Andover’s Principles Clarify When A Response To World Events Is (And Is Not) Warranted

Reprinted with permission from Currents magazine (May/June 2024), published by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Phillips Academy is an independent co-educational boarding school. As its CCO, Tracy Sweet takes to heart her role in providing communications that enrich, inform, and protect the school community. When pressures to respond to an increasing number …

Southwest Airlines: A Case Study On How Quickly Reputational Tides Can Turn

Oh, how fast the mighty can fall. In February of 2022, Southwest Airlines was named one of Forbes 2022 America’s Best Employers – their 7th time on this list SOUTHWEST AIRLINES ONCE AGAIN RANKED AMONG FORBES’ BEST EMPLOYERS IN AMERICA | Markets Insider (businessinsider.com). As recently as March 2022, J.D. Powers ranked Southwest Airlines at …

Crisis by Board Member

Front and center in the news the last few days has been the drama around Elon Musk joining Twitter’s Board of Directors.  The controversy has to do primarily with Musk’s alignment (or non-alignment) with the values and culture of the Twitter family.  Whether your organization is for profit or not-for-profit, it raises an interesting question:  …

Beyond COVID-19: Issue Anticipation For 2022

If we can force ourselves to peek beyond COVID and see what issues/crises might be coming in 2022, we may be able to prepare ahead of them.  That was the topic of the panel presented prior to the Yankee Chapter of PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) annual meeting, moderated by Robin Schell, APR, Fellow …

How to Change Behavior around the Dangerous Behavior of Drink Spiking

True story.  Just two weeks ago, two 25-year old women walked into a local, popular Boston bar, accompanied by a young man who is a friend. It is 10 p.m. It was their first and only stop of the evening.  After dinner and a few drinks prior at home, they ordered one round of drinks …

How To Say “No” Effectively to Leadership

Such a joy to be back IN PERSON for a presentation at the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) annual seminar last week.  It reinforces how important face-to-face communication is in building relationships and cementing our learning. My colleague John Lyday, APR, Fellow PRSA and I presented on the challenges and strategies needed to say …

Social Responsibility: How Organizations Are Leveraging Their U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition) In Times of Need

There are four basic ways organizations can offer their social responsibility talents in times of need: Philanthropy:  Donations of money and in-kind services.  If you’re Bob Kraft of the New England Patriots, you can send your private plane to China to pick up PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) in the form of N95 masks for healthcare …

Summary of JJ&W’s WEbinar for PRSA: External Communication with Stakeholders During Covid-19

What is known about how humans process risk and crisis remind us that not every member of a stakeholder group is at the same point in their understanding, acceptance, processing or action steps.  In fact, most are likely ricocheting daily, if not hourly, between these waypoints as they deal with the mental and emotional toll …

A Case Study In How NOT To Build Relationships With Customers: Boston Sports Clubs

Here’s what happens when you are NOT proactive and DON’T LISTEN to customers … I’m afraid Boston Sports Clubs are about to learn a painful PR lesson.   While many gyms communicated proactively to customers that they would be halting billing and freezing memberships, Boston Sports Clubs went out of their way to make it …

In Uncertain Times, Build Loyalty with Stakeholders – Lessons From The Pan-Mass Challenge Decision

      For those of you who are not familiar with the Pan-Mass Challenge, or the PMC, it is the largest single athletic charity event in the country. This 2-day cycling event, founded by Billy Starr in 1980, engaged 6800 participants and raised $63 million for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute last year. People …