EP59: Crisis Communication and Executive Presence: A PR Strategist's Honest Guide for Leaders
episode
Speaker Dynamics | Leadership, Communication & Public Speaking
35 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Why is crisis communication actually a leadership problem?
So as a leader, when crisis hits, what is your natural inclination? Do you try to just get out in front of it, or do you try to stick your head in the sand and just hope it all goes away? If you are wondering what the right tactic is, I have somebody with the answers today on the show. Her name is Lee Carriher, and I'm going to tell you how she coins herself. She says she's a communication strategist, CEO, author, and professional, straight talker. And I certainly experienced that today in our conversation. She provides some excellent tips that can help you to be able to figure out the right path forward whenever you. You are in the middle of the maelstrom in the center of controversy. It's conversation that you really want to listen from start to finish.
I already will tell you in advance it goes a little bit long, but it's worth it. So stay tuned. Hi, I'm Karen Reed. I'm a four-time author, Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, and communication expert on helping people to own the room, whether it be a physical one or a virtual one. Welcome to Speaker Dynamics.
Okay, so Lee, I actually hit record before asking you the proper pronunciation of your last name. I would say is it care? Yeah, and I'm I'm actually I'm keeping this in because I know, right? Authenticity is what I pride myself on in this podcast. But I'm really uh excited to have this conversation with you because uh having worked in in media for many, many, many years, it would be people who Who uh were from your industry, uh, you know, public relations, uh, who would frustrate the heck out of me because I'm like getting in my way. Because I'm like Like, can I just do my job? But you know, now that I am working, you know, on the other side of it, I certainly recognize those who do it well. Uh and you know, even though I do some media training, mostly my work is in executive presence and uh powerful presentations.
And I love to talk to people who have made quite a mark in the PR world. So let's clue our our audience into who you are and a bit of your origin story. So how did you get to be where you are today?
Oh my gosh. We don't have enough time to talk about that. However, so my today I uh I I started my company Double Forte twenty-four years ago in San Francisco because and I'm an accidental entrepreneur because I um at that time my mom got sick and I could not be in two places at one time. And at that time, twenty-four years ago, you could not work remotely in the in the chief communications officer job. It just wasn't A, there weren't that many CCOs and B, you could not be remote.
Yep.
And I was gonna be with my mother. So um I she was supposed to live for like six months. She ended up living like four years.
Oh my god.
So by the end of that four years, Karen, I was totally unemployable because um I was like just working for people I wanted to work for. Yeah, yeah. And when you're in big agency, you don't get that choice. So um but that I started uh NPR out of college because my friend Ramona who um I didn't know what the heck to do. I have a medieval history degree. It's very useful.
Who is Lee Caraher and what does Double Forte specialize in?
I can talk about that later. Yeah. But I did not want to pursue a PhD in history. So like, what am I gonna do? And my friend Ramona said, I think you should try PR. And I'm like, what the heck's PR? So literally there's a book, What is PR? And it was right next to the book, What is Advertising in college. And I like read it. I'm like, oh, that sounds like me. So that's what really I'm like I had to get a job. And so um I moved to Boston 'cause I thought to be an agencies a bit over internal was really important. Agencies are built to promote, built to train, built to advance a career, internal communications is not that. So at that time I'd moved grown up on the East Coast, Boston and Providence. And so I moved to Boston to be in PR.
And um and I was really good at it. Yeah. And I liked it. And so um ultimately it was in Boston agencies and I went to A LA and agencies. And then I got s hired in-house to one of my clients, Sega of America the video game company where I was sort of that C CO role.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why is crisis communication actually a leadership problem?
0:00–3:19
2
Who is Lee Caraher and what does Double Forte specialize in?
3:19–8:15
3
What different types of crises can leaders actually control?
8:15–12:31
4
Why does transparency work as the best crisis‑management strategy?
12:31–14:37
5
How can leaders balance moving fast with moving smart during a crisis?
14:37–19:03
6
What is the four‑step framework for effective crisis response?
19:03–24:09
7
What lessons does the SEGA case study teach about crisis handling?
24:09–32:11
8
What red flags should I watch for when hiring a crisis‑communications firm?
32:11–35:33
Speakers
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