Washington University, The
International Association of Emergency Managers and The
National Association of Government Communicators spon-
sored the “Expert Roundtable on Social Media and Risk
Communications During Times of Crisis: Strategic
Challenges and Opportunities,” held on March 31 in
Washington, D.C.
Social media is not only an effective tool for monitoring
and engaging public discourse during the crisis process, but
also enables the cultural shift regarding how the public views
its role as an empowered contributor. Emergency manage-
ment and crisis communications have become more participa-

tory. This has been illustrated repeatedly — including by the
speed with which people shared information (and misinfor-
mation) on Twitter during the H1N1 flu crisis and the media’s
reliance on victims’ mobile-enabled status updates during the
Mumbai terrorist attack last November.
At the roundtable, panelists shared experience and
insights into how their organizations leverage social media
platforms to empower and manage public outreach. The fol-
lowing mini case studies were gleaned from presentations
given by representatives from federal agencies, national
organizations and the media.
The CDC’s “Tip of the Week”
In responding to public health emergencies, Nathan
Huebner, emergency communications specialist for the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that
his organization combines risk communication principles with
the Web’s usability for communicating health messages to the
public. The CDC posts the weather-related “Tip of the
Week” on its home page, and also sends a weekly tip to thou-
sands of subscribers via e-mail, text message and Twitter.
Additionally, the Web site provides disaster prepared-
ness e-cards that site visitors can send to friends and family.
For imminent disasters, the CDC makes public service
announcements to mainstream media, which are now
offered as podcasts on its Web site — and also in video and
audio format with closed captioning. When a disaster
strikes, the CDC offers a version of its emergency site for
mobile phones. Users can download preparedness and
recovery information in a simple text version.
By encouraging people to sign up for “Tip of the Week”

messages, the CDC has created a base of subscribers that it
can reach when an event occurs. When Hurricane Ike
struck the Gulf Coast of Texas last September, the CDC
sent out regular weekly messages. They also released
unscheduled alerts about power outage safety and evacua-
tion information to people in the affected areas. Social media
has enabled the CDC to prepare the public for emergencies
and deal with the aftermath.
BY TIM L. TINKER, MICHAEL DUMLAO AND GRANT
MCLAUGHLIN
Effective Social Media Strategies
During Times of Crisis:
Learning from the CDC, HHS, FEMA,
the American Red Cross and NPR
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
THE STRATEGIST/SUMMER 2009 PAGE 25
HHS’s peanut blog
According to Andrew Wilson, Web manager at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),
peanuts are ubiquitous. So, this past January’s recall effort
was especially challenging. HHS used a two-pronged
approach: raise public awareness and provide a mechanism
for the public to differentiate between tainted and safe prod-
ucts. The FDA’s existing database allows consumers to
search products by UPC code, product and brand to learn
whether a particular product is recalled.

To raise awareness of the issue, the agency created the
HHS Peanut Product Recall Blog, with cross-agency posts,
and leveraged a successful blog and network of bloggers at
the CDC. The message was also delivered via a widget,
Twitter and online videos on HHS Web sites and YouTube
channels, whose code enables viewers to embed the infor-
mation within their own blogs and Web sites.
Early in the process, a blogger criticized the FDA for
not delivering the message via social media. HHS sent him a
tweet explaining the actions that it was taking, and the blog-
ger wrote two posts praising the agency’s efforts. After
HHS conducted an interview with him via Twitter, the blog-
ger posted it on an online version of a trade journal. HHS
used social media to turn a critic into a supporter.
FEMA’s social branding
The Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) has a perception problem because the public does
not fully understand what the agency does, according to
John Shea, public information officer for new media.
FEMA coordinates the federal response to disasters with
other federal agencies and state and local partners. The
agency keeps the message consistent by using blogs, Twitter
and YouTube to communicate.
Each of FEMA’s regions has its own Twitter account
with local partners, media and interested communities.
FEMA pushes information to the regions, and the local offi-
cials disseminate it. Bloggers and Twitter users then spread
FEMA’s message. The agency incorporates data sharing in
its communications model as well. FEMA’s Web site has
videos that can be posted on other Web sites. In addition,
FEMA also maintains a network of videographers called
Disaster System Reservists — and many have their own

YouTube channels. Whether it is the Department of
Homeland Security secretary talking about how the floods
are affecting the tribal nations, or a homeowner thanking
volunteers for their help, these videos enable FEMA offi-
cials to consistently interact with the public.
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
The Red Cross’s disaster Flickrs
The American Red Cross uses social media to empower
the public to either seek or give help during a disaster, says
Laura Howe, the agency’s senior director of public affairs.
The Red Cross helps accomplish these goals through the
photo-sharing site Flickr.
During Hurricane Ike in September 2007, the Web site
averaged 4,000 Flickr views per day. Among the viewers
were CNN, Yahoo! News and local newspapers — many
used the photos when reporting on the events.
The Red Cross utilizes YouTube and its 10,000 Twitter
followers to distribute information during a disaster, and it
manages a Facebook page to gather and receive feedback. It
also uses Utterli, a micro-blogging service with an emphasis
on mobile communications, to disseminate information to
radio stations and bloggers.
While evacuating Galveston Island during Hurricane
Ike, a field volunteer called the agency’s emergency 800-
number with information to help residents safely leave the
area. The audio component made it possible to hear sirens

and other noise, thus recreating the experience for listeners.
The volunteer-led organization finds social media so benefi-
cial that it has trained 150 public affairs volunteers to use
these tools to convey information during disasters.
NPR’s newsgathering via tags
Andy Carvin, senior strategist at National Public
Radio’s (NPR) social media desk, wanted to leverage what
bloggers across Southeast Asia accomplished with their
Tsunami Help blog in December 2004: circulate the infor-
mation online that people had gathered during a disaster. He
found that social media and tagging were the best way to do
that.
Before Hurricane Gustav reached the U.S. mainland
last August, Carvin wanted to create a tag-based Web site
to collect information from people’s tweets, Utterli voice
mails, Flickr photos and other sites that allow keyword
searches to create Google maps. He sought volunteers via
Twitter, and the Web site was functioning within 48 hours.
For the 2008 presidential election, Carvin created
NPR’s Vote Report, which provided voting-related infor-
mation. Carvin worked with techPresident.com bloggers
and asked for information in the form of tweets and text
messages. He also asked contributors to provide zip codes
or addresses to create maps that indicated where voter
irregularities might be occurring. The five reporters working
on the story had thousands of volunteers providing informa-
tion. Carvin used the same process on Inauguration Day,
with users submitting more than 40,000 photos, videos and
tweets. Social media tools and tags made it possible to gather
and organize vast amounts of data into compelling stories.
CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Continued on Page 39
sound the alarm or to calm the public. But for others, there are
questions to consider before agreeing to participate. Is there a
direct impact on your company? Is there a genuine threat to
the people who consume your service or product? How will
you feel about seeing your brand associated with this story
when it is printed?
Encourage the use of reliable sources
The age of social media has provided a tremendous oppor-
tunity for real-time public relations but has also blurred the line
between legitimate journalism and questionable sources.
Encourage responsible consumption by directing the media —
and the public — to your own Web resources and other sites
that
you know are reliable.
At the height of the H1N1 scare, UCLA’s Web site includ-
ed information conveyed through Q-and-As, video interviews
and links to public health agencies. And the communications
department e-mailed faculty and staff to dispel rumors and
miti-
gate hysteria.
Practice early and often
Clearly, it isn’t possible to train for every specific type of
crisis. But many of the lessons learned in crisis media training
are universal. If you can’t bring in a professional trainer, then

at least designate key spokespeople and develop protocol.
Remember that reporters are more interested in relevant
experts than in general company spokespeople. One final
thought: Media training almost always occurs too late once
the crisis has occurred. ■
Is it still possible to control the message?
Just as social media has changed the communications
profession, it has shifted how risk communicators handle
messaging, public outreach and response. Before blogs and
Twitter, it was easier to control message flow: A small num-
ber of official sources provided information to the public
via a limited number of media channels. In today’s environ-
ment, citizens not only have access to multiple sources of
information, but they also provide it.
For example, during the terrorist activity in Mumbai
last November, the first sources of news, video and photos
were not from mainstream media, but from victims using
their mobile phones to upload information on YouTube,
Twitter and Flickr. Last year, throughout the Southern
California fire season, citizens shared the latest information
via community-edited Google maps and Flickr.
Given social media’s immediacy, how can communica-
tors manage information? The answer lies in collaborating
with the public. Social media brings many challenges to cri-
sis communications — as well as immense opportunities.
Crisis communicators and emergency managers are now
part of a broader conversation. They can enhance their
organizations’ ability to gather accurate field data by part-
nering with social networks in crisis situations. By provid-
ing data in a social-media-friendly format, organizations
can expand their information networks by identifying who

is using their data on various blogs, wikis or Twitter feeds.
However, collaborating with the public and partnering
with social networks requires ceding control of messages
that are now subject to unprecedented levels of public
scrutiny. Today, an effective public outreach campaign
must be far more conversational than before — and content
must be shared, not pushed. Emergency managers need to
participate in and lead such conversations, rather than sim-
ply talk at an audience. ■
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Tim L. Tinker (left) is a senior associate and co-director of
Booz Allen
Hamilton’s Center of Excellence for Risk and Crisis
Communications. As a se-
nior strategist, Tinker works with government agencies and
private industries
on their most challenging communications problems.
Michael Dumlao (center) is a senior consultant at Booz Allen
Hamilton special-
izing in creative multimedia design and social media strategy.
Dumlao has de-
signed Web sites, print collateral and social media for clients in
the defense,
homeland security, and civil markets.
Grant McLaughlin (right), a principal with Booz Allen
Hamilton, manages pro-
fessionals in the strategic area of organization change. He has
more than 15
years of experience in strategic communications, change

management/change
communications, marketing, public education and stakeholder
outreach.
Social Media
Continued from Page 27
HBR CASE STUDV
A Blogger
in Their Midst
by HalleySuitt
Lancaster-Webb's surgical gloves are fiying off the shelves,
thanks
to the on-line endorsements of an otherwise indiscreet
employee.
Should the CEO consider her a priceless marketing weapon or
a grave security risk?
W ILL SOMERSET, the CEO ofLancaster-Webb Medical Sup-
ply, a manufacturer of dis-
posable gloves and other medical prod-
ucts, needed time alone to think, and
he had hoped an early morning jog
would provide it. But even at 6 AM, as he
walked out to the edge of the luscious
lawn surrounding Disney World's Swan
Hotel, Will had unwanted companions:
Mickey and Minnie Mouse were in his
line of sight, waving their oversized,
gloved hands and grinning at him. In-
stead of smiling back at the costumed

characters, he grimaced. He was about
to lose a million-dollar sale and a tal-
ented employee, both in the same day.
Will finished his hamstring stretches
and began his laps around the grounds.
leaving the mice in the dust and recall-
ing events from the day before. Industry
conferences are always a little tense,
but never to the extent this one had
tumed out to be. Lancaster-Webb - by far
the best-known brand in the medical-
disposables arena-was introducing a
remarkable nitrile glove at the gather-
ing. Will was good at announcements
like this; during his 30-year career, he
had probably given more speeches and
launched more products at trade con-
ferences than any other chief executive
in his field. But attendance at yester-
day's rollout event had been sparse.
Evan Jones, vice president of market-
ing at Lancaster-Webb, had guaranteed
the appearance of a big sales prospect,
Samuel Taylor, medical director of the
HBR's cases, which are fictional, present common managerial
dilemmas
and offer concrete solutions from experts.
30 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

Houston Clinic. Will knew that impress-
ing Taylor could mean a million-dollar
sale for Lancaster-Webb. But before the
presentation, Evan was nervously check-
ing his shiny Rolex, as if by doing so he
could make Sam Taylor materialize in
one of the empty seats in the Pelican
room. At five minutes to show time, oniy
about 15 conference-goers had shown
up to hear Will, and Taylor was nowhere
in sight.
Will walked out of the ballroom to
steady his nerves. He noticed a spillover
crowd down the hall. He made a" Whafs
up?" gesture to Judy Chen, the commu-
nications chief at Lancaster-Webb. She
came over.
"It's Glove Girl. You know, the blog-
ger," she said, as if this explained any-
thing."! think she may have stolen your
crowd, boss."
"Who is she?" Will asked.
Judy's eyebrows shot up. "You mean
you don't read her stuff on the Web?"
Will's expression proved he didn't."Evan
hasn't talked to you about her?" Will
gave her another blank look. "OK, um,
she works for us. And you know how
we've been seeing all this new demand
for the old SteriTouch glove? She's the
one behind it. She's been on a roll for a
while, talking it up on her blog."

Evan joined them in the hall just in
time to catch the end of Judy's com-
ments. "Right," he said. "Glove Girl.
Guess I'd better go hear what she's
telling folks." He glanced at his boss,
a little sheepishly. "You won't mind, I
hope, if I'm not in the room for your
presentation?"
"No problem," Will said. He watched
Evan and Judy hurry toward the room
down the hall. With a sigh, he headed
back into the Pelican room. As he deliv-
ered his remarks to the small group that
had gathered, the words "blog" and
"Glove Girl" and that wonderful but
mystifying news about the surge in
SteriTouch sales kept swimming around
in his head. The speech he gave was
shorter than usual. In fact, he was al-
ready on his way to the Mockingbird
room when Glove Girl's session ended
in applause.
As the doors opened and people
began streaming into the corridor, Will
spotted her. She was wearing a gold
lamd cocktail dress and a pair of pale
green surgical gloves. They looked like
evening gloves on hen Extraordinary.
But the people filing past him appeared
to have taken her quite seriously."! liked
how she handled the last question,"one
was saying. Will overheard Judy talking

to Evan: "She's very good, isn't she?"
And Evan's response; "No kidding."
SEPTEMBER 2003
HBR CASE STUDY • A Blogger in Their Midst
Will pulled both of his employees
aside."We need to have a meeting about
this. ASAP."
Beware the Blog
That evening, the three were in Will's
suite, huddled around a speakerphone.
Conferencing in from Lancaster-Webb's
headquarters in Cupertino, Califomia,
were Jordan Longstreth.the company's
legal counsel, and Tom Heffeman, vice
president of human resources. Judy was
briefing them all on blogging, who
Glove Girl was, and what she could pos-
sibly be up to.
"It's short for Web logging," Judy ex-
plained to the group. "A blog is basically
an on-line joumal where the author-
the blogger-keeps a running account
of whatever she's thinking about. Every
day or so, the blogger posts a paragraph
or two on some subject. She may even
weave hyperlinks to related Web sites
into the text."
"It's amazing the stuff some of these

people write," Evan added, "and how
many people find their way to the sites.
My brother-in-law, who lives in New
York, is a blogger. And he gets e-mail
from the weirdest places-Iceland, Libe-
ria...everywhere.
"One day, a blogger might write some-
thing about her cat, the next day about
the technology conference she just at-
tended, or software bug fixes, or her
coworkers," Evan went on. "You find that
kind of thing especially in the blogs of
dot-com casualties; they never leamed
to separate their work lives from their
personal lives."
Evan meant that last remark to be
pointed. Glove Girl's site juxtaposed her
commentary on blood-bome pathogens
with tales about her love life. Frequent
visitors to her blog knew all about her
rags-to-riches journey from emergency
room nurse to COO of a Web-based
company that peddled health advice;
her subsequent bankruptcy; her fruit-
less attempts to land a good corporate
communications position; and her life
as an assistant foreman at the Compton
plant of Lancaster-Webb's surgical gloves
unit. Few would mistake Glove Girl's
blog for Lancaster-Webb's own site, but
they might not know the company
hadn't authorized it.

The site's existence wasn't so trou-
bling by itself. Will thought. But when
Judy explained that Glove Girl had been
blogging about the pending launch of
the nitrile gloves and about competi-
tors' products and customers' practices.
Will became alamied. To top things off,
Judy revealed - somewhat hesitantly-
that last week Glove Girl had written
on her site, "Will Somerset wears a hair-
piece." The room went siJent.
"OK, she's outta here. Get her a copy
of Who Moved My Cheese?" he said to
his team, knowing it would get a big
laugh in the room and on the speaker-
phone. "All right, I'll join the Hair Club
for Men. Now tell me the really bad
news: What did she write about the
Houston Clinic deal? Are we going to
lose it?"
Before Judy could answer, Jordan's
voice came over the line: "Can I add one
thing? Getting fired would be just the
beginning of her troubles if she's shar-
ing confidential product information."
Judy explained that Glove Girl had
reported on her site that Lancaster-
Webb would be making a big sales pitch
to the Houston Clinic. Glove Girl had
leamed that the clinic's cesarean deliv-
ery rate was off the charts, and she was
questioning the ethics of doing busi-
ness with a facility like that. Fort Worth

General, she'd noticed, did a third as
many C-sections.
"Maybe that's why Taylor didn't
show," Will remarked, as the pieces
began to come together.
"Sorry, boss. We had a chat with her
a few weeks ago about discussing our
customers on her blog, and she prom-
ised to be more careful. 1 guess it didn't
make much difference," Judy said.
"You've documented that?" Tom
asked. Judy assured him she had.
Halley Suitt is the director of client development at San
Francisco-based Yaga.com,
a provider of payment technology for on-line businesses, and
the author ofthe Web log
Halley's Comment. She can be reached at [email protected]
Evan then described how surprised
he was to hear that the company's older
SteriTouch gloves had suddenly started
flying out ofthe warehouse."We hadn't
been marketing them lately. The thing
was. Glove Girl was raving about them
on-line. Sales shot up right after she
linked her blog to one of our Web pages.
You remember that book Gonzo Mar-
keting ! gave you last year. Will? Her
blog works just like that. These things
get close to the customer in ways that an
ad campaign just can't."
"Can ! give you more bad news,

boss?" Judy asked. "She's got a pen pal
in our factory in China who's been writ-
ing about conditions there. Glove Girl
doesn't always paint a pretty picture."
Evan jumped in again."Wait a minute.
Did you search the whole blog? There
were also some e-mails from people
saying we should be paying our plant
workers in China what the workers get
here. And Glove Girl defended us really
well on that point."
"Tell me," Will said,"how the heck did
she end up on the conference schedule?"
"Apparently, the chief organizer is a
big Glove Girl fan and asked her to dis-
cuss blogging as 'the ultimate customer
intimacy tool,'" Judy said with a sigh.
"I'm sorry.! tried to get him to change
the time of her session."
"! know it's late," Will told his team,
"but before we make any decisions about
Glove Girl, I'm heading to the business
center to look at her blog. Evan, appar-
ently you know your way around it.
Why don't you come with me?"
With the meeting adjoumed. Will and
Evan made their way through the hotel
to the business center, discussing the
issues Glove Girl had raised. As the two
men approached the entrance to the
center, a petite blond was leaving. She

held the door for them, and then walked
away as Evan pointed and whispered,
"That's her. She was probably in here
posting a new entry. Let's check." He
typed "glove girl" into Google. Her blog
came up as the number one listing
against 1,425 hits. He clicked to it.
Evan showed his boss the post. "See
the time and date stamp? She just
posted this"-the entry was Glove Girl's
A Blogger in Their Midst • HBR CASE STUDY
mild swipe at the food being served at
the conference.
"I can't disagree with her," the CEO
said. "So where do we start?"
Evan gave Will a quick cybertour, and
then had to run to another conference
call, leaving his boss to fend for himself.
Will spent the next hour alternately
enthralled and enraged by what he read
on Glove Girl's blog.
An Underground Resource?
One foot in front ofthe other. That was
the thing Will loved about jogging - you
just keep putting one foot in front of
the other, he thought, as he took an-

other circuit around the hotel grounds.
A lot easier than grappling with this
that's because Houston's been doing
pioneering work that's attracted hun-
dreds of women from all over the coun-
try," he explained. "Do you think you
can get Glove Girl to post that?"
"I'll certainly try. This blogging thing
is new to me, you know."
"You guys are really ahead of the
curve on this. I'd like to meet Glove
Girl," Rex added.
So would 1, Will thought."!'ll see what
1 can do," he said quickly. "I'm heading
in. I'll talk to her about putting those
cesarean statistics in the right context."
As Rex sauntered off, Will flipped
open his cell phone and called Evan.
"Get her" is all he had to say."Business
center, in an hour."
"One day, a blogger might v^rrite something about her cat, the
next day about the technology conference she just attended,
or software bug fixes, or her coworkers"
blogging business. There was a lanky
runner ahead of him. It was Rex Croft,
medical director at Fort Worth General.
They both finished at about the same
time and greeted one another as they
did their cooldown stretches against a

sidewalk railing.
"Hey, Will, we love what you're doing
with Glove Girl. Houston's head of nurs-
ing showed me the site, and it's amazing,"
Rex said, to Will's complete surprise.
"She's got the story on the clinic's
cesareans wrong, though. It's true that
the rate is the highest in the country, but
Showered and shaved. Will made it
there before the others. Evan arrived
alone-he'd come up empty-handed.
"I can't find her. She's not in her room.
She didn't respond to my e-mails.! even
lefr her a message at the front desk to
call my cell. Nothing so far."
"Great. Now what?" Will rolled back
in his chair.
"Wait," Evan said. He got on-line and
went to her Web log. "Check this out.
She's in the health club blogging. There
must be a terminal there."
"You can biog anywhere?"
"Yep. The blogging interfaces reside
on Intemet servers for the most part,
not on your computer. Some people do
wireless blogging. Some do audio blog-
ging with a cell phone. Hey, read this.
Glove Girl got a manicure with Hous-
ton's head of nursing and found out why

the cesarean rate is so high. She's posted
a correction."
"My lucky day," Will said."! think.
Evan, do you have a clue how much
she's said about yesterday's product
release?"
"We can search the site. Watch." Evan
typed in the words "nitrile gloves," and
a few listings appeared.
They both began to read, it was clear
she'd done a very detailed job of de-
scribing the surgical gloves'benefits and
features-the same ones Will had out-
lined in his speech.
"She's definitely thorough," Evan had
to admit.
"Yes, and she's got good questions,"
Will said as he kept reading.
• • •
At noon, the sun was high in a cloudless
sky. Will and Evan were at Kimonos,
waiting to be seated.
The Houston Clinic's Sam Taylor
spotted Will. "It's a good thing you took
care of that," he said.
"! didn't have anything to do with it,"
Will said, correcting him. "She's a free

agent. You need to thank your head of
nursing for giving her the facts."
"I'll do that," Taylor said, and then
rather abruptly excused himself.
Rex Croft was standing a few feet
away. He came over, smiling broadly.
"We want to sign a deal-you'll be the
exclusive supplier of our surgical gloves,"
he said.
Will shook his hand happily. "Great."
" But we also want to hire G love Girl,"
Rex whispered."My people say we need
her in a big way. 1 hate to admit it, but
her biog is a lot more persuasive than
your advertising. Can you spare her?"
"I'm not sure," Will said, genuinely
perplexed.
What should Lancaster-Webb do
about Ciove Girl?
Four commentators offer expert advice.
SEPTEMBER 2003 33
H B R CASE C O M M E N T A R Y • What Should Lancaster-
Webb Do About Clove Girl?
^'

David Weinberger is the
author of Small Pieces
Loosely Joined: A Unified
Theory of the Web (Perseus,
2002) and coauthor of ihQ
Cluetrain Manifesto: The End
of Business As Usual (Perseus,
7999). He is a strategic-
marketing consultant.
Glove Girl isn't trying to do anything except talk to customers
about the things she and they care about.
Lancaster-Webb doesn't have a bloggingproblem; it has a
labeling problem.• The solution that first occurs to CEO
Will Somerset-fireGloveGirl-would restore
order at the company, but at too great a cost.
Outside the company, Glove Girl has turned
into Lancaster-Webb's most cost-effective
marketer. In much iesstime, and with fewer
resources, she does what the marketing de-
partment has spent big chunks of the cor-
porate budget to do not nearly as well: She
gets customers to listen and believe. Market-
ing is ineffective at this precisely because
it's on a mission: Get leads! Convert pros-
pects! Lock in customers! In short, marketing
is engaged in a war of wills with customers.
By contrast, Glove Girl isn't trying to do
anything except talk to customers about the
things she and they care about Glove Girl
sounds like a human being, not a jingle or a
slogan. Her writing embodies her passions.
She thus avoids the pitfalls that marketing
departments repeatedly walk into. Her will-

ingness to admit fallibility-the pace of daily
on-line publishing pretty well ensures that
Web biogs have the slapdash quality of first
drafts-is ironically the very thing that leads
her readers to overlook her mistakes and
trust her.
No wonder the communications depart-
ment is afraid of her. After ail, from their
pointofview. Glove Girl is "off message." She
acknowledges that not everything is perfect
at Lancaster-Webb. In alleging excessive ce-
sarean rates at the Houston Clinic, she did
the unthinkable: She suggested that some
dollars are not worth having. Of course, that
boldness and candor are among the reasons
she's such a good marketer.
Still, for all the good she's doing, she does
indeed pose a problem. But it's not a problem
unique to blogs. Suppose Glove Girl didn't
have a blog. Suppose she were saying exactly
the same things to her neighbors over the
backyard fence. Lancaster-Webb might not
like what she says, but so long as she's not vi-
olating her contract or the law, the company
doesn't have a right to stop her. The differ-
ence is that Glove Girl's blog identifies her
as a Lancaster-Webb employee.
That's where the importance of clear la-
beling comes in. We almost always under-
s t a n d - i f only i m p l i c i t l y - t h e status of the
comments someone is making. For instance,
we know when the customer-support person

on the phone is giving the official line, and we
can tell when her voice drops that she's de-
parting from it. Likewise, we understand that
a press release is one-sided faux journalism
because it says "press release" right at the
top. We know that marketing brochures
aren't to betaken too literally. And we know
that when Will gets up to give a keynote, he
is going to be relentlessly positive-and is
probably reading someone else's words. But
because Web logs are so new, the public
might have trouble figuring out the status of
GloveGirl'ssite. Is it official? Does Lancaster-
Webb stand behind what she says?
There's an easy way to fix it so that Glove
Girl can continue being the best marketer at
Lancaster-Webb: Ask her to explain clearly
on her blog exactly whom she speaks for.
It's a reasonable request, and it's in every-
one's interest.
But there's an even better way to make
the natureof her commentary clear: Publish
Web logs on the Lancaster-Webb site. (If
more of Lancaster-Webb's employees were
blogging, they'd have caught Glove Girl's
error regarding the cesarean births within
minutes.) Linkthe company's blogs to related
ones-Glove Girl's, for instance-orto blogs
at customers' sites. Blogging should be a
group activity anyway, with lots of cross talk.
The variety of viewpoints will make it clear
that no one is just toeing the party line. In ^
fact, I'll bet Glove Girl would be delighted |
to set Will up with a Web tog and help him Q

sound like a human being in public again. s
H B R CASE C O M M E N T A R Y • What Should Lancaster-
Webb Do About Glove Girl?
Pamela Samuelson is
a professor of taw and
information management at
the University of California,
Berkeley, and tbe director
of its Center for Law and
Technology. She is a coauthor
Q/̂ Software and Intemet
!-aw (Aspen, 2001).
There are those who say the Internetchanges everything, and
there arethose who think that phrase is a dis-
credited sentiment of a bygone era. Perhaps
both are exaggerations. One ofthe challenges
posed by the Internet is assessing which of
its features are so novel that they require
new concepts to explain them and new rules
to govern them, and which features need
neither becausetheyare essentially like ones
we've encountered before. Clove Girl's biog
nicely illustrates this distinction.
if Clove Girl's remarks about the Houston
Clinic, for example, are disparaging or even
defamatory, they become no less so for being
posted on the Internet instead of published
in a newspaper or broadcast over the radio.

While some have argued that Internet post-
ings have so little credibility that defamation
standards should be lower for the Web, the
courts haven't accepted this notion.
Blogging does, however, represent a new
genre of communication. Glove Girl's blog is
Epical in its interweaving of work-related
commentary with purely personal material.
Powerful search engines make such postings
accessible to a worldwide audience. Because
Lancaster-Webb would be wise to regard Glove Girl
as far more of an asset than a liability.
r e a d e r s m a y n o t be a b l e t o t e l l t h a t G l o v e
G i r l is m e r e l y e x p r e s s i n g h e r p e r s o n a l v i e w
s
'' • '• • a b o u t L a n c a s t e r - W e b b o n h e r b l o g , a n d
be-
-• • . • causethecompany hasfailedtomakeitclear
... , that she is doing so without its authoriza-
tion, Lancaster-Webb can be held "vicari-
ously" responsible for statements of hers
• • • that are harmful to others. Glove Giri is cer-
tainly not the first talented commentator to
become a virtual celebrity on the strength of
• '• '• I • -_ - - herlnternetpostings.{Thinkof MattDrudge.)
By reaching so many people, her statements
compound the injury they do and the dam-
ages Lancaster-Webb may be obliged to pay.

Blogs like Glove Girl's also blur the
I , ._̂ line between commercial speech and non-
commercial commentary. The former gener-
ally enjoys a lower level of protection than
the latter. Companies don't have a First
Amendment right, for example, toengage in
false advertising. An important case that was
brought before the U.S. Supreme Court this
year involved a private citizen, an activist
named Marc Kaskywhosued NikeunderGal-
ifornia law for false advertising on the basis
of public statements the company issued in
defense of its labor practices. Nike argued
that because the statements didn't promote
a product, they deserved greater constitu-
tional protection than conventional com-
mercial speech. Under Kasky's definition,
commercial speech would encompass a far
wider array of public statements, including
those intended to maintain a positive image
ofthe company.
Defending against such lawsuits is costly,
and court actions tend to generate bad pub-
licity. Yet Lancaster-Webb may be at greater
risk than Nike. At least the statements that
Nike originates can be evaluated and, if nec-
essary, modified before publication.The state-
ments being posted on Glove Girl's site are
more difficult to control. Glove Girl has been
promoting products on-line, making her biog
and Lancaster-Webb potential targets of a
false advertising lawsuit.

Before the advent of blogging, it was far
less possible for employees to create these
kinds ofrisks for their employers. Word might
leak about trade secrets or product releases
but usually only to a handful of people. And
before the rumors spread too far, the com-
pany could put the genie back in the bottle.
The chances are slim that Glove Girl or
Lancaster-Webb would be sued as a result of
what she said on the Internet, particularly
since she went to the trouble of correcting her
error.Although Glove Girl may bean uncon-
ventional employee. Will Somerset would be
wise to regard her as far more of an asset than
a liability. Rather than impose a set of rules.
Will should start a conversation within the
firm about the risks and opportunities that
blogging poses. Lancaster-Webb should es-
tablish norms, tailored to its own market and
culture,that respond tothe challenges posed
by blogging and other Web phenomena.
HBR CASE COMMENTARY • What Should Lancaster-Webb
Do About Glove Girl?
Ray Ozzie is chairman and
CEO of Groove Networks,
a software company based
in Beverly, Massachusetts.
As president of Iris Associates,
be led the development of

Lotus Notes.
A this point in the information age,every empioyee can interact
di-rectly with a company's customers,
partners, and even with the public. Bloggers
naturally want to speak about their profes-
sional lives as weli as their personal lives.
Companies can't change that If they try, they
risk suffocating the culture they mean to pro-
tect. Although employee Web logs present
risks, more often than not they are good for
a company. Will Somerset shouldn't officially
endorse employee blogs, but he shouldn't
discourage them either.
In the fall of 2001, I learned tbat an em-
ployee atoneofCroove Networks'close busi-
ness partners-a consulting and systems in-
tegration company-had posted on his biog
an eloquent and highly personal essay on tbe
subject ofaddiction. In subsequent postings,
he stated that his employer had asked him
to stop writing such things because of what
current and potential clients might think.
Eventually, he wrote, he was terminated for
refusing to do so. Whatever tbe facts may
have been,the incident made me realize that
3 managerial problem of this kind would be
We're a software company, so it should not
be surprising that many of our employees
play the same way they work-expressing
their creativity through technology. Employ-
ees who blog often develop reputations for
subject mastery and expertise that will out-
last their stay at the company. I believe tbat,

without exception, such employees have
Groove Networks' best interests at heart.
Our goal is to help them understand how to
express themselves in ways that protect the
company and reflect positively on it. This
should be Lancaster-Webb's goal as well.
The company should issue a policy state-
menton employee Web logs and Web sites-
but only after Lancaster-Webb's corporate
communications and legal staff fully educate
senior management about what blogs are
and how they might affect the business.
Clove Girl may write with rhetorical flair, but
what seems like a harmless flourish to one
person may seem like an insult to another.
Frustrated employees sometimes become
vindictive, and a vindictive blogger can lash
out publicly against her employer in an in-
stant. There are laws that provide individuals
Will should explore putting Glove Girl in a role within the
company
that gives her greater visibility and makes her feel more
genuinely
invested in its success.
affecting lots of companies before too long,
including my own. A year later, responding
to a suggestion by a blogging employee, we
developed and posted a written policy on
personal Web logs and Web sites. (See the
policy atwww.groove.net/weblogpolicy).
The policy was designed to address four
areas of concern: tbat the public would con-

sider an employee's postings to be official
companycommunications, rather than expres-
sions of personal opinion; that confidential
information-our own or a third party's-
would be inadvertently or intentionally dis-
closed; tbatthe company, its employees, part-
ners, or customers would be disparaged; and
that quiet periods imposed by securities laws
or other regulations would be violated.
and organizations a measure of protection
against libel, misappropriation, and other
injuries suffered as a resultofpostsonanyof
the many gossip sites on the Web. The laws
also provide some protection from bloggers,
even if they don't provide complete redress.
Glove Girl is a natural communicator who
obviously cares about Lancaster-Webb, its
products, and its customers. Will should think
about putting her in a role within the com-
pany that gives her greater visibility and
makes herfeel more genuinely invested in its
success. Wiil or members of his staff should
even consider authoring their own blogs, as
I have done (www.ozzie.net), if they want to
communicate convincingly with employees,
markets, and shareholders.
HBR CASE COMMENTARY • What Should Lancaster-Webb
Do About Clove Girl?

Erin Motameni is a vice
president of human resources
at EMC, a storage software
company in Hopkinton,
Massachusetts.
Will needs to make Glove Girl aware of the harm she's doing
and
insist that she stop sharing confidential information.
Glove Girl is certainly passionateabout her company. But in her
en-thusiasm, she has abused her
knowledge of proprietary, confidential in-
formation. At a minimum, she has probably
violated any legal agreement she signed
when she joined Lancaster-Webb. More dam-
aging, she has violated the trust of her co-
workers, her company's customers, and, if this
is a publicly traded company, its investors.
By identifying herself as a Lancaster-Webb
employee, she has probably caused others
to bel ieve mistakenly that she represents the
company's official positions. The wide read-
ership attracted to her chatty and personal
Web log compounds the damage inflicted
bythe inaccurate information it spreads. Will
Somerset needs to have a blunt discussion
with Glove Girl, make her aware of the harm
she's doing, and insist that she stop sharing
confidential information. Since this won't be
Glove Girl's first warning, she'll need to be
told that continued misuse of confidential
information could end with her dismissal.
No matter her intentions. Glove Girl's be-

havior is ̂ mptomatic of larger management
and internal communications problems at
Lancaster-Webb. To begin with. Will needs to
establish what his core values are. How could
anyone who was Lancaster-Webb's CEO be
even momentarily "enthralled" by what he
reads on Glove Girl's blog? Such a reaction
suggeststhat he has letshort-term sales gains
cloud his judgment and, by extension, stifle
the message he should be sending his em-
ployees about their responsibilities to the
Lancaster-Webb community.
Will must also address a few glaring fail-
ures of his management team. Something is
definitely wrong with the way it shares and
acts on information. For example, why did it
take so long for Will to find out about an ac-
tivity that is significantly affecting the com-
pany's sales, marketing, and image? He
should seriously consider replacing his mar-
keting chief-wh o views blogging as one of
the best ways to get close to customers - with
someone who, while open-minded toward
newtechniques, is also deeply experienced in
the time-tested ways of learning what's on
customers' minds. And for Lancaster-Webb,
with its comparatively narrow customer base,
focusing on what its customers truly vaiue
ought to be a straightforward endeavor.
EMC conducts intensive, three-day group
sessions with customers' senior-level execu-
tives severai times a year. We give them un-
fettered access to our senior management

team and our engineering organization. We
ask them about our current and fortbcoming
products as well as how satisfied they are
with their relationship with us. More often
than not,these sessions result in new product
ideas and new customer-engagement prac-
tices. We supplement these face-to-face ses-
sions with an extranet designed specifically
for EMC customers.
None of the foregoing is to suggest that
blogging has no legitimate marketing role.
To the contrary, Will and his management
team should integrate blogging into a new,
carefully monitored, interactive-marketing
initiative,for which they set clear standards.
Once that has been accomplished. Clove
Girl's enthusiasm is less likely to be danger-
ous to Lancaster-Webb's customers, employ-
ees, and investors.
Finally, Will needs to institute formal and
informal mechanisms for soliciting employ-
ees' ideas. It is easy to fire employees who
cross boundaries. It is more productive to
fashion a culture that encourages the more
innovative among them to share their ideas,
while reminding them that they are citizens
of a larger community and therefore need
to think through the ramifications of their
actions, , . V .
Reprint R0309A
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[email protected]
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
In Crisis Management,
Getting the Message Rigiit
IsCriticai
Considerations for Effect'wely Handling a Crisis Today
BY RICHARD C. HYDI-:
JT,

CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Recently, I reviewed remarks I delivered at a con-ference in
December 1980, after my firsthandexperience with the Three
Mile Island nuclearcrisis. My four cardinal rules for crisis
commu-
nications were as follows:
1. Tell it all, tell It fast and tell It accurately.
2. Make provisions for information sources to
speak from a common platform at the same
time.
3. Cover all the bases on all important subjects.
4. Provide regular updates to all important inter-
nal and external publics.
That is still sound advice, but what is required to meet
today s crises is far more comple.x and time sensitive. We've
known the torce of die Internet in communicating during
crises. We are constantly reminded ofthe impact of blogging,
chat rooms and other forms of consumer communication.
Deadlines are always now to meet the unrelenting demands of
24-hour news dissemination by cable TV, satellite radio and
the Internet.
Even the gold standard of crisis communications — set by
Johnson & Johnson in 1982, when malicious tampering of
Extra Strength Tylenol capsules caused seven deaths —
would need updated tactics. But today, other considerations
are essential for effectively handling a crisis. These considera-

tions go beyond advances in technology and the many new
information channels.
Risk communication in three key areas
Indeed, choosinga communications channel is just one of
three key considerations, according to well-researched prin-
ciples oi risk communication. Channel selection deserves con-
centrated attention, as do the message content and the
characteristics ofthe messenger. Although Rill development
ot ali three key ai-eas is critical for effective crisis communica-
tions, ŵ e will focus on message content — what you sav when
facing a threatening situation.
Dr. Siimuel Johnson once said, "Depend on it, sir. when a
man knows he is going to be hanged in a fortnight, it concen-
trates his mind wonderfully." In Johnson's day, a professional
might have two weeks to set a course of action and develop
messages, but today, response time is far shorter and more
demanding.
I Fortunately, risk communication provides a message-
;, development methodology that rapidly offers constructive
"̂ assistance to today's crisis communicator. Use of risk
commu-
nication replaces impulsive decision-making and even experi-
ential depth with scientific principles. Alost important, it pro-
duces clear, concise messages.
High stress changes the rules
Behavioral scientific research, which extends back more
than 30years, shows how behavior changes when a person is
processing messages during high-stress situations. To appre-
ciate the importance ofthese findings, consider that a person

can normally comprehend a great deal of information. Eor
example, most people can easily recall many telephone num-
bers. When stressed, the ability' to hear, underetand and
remember diminishes. Research indicates that at times of high
stress caused by controversy, allegations or uncertainty, peo-
ple can miss up to 80 percent of message content. Ofthe 20
percent they do hear, most messages are negative.
Psychologists call these effects mental noise and negative
dominance. In a crisis,you must adjust ior these effects to
communicate properly.
Benefits of message mapping
Essential to proper communication in high-stress situa-
tions is message mapping, a unique approach to constructing
messages that will be heard, understood, remembered and
appropriately heeded. The Center for Risk Communication
in New York City developed the concept.
The benefits of message mapping are threefold. First,
those who participate in the message-map ping process repre-
sent the essential cross section ofthe organization; they take
great care to ensure the messages are both accurate and
backed up with responsible actions. Second, the process
requires a consensus to determine what the nrgani/.ation com-
municates. Finally, mapping yields a wealth of organized and
prioritized information that oflei s flexibility and support to
staying on message.
In his paper for the World Health Organization 2002
Conference on Bioterrorism and Risk Communication, Dr.
Vincent T. Covello observed, "A-lessage-mapping exercises —
involving the teams of subject-matter experts (e.g., scientific),
communication specialists and individuals w îth policy, legal
and management expertise — often reveal the diversity of
these points within organizations with the same question,

issue or concern."
Covello, who (ounded the Center for Risk
Communication while teaching at Columbia University from
1988 to 1993, outlines seven distinct steps in the message-
mapping process:
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
1. Identify stakeholders.
2. Determine specific concerns for each stakeholder
group.
3. Analyze specific concerns to find underlying gen-
eral concerns.
4. Conduct structured brainstorming with input from
message-mapping teams.
5. Assemble supporting facts and proof for each key
message.
6. Ask outside experts to systematically test messages.
7. Plan delivery of resulting messages and supporting
materials.
Requirements for effective message
development
Message mapping requires the team — composed of an
organization's subject-matter experts, management and com-

munication specialists, as outlined by Covello — to commit
time to the mapping process. It may take many hours to
address all stakeholders' concerns and reach an agreement.
Usually, however, message mapping can yield a useful
product in less total time than the traditional procedure oi
having communicators draft messiiges and seek approval
through a chain of command. By engaging all essential depart-
ments at the same time, the process cuts the need for time-con-
suming revisions and approvals.
A word of caution: Expecting unwavering acceptance of
message mapping at the outset is unrealistic. Both its novelty
and teamwork approach can tum people off.
At the start oFa recent message-mapping session Fora
major pharmaceutical company, tor example, a participatmg
lawyer cynically noted, "This looks like a long, convoluted
way oFcoming up with words we could draft in short order at
our own computers." At the conclusion ot the session, how-
ever, this same lawyer was an advocate, saymg, "We all got
our points of view on the table at the same time, so we came
away with a set of messages we all could agree on."
The message-mapping process is a cerebral work engine
that can develop two types oFmessages required in athreat-
ening situation. One type oFmessage addresses the specific
information the organization wants to convey — the outgoing
message. The other t^'pe addresses stakeholder concerns, usu-
ally posed as questions evoked by the organization's outgoing
message and communication from others. A message map also
yields the 10-second elevator speech or nine-second sound
bite, a succinct expression oFthe organization's position,
which is essential in crisis communications.

All message maps adhere to these standard require-
ments:
• Three key messages
• Seven to 12 words per message
• Three supporting facts for each key message
The seven-step message-mapping process produces an
abundance of information. The structured brainstorming
process gleans all pertinent information from the participants.
The facilitator w îll go From person to person soliciting infor-
mation — a fact, a statement, an insight that addresses the
topic — until the subject is
exhausted. All input is
recorded tor future use.
The next step requires
the participants to distill
From the plethora oFinput
at least three key mes-
sages. This step begins to
organize and prioritize
supportmg Facts and prooF
points to flesh out the mes-
sage map. Where gaps exist, it is necessary to seek answers or,
in some cases, take action.
The end product oFthis concerted etiFort is the completed
message map. To illustrate, on the Following page is one of the
maps prepared on the West Nile Virus public health issue.
This particular map answ^ers the specific question, "What can
be done about the West Nile Virus?" It displays key words as
phrases to prompt the communicator or spokesperson in
Fashioning a complete statement that might read, "To safe-
guard yourself and your family against West Nile Virus,you

can take these three actions: remove standing water, wear
protective clothing and use effective insect repellent."
Note that the three key messages are in one sentence that
contains 27 words, Rilfilling the standard requirements: three
When you're assisting with a crisis,
message development is aimest aiways
icess of message
THK STRATEGIST/SUMMER 2007 PAGE 3^
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
West Nile Vinjs Message Map
Stakeholder: Citizens of a community threatened by the virus
Question: How can we protect ourselves?
Key Mess?jae Key Messaae Ke^ Messafle
"Remove Standing "Wear Protective "Use Insect
Water" Clothing" i Repellent"
Supporting O l d T i r e s , Supporima L o n g '•• Sumjorf
Factri i Fact2.i Sleeves ii Fact3.i
Flovuer
Supporting pntc/Rirri Supparlmg Long Suppoiling 2 3 %
•^^'1-2 RMiP , i Fact2.2 Pants f^a'̂ î .^
Supporting Cat/Dog ' Supporting Dusk and ^uppotimg No
facti3 Dishes ''act2.3 Bav,,n Fact3,3 Substitutes
Souf'te: Center for Risk Conimunicatinn

key messages with seven to 12 words each. The supporting
tacts can eiabot'ate on the key messages, perhaps answeiing
follow^-up questions.
Some key messages quoted as statements in print are
kjnger or shorter than 27 words, but most are close to the
word count. In verbal delivery, it takes nine seconds to state
27 words because the typical American speaks three words
per second. The message-map formula is 3 / 9 / 27 if you apply
the message-development and delivery process properlv.
One poignant example of 3 / 9 / 2 7 was former Mayor
Rudy Giuliani's response to reporters when pressed fora
casualty figure following the terrorist attacks in New York
on Sept. 11,2001, He said, "Ultimately, the number is more
than we can bear. I believe from this tragedy the city,
nation and world will become stronger. Stronger economi-
cally, politically and emotionally."
Three key messages — exactly 27 words — stated in
approximately nine seconds. Equally important, he expressed a
value, demonstrating care and empathy, rather than a statistic.
An excellent corporate example, which runs a little
longer than 27 words, comes from Michael Moeller, a
Hewlett-Packard spokesperson who was challenged by a
Wall Street Journal reporter last fall about the company's
behavior. Moeller said, "Clearly the events ofthe past
several weeks have generated a great deal of media inter-
est; however, H P hasn't lost its focus on what is most
important: our customers and our partners and our
employees,"
Managing negative perceptions
Drawing again on the fmdings ofthe behavioral scien-

tific research, there are clear ways to address negative per-
ceptions. Consider these actions for the communicator and
spokesperson.
First, to counter any negative allegation, accusation or ill-
formed judgment, use three positives. If an accuser states,
"You've done absolutely nothing to correct the pollution
problems,"you must respond with three thingsyou have
done, such as, "The truth is the company has installed a high-
tech screening device, changed the operating procedures and
is making arrangements to settle all claims for substantiated
damage." Presentingthr-ee positive, constructive statements
based on actual actions or accomplishments can neutralize the
negative statement.
Research also shows that by stating a fourth positive,
you go beyond simply neutralizing negative opinions to con-
'erting them to positive. In our illustration above, the fourth
point might be, "And the authorities have given us a clean bill
of health."
Second, avoid repetition ofthe negative statement, even if
you are attempting to refute it. Repeating a negative simply
reinforces it, iVledia trainers frequently refer to the ill-advised
repetition of a negative by citing President Nixon's televised
statement, "I am not a crook,"
Third, avoid use of these words: no, not (can't/don't),
never, nothing, none.
Why? Research shows that stating one of these words
immediately placesyou on the defensive, "How can you be
certain?" is the frequent retort, leading to further defensive
explanations rather than constructively advancing your

position.
What's more, those words are absolutes. Onceyou use
one, you are on the record. Alteringyour absolute stand, say
in light of new findings, may be difficult and awkward.
When you're assisting with a ciisis, message develop-
ment is almost always the top priority. The process of message
mapping proves its value time and again. It is, however, only
one aspect ofthe principles of risk communication. With
many clients, it's the starting point to learning about and
applying these principles to any threat, whether it s an issue,
risk or crisis. For today's crisis communicator, it's an essential
element for the tool kit. •
Richard C. Myile i.î executive vice presidetii m I lill Si
Knovvlton in Now Y(irl(. His e.|wrience in crisis man-
ajjcmcnl And risk riimmunicatiiin spjins 30 veaJ'S, He
has served as ihe team leader on more than a do t̂ en
major crisis events, ranging from airplane crashes to
|iro(liict contamination to global corporate issues. He
•.•[•eated H&K'scrisissimiilaiiociexercises,drawing
upon his experience as a naval olTicer, and has trained
evecutives irom more than 26 countries.
THE STRATEGISrr/SUMMER 2007 PAGE 35
Page 131
Chapter Eight—

Treating the Big Picture
''I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is se
ven-eighths of it under water for every part that shows . . . If a
writer omits something because he does not know it,
then there is a hole in the story."
Ernest Hemingway (interview in Paris Review)
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EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed
on 3/7/2020 11:43 PM via FLORIDA INTL UNIV
AN: 50485 ; Mitroff, Ian I..; Managing Crises Before They
Happen : What Every Executive and Manager Needs to Know
About Crisis Management
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Page 133
To understand more fully what is so different about today's worl
d, and as a result, why our problems require systems thinking if
we are to formulate them effectively,
let alone truly solve them, let us examine a highly simplistic, fi
ctitious world. It is a world that does not require us to think syst
emically. When we understand why this

world does not and could not really exist, we will be in a better
position to understand the nature of today's world and hence wh
y crisis management requires the
ability to think systemically.
A Fictional World
First of all, we need to note that the world we are about to enter
has never really existed. For this reason alone, it is most unfort
unate that it is the picture that many
people have in their heads when it comes to assigning and to ac
cepting moral responsibility for their actions.
Let us begin by imagining, as Albert Einstein did many years ag
o in the initial, formative stages of his General Theory
EBSCOhost - printed on 3/7/2020 11:43 PM via FLORIDA
INTL UNIV. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-
of-use
Page 134
of Relativity, the case of an isolated rocket ship traveling deep i
n outer space. (Actually, Einstein used the mental picture, or ''th
ought experiment," of an elevator.
However, the difference is not crucial.) Next, imagine that the r
ocket ship is accelerating uniformly, namely that the force prod
uced by the rocket's engine is smooth

and constant (or, what amounts to the same thing, that the elevat
or is being pulled upwards by a constant force). Under these cir
cumstances, the velocity of the rocket
ship will continue to increase until it reaches the upper limiting
speed of light. (Actually, it will only approach the speed of ligh
t since it would require an infinite amount
of energy to travel as fast as light.)
Imagine further that the rocket is far from the gravitational pull
of nearby planets, stars, or galaxies. Then, under these circumst
ances, the astronauts in the rocket ship
would feel as if they were being tugged downwards by the const
ant pull of gravity of a real planet. In other words, the constant
upward acceleration of the rocket
would feel the same to the astronauts as if they were being cons
tantly tugged downwards by gravity. Furthermore, since they we
re in outer space, there would be
nothing for them to differentiate between the "virtual gravity" p
roduced by the upward force of the rocket ship, and the "real gr
avity" of an actual planet. This would
especially be the case if the inhabitants of the rocket ship, or el
evator, had no portals or windows that would let them see outsi
de.
Cause and Effect
Let us use Einstein's "imagined world" or "simple thought exper
iment" to illustrate the profound differences between the comple
x world in which we live and the simple,

fictitious world of our imaginary rocket ship. Suppose, for insta
nce, that the rocket ship were large enough to be luxurious,
i.e., that it had an elaborate recreational room. Suppose fur-
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ther that the recreational room contained a pool table. Then, in t
his simple world, and only in this simple world, are there direct
causes and effects. For example, if one
of the astronauts were to pick up a cue stick and use it to hit a c
ue ball, and furthermore, if the cue ball hit the eight ball and ca
used it to drop into one of the side
pockets, then we could say that the direct actions of the astrona
ut were the direct cause of the eight ball's moving and falling in
to the side pocket, i.e., the resulting
end-effect. In this simple world, and only in this simple world,
can one locate and assign direct causes and effects.
The world of the rocket ship constitutes a perfectly closed syste
m. To account for the motion of the pool balls, it is not necessar
y to take anything into account except
only those things going on inside the rocket ship. As a result, th
e behavior of the pool balls can be traced to the direct actions o
f one of the astronauts.

Exhibit 8-1 illustrates the nature of causality or a ''cause-effect"
relationship. In order for one thing, a cue ball, to be
Exhibit 8-1
A Simple Example of Cause and Effect
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the cause of another thing, the motion of the eight ball, then the
movement of the cue ball is both necessary and sufficient for th
e eight ball's subsequent motion. That
is, in order for the eight ball to move, it is absolutely necessary
that the cue ball, or some other object, first strike it. In somewh
at different words, if the cue ball
does not strike the eight ball, then the eight ball must not be cap
able of moving. On the other hand, if the cue ball strikes the eig
ht ball, then this alone is sufficient for
the eight ball to move. In other words, for the eight ball to mov
e, nothing else is required than the cue ball. (Of course, the eigh
t ball can move if something else strikes
it.)
A cause-effect relationship is a very severe and limiting conditi

on. Rarely is any one single thing sufficient to cause another thi
ng. Furthermore, while a certain thing may
be necessary for the occurrence of another thing, many other thi
ngs are required as well. That is, rarely is one thing alone suffic
ient for the occurrence of another.
Rarely is any one single thing sufficient to cause another thing.
The whole point of the rocket ship example is that it does not ap
ply in the complex world in which we live. In our world, there a
re no such things as single causes and
effects. For instance, as we argued in the last chapter, we canno
t say that one thing alone was the cause of the violence in Turke
y. The conclusion is that every effect
has multiple causes, and every set of causes produces multiple e
ffects.
Edgar Singer and the Concept of Producer-Product
Edgar Singer is hardly a household name. Suffice it to say that i
n the words of his teacher, the great American philosopher
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William James, ''Singer is the best all-around student I have had
in offering instruction in philosophy for some thirty years at H

arvard." Singer went on to teach my
philosophical mentor, C. West Churchman. I am thus fortunate e
nough to be able to trace my intellectual lineage directly back to
one of the founders of pragmatism,
the philosophical school in which I work.
In contradistinction to the limiting concept of cause-effect, whic
h is much too simple to describe our world, Singer proposed ins
tead the notion of "producer-product."
A simple example of a producer-product relationship is one that
in fact was used by Singer. It consists of the relationship betwe
en an acorn and an oak tree. An acorn
is certainly necessary for the final production of an oak tree, but
by itself, it is hardly sufficient. If we wish to get an oak tree, w
e certainly have to plant an acorn in
the ground or in the soil. However, without the proper moisture,
wind, and sun, an oak tree will not result. Thus, while an acorn
may be "necessary" for the
production of an oak tree, by itself it is not "sufficient." In sligh
tly different words, we require many contributing factors if we a
re to produce an oak tree. The same is
now true of all of the complex things that occur in society. Inde
ed, the necessity of many contributing factors is another of the
major definitions of "complexity."
A Producer-Product Analysis of CM
It is sad to report that in all the years that I have worked in the f
ield of CM, and in all the crisis audits that my colleagues and I

have conducted for major corporations,
there has only been one case of a corporate executive who was a
ble to see the Big Picture, and as a result, able to understand ho
w all the various contributing factors
to various crises relate to one
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In all the years that I have worked in the field of CM there has o
nly been one case of a corporate executive who was able to see t
he Big Picture, and as a
result, able to understand how all the various contributing factor
s to various crises relate to one another.
another. As a result, this particular executive was able to see th
e futility of preparing for individual crises in isolation, and furt
hermore, of attending to individual
contributing factors in isolation as well. Since this point is so i
mportant, we need to take a brief look at the diagram produced
by this executive. Of course, it should be
under-stood that all explicit references to the executive and his
organization have been disguised for reasons of confidentiality.
Exhibit 8-2 shows what this executive considered to be major cr

ises for the organization in which he worked. Although the disti
nction among the boxes is somewhat
arbitrary, crises are shown as shaded boxes. On the other hand,
effects, or contributing factors, are those things that lead up to a
nd follow from crises, and these are
shown as unshaded boxes.
This particular organization was in the oil industry. Hence, a ma
jor precipitating crisis for the organization was the falling of pri
ces on world oil markets. This is shown
as box 1 in the upper left-hand corner of the exhibit. The conseq
uences of falling oil prices are shown as one proceeds through t
he rest of the exhibit. Hence, boxes 2,
3, and 4 show particular outcomes and additional crises that can
result from falling oil prices. (Note that the numbers exist only
for identification of the separate
outcomes and crises, not for sequence.)
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Exhibit 8-2
A Systems Map of Potential Crises

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Page 140
Exhibit 8-2 also shows what happens as other crises result from,
and new, additional ones feed into, the drop in oil prices. As a
result, the exhibit attempts to portray
the complex set of relationships among various crises. The purp
ose is to give the organization a better overall map of the full ar
ray of forces it faces so that it can
formulate actions and plans that will be most effective. Even mo
re important, the purpose of the diagram is to help top level exe
cutives make sure that they do not take
the wrong corrective actions, i.e., those actions that would actua
lly make a crisis worse.
The Moral
Exhibit 8-3 represents a summary of the key themes we have dis
cussed throughout this book. First of all, the rows are meant to i
ndicate the differences between (1)
those organizations that think and act systemically, and, (2) tho
se that do not. It also is meant to portray the differences betwee
n (1)

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Page 141
those organizations that act responsibly, and (2) those that deny
their responsibility.
Cell 1 is obviously the ideal case. Unfortunately, it still applies
to only a small number of organizations. These are the very few
that are prepared to think and to act
systemically, and furthermore, accept their responsibility for cri
ses. My colleagues and I call such organizations ''crisis prepare
d" because they have done everything in
their power to prepare for a wide variety of crises. 1 Not only d
oes this mean that they have internalized the proper ways of thi
nking about crises, but it also means
that they have put in place the appropriate crisis mechanisms su
ch as early warning systems that will help them get a leg up on i
mpending crises. Once again, this does
not guarantee that they will never face a major crisis, for no suc
h guarantee is possible. It does mean that when major crises occ
ur, they will recover much faster than
those organizations that are not prepared.
Cell 2 is a fundamental contradiction in terms. It is difficult to i
magine that one can think and act systemically, and yet, deny on
e's responsibility. An important part of

thinking and acting systemically is that it automatically include
s the acceptance of responsibility. On the other hand, this does
not mean that the situation shown in cell 2
can never occur, for a great deal hinges on what an organization
believes thinking and acting systemically is.
Cell 3 represents those organizations that are of greatest concer
n. These are the organizations that neither think nor act systemi
cally. They are the ones that are also
most likely to deny their responsibilities. For this reason, my co
lleagues and I call such organizations "crisis prone." 2 They sub
stantially increase the odds that they will
experience a major crisis that will affect not only them, but also
their customers and surrounding communities. The worst fear is
that they will set off
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Page 142
a chain reaction of additional crises that they will be unable to c
ontrol.
And cell 4 typifies those organizations that constantly live on th
e edge. Whether they are aware of it or not, they count on luck t
o get them through any crisis. They
neither think nor act systemically, and yet, somewhat paradoxic

ally, they accept responsibility for their actions. The point is tha
t in spite of their willingness to accept
responsibility, their lack of thinking and acting systemically wil
l nonetheless set off a chain reaction of crises that they will be
unable to control. However, if by the
acceptance of responsibility one means the implementation of th
e proper CM control mechanisms, then how is such a thing reall
y possible without thinking
systemically?
Finally, Exhibit 8-4 is an illustration of the things that all organ
izations can do to better prepare for major crises. The chart sho
ws what one can do in the short-term
versus the long-term. It also shows what one can do in order to
be reactive as well as proactive with regard to major crises. In s
um, Exhibit 8-4 is an ideal plan for the
evolution and development of an effective program of CM for e
very organization.
Closing Remarks
In the end, we are faced with the fundamental question, ''What i
s it that allows individuals and organizations to both accept resp
onsibility and to prepare for crises?"
The answer cannot be the precise determination of how much a
particular factor contributes to a specific crisis. This is not to sa
y that we should not try to gather the
best possible data. But we must realize fundamentally that all da
ta are at best incomplete. We live in a world that is far too comp

lex to collect precise and perfect data
on anything.
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Page 143
Exhibit 8-4
The Development of an Integrated CM Program
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In the end, that which allows us to accept moral responsibility f
or our actions is the deepest and the highest expression of moral
ity and ethics, i.e., the notion that we
are all interconnected, and thereby, bear responsibility for one a
nother. When this idea is finally accepted, then we will have tru
ly taken a giant step in the moral
development of humankind.

Strategy List for Chapter Eight
• Recognize that rarely is one single thing or event sufficient to
cause another.
• Analyze all contributing factors to get a sense of the Big Pictu
re.
• Map the full array of forces that contribute to your situation to
formulate action plans.
• Consult the map to ensure that the corrective actions won't ma
ke the crisis worse.
• Use Exhibit 8-4 to help prepare for major crises.
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