ICM Consultant Says To Remember the People During a Crisis

I wrote here about the so-called pink slime in ground beef. (http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1573781346072455735#editor/target=post;postID=1400037249839429278) But I like what Larry Smith said about the crisis in an article on PJStar.com out of Peoria. Smith is senior consultant with the Institute for Crisis Management. Here's what he had to say:

"Never lose sight of the 'people' - employees, their families, suppliers/vendors, customers/clients/patients, investors, and don't try to operate in a vacuum. You must 'do the right thing' and be prepared to communicate stakeholder-specific information to each of those important audiences. If you drag your feet and avoid or take too long to communicate with those critical groups someone else will control the 'messages' and most likely you will end up looking like you're guilty, afraid or incompetent. This is what happened in the pink-slime case. The meat industry took too long to react." (http://www.pjstar.com/business/x2069499445/Business-Q-A-Larry-Smith?zc_p=0)

Smith's blog is well worth following. On his April 27 post, he praised the beef industry for its much better response to recent a case of mad cow disease in California. (http://www.crisisconsultants.blogspot.com/)