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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of image group international, an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image and reputation.

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Hello, everybody, and thank you for being here. Before we start our chat today, I commonly asked you to connect with me on social media. My Twitter is Jon_Michael, my LinkedIn is Jon Michail. And you can find me as Image Group International on Facebook. So let's get started. Today I will share more about reputation crisis management. And the reason for that is because reputation and crisis management are becoming a bigger problem for a lot of individuals and of course, their businesses. So obviously, it's a skill that so important to know because it ensures businesses and individuals as best as possible, are able to prepare and also respond to potential crisis that could damage the reputation. Now a crisis can arise from a variety of situations, and there's so many, but I'm going to give you some today, negative publicity, obviously, social media trolling, legal or regulatory issues, product recalls, data breaches that we know, have been very popular in recent times. And of course, any other event that could harm the credibility and trust of a business or individual. And the Edelman Trust Barometer in recent signs that I've had noted before, clearly indicates that public trust of an institution specifically has big institutions has dropped dramatically. This is government's religious institutions and other institution that, you know, the public would look at, for confidence and leadership. So this is important, you know, and this is also an opportunity, of course, if you can get on the front foot, and specifically show your brand leadership by of course, showing that you're a trusted company. And of course, then having a plan to back that, if something goes awry. A crisis can erode the public's trust, we know in you and your company. And of course, you know what happens in even in your personal experience, when there is a bit of a crisis of times the relationship gets potentially damaged, if it's not managed effectively. Crisis Management, though, can help you to maintain the public's trust in you and your company. And of course, my experience shows and I currently have clients in this predicament right now, if you're unmanaged that effectively potentially the company career is certainly if it's an SME millions of dollars, or go broke. And of course, for large corporations, even billions and history shows, that's exactly what happens. So the underlying foundations of crisis management is really where you gotta start, as opposed to just posts and saw without even taking reputation into your thinking, because if you don't, of course, you will have a crisis moment, somewhere down the track reputation. 

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Crisis Management involves developing a plan to anticipate and respond to potential crisis, which can minimize and certainly help minimize the impact of a crisis on the reputation of the business or individual. Having a plan in place as best as you can, can help ensure that the response is quick, effective and appropriate to the situation. This helps maintain the trust and confidence of stakeholders, of course, including customers, partners, employees, investors, the media, and of course, the general public. Now, the relevance of all of this why this is so important, I think I'm making that point is, in my experience, what happens is if you haven't got a plan, you know, you haven't even thought about it, because a lot of businesses especially SMEs, and certain individuals haven't thought about this or or you know, our reputation is important, so on, but don't ever think of what happens if things go the wrong way. And in my experience, what you want to do is buy an umbrella before it starts raining. Because the moment it starts raining, you're gonna have to really rush quickly to get yourself out of that storm, otherwise, you're gonna get drenched. And that's what normally happens without a plan. So having a plan is better than having no plan. That's why it's essential. It's what I would call is part of your insurance policy. So now we give you a few tips on managing a reputation prices. So we go into the house now. So first develop a crisis management plan, and identify potential risks and create a plan to mitigate them. The plan should include clear roles and responsibilities, communication strategies and procedures for responding to a crisis. What's important here is that you have somebody that understands this. Now, this is essential, unless you're in fed real world lived experience, there's no way you can handle this, even if you're a good talking head for television. Because if a smart journalists response, they're by asking you questions that really a lot deeper than any superficial aspect of questioning, then you're going to potentially be in trouble. And then what happens is, of course, you create a processional effect, right? On the on the damage, it gets worse than the original. So you don't want to go down there, okay, you want to be experiencing what you're doing somebody that communicates effectively, clearly, succinctly, and also has the confidence to deal with tough questions. And of course, if you haven't got all the answers, that's fine, you can always come back, but at least you gotta have the foundations right. My second tip is to monitor the potential crisis. Now, what that means is they belligerent for potential issues that could harm your reputation, such as negative publicity, you know, legal, or regulatory issues, or product failures. For business, also an individual also, it's, you know, not paying your debts on time, okay, and something that could definitely become a problem down the track. Also, issues like that, all you want to be conscious about because reputation, challenges and reputation damage can also be done privately, when exactly, you don't pay your bills on time. And of course, you start to get a bad reputation, that you're also somebody that avoids responsibility. So this is also another form of reputation, or there could be more what I would call his COVID account, you've got to be aware of all of this. 

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So you know, the intention here is do the right thing, set up your foundations, and of course, have a plan in place. Because if you're gonna get into trouble, and I get it, you know, life business does bring up challenges. And at least you can deal with it. Keep an eye on social media, obviously. And of course, news outlets and other sources to stay informed. Of course, Google Alerts is a good start with that Google LEDs will also tell you specifically, there is problems, but particularly with your name, or definitely your business. And of course, you will alert you that you know, this news certainly being written about you and then you can deal with it. Because without that, I've met a lot of individuals and businesses, and they've actually didn't realize there was a crisis to 24 hours later, what that does is really puts you in the backfoot. And of course, then you have to sort of work behind the Blackboard. So my next tip is to assess the situation, if a crisis does occur, assess the situation determine the scope of the issue. Now the potential impact of your reputation, and also the appropriate response. Because not everything is life or death. But sometimes it could be okay, that's why it's important to get on the front foot, Get really clear what it is. And also, you know, start to wire it up, what happens if this happens, what happens if that happens, and and of course, for the appropriate response to that, it's all about communicating directly to your audience as best as you can. And you want to have the power to do that. Because if you allow, for instance, the media to do that with you with that your input, they're gonna definitely promote, or certainly create, you know, the situation and news that really is more their agenda than yours. So you're gonna get on the front foot. And I think that's just smart business. My fourth tip is to respond quickly and effectively. Yes, the MME urgency is everything here. And I mentioned before and the 24 hours late response, that's not a disaster, but it can be, certainly can be if it's a serious issue, and you're not aware about it. Now, once you have assessed the situation, respond quickly and effectively. I've noted that already, this may involve, you know, issuing a public statement, apologizing for any harm caused and taking corrective action. I'm going to give you a big tip here. Now for a lot of companies that lawyers would be involved with corporate affairs and so on, in my experience with a lot of SMEs, you know, saying sorry, or as an individual actually gives you power. Of course, you're gonna be conscious there, because lawyers, of course, would recommend never say sorry, and bad experiences with that, by never, never having the courage to say, look, I stuffed up, I apologize, you know, I'm really sorry, could have stopped a situation could have stopped that particular case that actually blew up out of proportion. And of course, in my experience, knowing some of the businesses they actually went bankrupt. 

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So it's very important that you get the right advice for people that have your interests at mind here as opposed to expanding their business model. And you know, and I'm not joking when I say this, and I have a lot As a lawyer friends, of course, I do a lot of work for legal companies, I know what I'm talking about. And of course, privately, a lot of my lawyer friends agree with me that at times, they have been also part of the problem by making it a bigger issue than it was. So understanding communications is the key here, not playing political games, or gay certainly being politically savvy by not playing games, the next thing you should do is also communicate with stakeholders. I know that that earlier, but this also includes your customers, obviously, your employees, your team members, your partners, definitely investors and all the vendors to keep them informed of the situation and your response. Because remember, if you don't, they will create their own impression in the minds. It's a perception management guide. So be transparent and honest in your communication, have the courage to reach out specifically and note to them, you know, that, okay, we could have done things differently was that a back control, but we will definitely get this back under our leadership. And this is important, because then of course, you're promoting confidence. And this is the name of the game. And my last tip is to monitor the situation. Now, you can also access monitoring tools for support to do this, after responding to a crisis, you know, monitor the situation to ensure the issue has been resolved, and that your reputation is not further damaged. In my experience, yes, reputations that add damage over time can be rebuilt, we have a lot of evidence that that's possible. But my approach is always have a plan in the first place where hopefully you don't have to do that. Because when you have to repair, it normally cost you a lot more in resources, energy, and of course, reputation damage, that really has a price to it, whichever way you look at it. So finally, it's about learning about the experience here. And it's interesting, because we do a lot of things in life. At times, it's okay to make mistakes. We've discussed this before. But it's essential that you self reflect and see what went well, what didn't go well. And probably that's more important than what went well. And of course, how can you can do it better next time. So it's using the crisis as a learning experience some way using this learning experience to refine your crisis management plan, and improve your response to future crisis. If you can do that, then most likely, you'll be able to avert as much as possible. 

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Now, let me give you a real life example. In 2016, Samsung by a major crisis when its Galaxy, Note seven devices started bursting into flames. Now, despite an exchange program to replace the faulty phones, the replacements had the same problem. Can you believe that? Resulting in a recall of over 2 million devices and an estimated cost to the company of $5.3 billion? So sang sung had to basically think what are we going to do now. So what they did was as part of that, of course, is an ongoing part of the plan was to investigate the cause of the issue, set up a new test lab. So you can imagine what that costs them, and design an eight point battery safety system, see, you know, and this is the thing, it became a safety system. So this is a far now, that also has a safety system included. However, despite the crisis, Samson's reputation remained intact. Now, part of that is of course, it's a large international brand, it's a conglomerate has a lot of reputation, currency. And of course, we know historically, that from a customer service point of view part of their brand, they normally dealt with things very quickly. So unlikely, due to the company's positive brand reputation. Samsung then released the Galaxy Note in 2017, which reportedly broke sales records. Now, this is the key here, right? So because they fix that, and they play the long game, as opposed to the short, quick money gain, I get that a lot. You know, businesses at times play because they have to survive, or whatever other reason, get, they regain the market. And of course, even better. So smart business and leaders know that proactive in their planning, proactive in their way of being is a scenario that they need to follow, certainly on a daily basis, but definitely have a crisis. And when they are that they're ready to face any challenge that might be presented to them. So think about, you know, in our own lives, okay, well, you have a plan, at least, it doesn't always go exactly to the rule of the law, but at least you've got something you've got a bit of a roadmap. So if you want to get from A to B, you need some sort of roadmap, right? Otherwise, you're gonna go all over the place. So that's exactly what happens in the crisis management if you haven't got the plan in place, and then of course, the right personnel to deal with that, because the human element here is a very important part. Out of what we're talking about. So it is important to note that each crisis is unique and may require specific actions tailored to the situation. However, having a solid reputation management plan in place, of course can help ensure that you're prepared to respond effectively to any potential crisis. Sorry, tapping three things. A crisis can erode the public's trust in you and your company. 

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Crisis Management can help you to maintain the public's trust in you and your company. And not only the public's trust, but of course, your internal trust from an internal comms point of view your team members, okay, your board or your leadership team, etc. And of course, crisis management is a vital part of any leaders and company's reputation management strategy. And as I noted earlier, it's your insurance policy in case so what I want to do is thank you for listening today. I hope you found this episode valuable. I keep on reminding you we're subjects that we run in different ways throughout the year. And of course, this is an area that I think needs constant reminding because people only deal with them when it becomes a problem. If key here is to build reputation before it becomes a problem. So don't forget to rate us on Apple podcasts and subscribe for more valuable content. Thank you again for tuning in. I look forward to providing you with more valuable insights next week. Cheers.

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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass" Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world. To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops, please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.