CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Everybody claims they are "experts". Not even close.

The phrase “crisis management” has become so overused that it is almost meaningless.

PR firms, marketing agencies, former television & media people, lawyers, consultants, they all do it. Most Executives merely SAY they do it, with rare success.

But what exactly are we talking about? And more importantly, when the building is actually on fire, who do you want in the room?

1. THE DEEP DIVE

First: A crisis is not just a bad day. A problem is not necessarily a crisis.

A difficult customer is a problem. A missed deadline is a problem. A bad social-media post may be an issue.

A crisis is different.

A crisis introduces some combination of urgency, uncertainty, high stakes and serious consequences. Recent crisis-leadership research describes the discipline as distinct from ordinary leadership because crises amplify ambiguity, time pressure, scrutiny and the consequences of decisions.

The distinction matters because the response changes. You don't manage a crisis the same way you manage a Tuesday.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT IS NOT CRISIS COMMUNICATION.

This is where much of the confusion begins. Communication is part of crisis management.

It isn't the entire thing.

A serious crisis may require:

• Operations

• Legal

• Security

• IT/cybersecurity

• Human resources

• Finance

• Government relations

• Medical or technical specialists

• Executive leadership

• Communications/media expertise

• A Real Sense of Humor and Awareness

  
  

The person writing the statement may be nowhere near the person who actually needs to solve the problem.

Example: The U.S. government's Ready Business guidance makes the same point from a preparedness standpoint: business emergency planning needs to encompass communications, IT recovery, continuity and response, not simply public messaging.

And the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency explicitly distinguishes crisis communication from broader risk communication, noting that crisis communication occurs when urgency is paramount and audience stress is elevated.

In plain English: The statement is not the crisis. The crisis is what happened.

2. WHAT DOES A REAL CRISIS MANAGER ACTUALLY DO?

So let's start unraveling this issue, shall we?

A competent crisis leader has to do several things simultaneously.

A. Establish what is actually happening.

Not what Twitter says, what someone thinks happened, or what the first employee heard.

What do we know? Just as important, what don't we know?

B. Establish authority.

Who is making decisions? Who has to be consulted? Who has the authority to stop something? Who has the authority to speak?

A recent security-management analysis makes a particularly important point: many communication failures are actually evidence that leadership never established internal alignment about authority, transparency and priorities in the first place.

C. Contain the damage.

Before worrying about appearances, stop the problem from getting worse.

Cyberattack? Contain it. Product safety issue? Protect customers. Employee safety problem?

Protect people. Operational failure? Stabilize operations.

Oh, and don't cut any corners.

D. Determine who needs information.

Employees may need one message. Customers another. Regulators yet another. The media, of course, another. Investors definitely another.

But the underlying facts cannot change simply because the audience does.

5. Communicate without making the situation worse.

This is where experience matters enormously. Too little information creates speculation.

Too much information can create confusion.Wrong information can become permanent.

And silence can become its own story.

3. THE TYLENOL LESSON STILL MATTERS

The 1982 Tylenol poisonings remain one of the classic crisis-management examples. Seven people in Chicago died after taking cyanide-laced capsules. The incident ultimately led to major changes in tamper-resistant packaging and federal anti-tampering law.

The important lesson isn't simply that Johnson & Johnson communicated effectively. The larger lesson is that action became part of the communication.

Consumers needed protection. The company had to make decisions. The response had to address the actual danger—not merely the public-relations problem.

That's the difference between crisis management and crisis theater.

4. AND HERE IS WHERE WE NEED TO STOP PRETENDING

Just because someone worked in television does not automatically make them a crisis manager. I know this one particularly well. A journalist may understand deadlines, newsrooms, interviews, sources, public reaction and how a story develops, which is definitely valuable.

But a crisis may involve engineering, cybersecurity, toxicology, aviation, medicine, finance, law, industrial safety or national security. No amount of television experience makes someone an expert in those disciplines.

The same applies to PR. A terrific PR professional may be an excellent crisis communicator. I know several of them who excel at it. But that does not automatically make them qualified to lead an operational crisis.

Marketing? Same problem. A person who can build a brilliant campaign is not necessarily the person you want making decisions during a plant shutdown, data breach or safety emergency.

Crisis management is multidisciplinary.

The best crisis leader knows what they know—and, critically, knows what they don't.

5. WHEN SHOULD YOU SURRENDER THE WHEEL?

This may be the most important question of the entire discussion.

If the stakes are high enough that you are thinking: “I have never handled anything like this before.”

That's your cue. Bring in someone who has.

You should seriously consider outside crisis expertise when:

• People may be physically harmed.

• The organization faces major regulatory exposure.

• There is significant legal exposure.

• Cybersecurity or critical infrastructure is involved.

• The crisis crosses multiple departments or jurisdictions.

• The CEO or board is directly implicated.

• The story is moving faster than the organization can verify facts.

• The organization has no tested crisis plan.

• The consequences could permanently damage trust.

• You are emotionally too close to the situation to make rational decisions.

CISA Customer Service Training specifically recommends that senior leadership and boards participate in cyber-incident exercises rather than leaving response solely to IT or security teams.

That's a good general principle: Don't wait until the crisis to discover who knows how to handle one.

6. THE REAL CRISIS EXPERT HAS A DIFFERENT PERSONALITY

You don't necessarily want the loudest person, the most charismatic person, and you don't even necessarily want the best public speaker. You want somebody who can remain useful while everyone else is becoming emotional.

Research published in 2026 identifies crisis-specific behaviors including proactive communication, accountability, adaptive response, cooperation, containment-oriented direction, emotional connection and post-crisis learning.

That's a very different skill set from: “I'm good on camera.”

Being good on camera is a tool. Crisis management is a discipline.

7. THE BEST CRISIS MANAGERS ALSO KNOW WHEN NOT TO TALK

This one is especially important in the social-media era, because there is tremendous pressure to respond instantly.

Sometimes that's correct. Sometimes it is exactly wrong.

The Public Relations Society of America's crisis-communication curriculum emphasizes both effective response and operational readiness, including preparation, response teams and planning.

One of the most valuable crisis skills is knowing the difference between: “We need to speak now.” and “We need ten more minutes to establish what is actually true.”

Speed matters. Accuracy matters more.

8. THE CTN BOTTOM LINE

Crisis management is not about looking calm. It is about being useful when calm disappears.

It isn't about controlling every headline. It is about controlling the decisions you can control.

It isn't about having the perfect statement. It is about having the right people, authority, information and process before the statement ever gets written.

And sometimes the smartest crisis decision a leader can make is: “This isn't my specialty. Get me someone who knows what they're doing.”

That's not surrender.

That's leadership.