Alan Griggs Crisis Communication Final

Megan Barry:

Former Nashville Mayor, resigned after sex scandal with her head of security and was found to have embezzled $11,000

Her son died of an overdose a few months before the scandal

Leaker:

Anonymous source that reveals internal details of a crisis to the public

How to deal with leakers:

Do not pursue them until the crisis is solved. After, you can take legal action

Public Trust:

The public puts trust in the officials they elect to do the right thing

Affairs involving political officials:

Bad even if they are consensual

Recall creep:

Slowly recall product to cover-up bigger scale crisis (example: Blue Bell ice cream)

Slow bleed:

Multiple unsolved crises build up causing a company to "bleed out" (example: Kingston coal ash spill)

Crisis team:

Group of key employees in your company from different departments to take leadership during a crisis to execute your crisis plan

Crisis team example:

Executive, business operations manager, PR spokesperson, legal counsel, HR representative

Kingston Fossil Plant Coal Fly Ash Spill:

Dec. 22, 2008 (Largest industrial disaster in the U.S.)

Dike failure caused coal ash to seep into Swan Pond and eventually to the Emory River and Mississippi River contaminating the water in Tennessee and beyond. The coal sludge destroyed the town of Kingston

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA):

Federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia

Jacobs Engineering:

Employed by TVA to clean up Kingston coal spill--the workers were unprepared and uninformed of the danger of coal ash. Caused many workers and families to have health problems including terminal lung and brain cancer

Perry County, AL:

Poor, 90% black community, TVA paid Perry County to store the cleaned up Kingston coal ash, which caused cancer and other health problems

TVA-Kingston Coal ash spill crises breakdown:

Crisis 1: Coal spill into waterways
Crisis 2: Jacobs Engineering employees inadequately prepared during clean up
Crisis 3: Leftover coal ash sent to Perry County

Bridge your agenda:

Always have a mental goal in every interaction with the press to structure your answers to their questions

PG&E:

Pacific Gas & Electric Company, provides natural gas and electric service to residential and business customers in northern and central California

Hinckley California groundwater crisis:

PG&E dumped water contaminated with Chromium 6 into unlined ponds which seeped into the groundwater causing health problems and cancer in Hinckley residents. PG&E tried to cover this crisis up

Erin Brockovich:

Flamboyant legal clerk, helped Edward L. Masry to build a case for Hinckley residents against PG&E

Bill Johnson:

Former CEO of TVA (during Kingston spill) became CEO of PG&E during the Camp Fire crisis

Camp Fire crisis:

Paradise, CA, 2018
Frayed power lines caused massive fires in the California desert

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill:

March 24th, 1989 (second largest oil spill in history)
Exxon Valdez oil tanker hit a reef off Alaska and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil which destroyed the ecosystem of Prince William Sound, Alaska

National Transportation Safety Board:

Conducts investigations on transportation accidents, investigated Exxon Valdez spill

NTSB found...

-3rd mate Gregory Cousins failed to maneuver the boat
-Captain Hazelwood didn't supervise navigation
-Exxon didn't give crew proper rest
-U.S. Coast Guard had a bad boat traffic system

Joseph Hazelwood:

Captain of the Exxon Valdez

Lawrence Rawl:

CEO of Exxon in 1989, the biggest company in the world

Exxon crisis response failure:

-CEO Rawl disliked publicity and the media
-CEO Rawl never went to the spill site
-Ineffective use of media
-Delayed response, finger pointed fault
-Delayed apology
-Did not show care for community or environment
-Lack of adequate clean up equipment

CEO in a crisis:

Almost certainly will lose their jobs no matter what, it's important to take responsibility for the crisis you created and fix it

Deepwater Horizon Crisis:

April 2010, Gulf of Mexico (largest oil spill in history)
BP oil rig exploded killing 11 and severely injuring 17. Caused oil to pump out at about 60,000 gallons per day

British Petroleum (BP):

UK company owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, responsible for the spill

Tony Hayward:

Former CEO of BP during Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Had a terrible crisis response

BP crisis response failure:

-No PR strategy
-BP lied about the severity of the spill
-Arrogant
-"Business as usual" mindset
-Took 3 months to cap the oil well
-CEO used inappropriate words and actions

3 key messages in a crisis:

1.) We are accountable
2.) We are concerned
3.) We have a plan for what to do

Elon Musk:

CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, Giga Factories, Boring Co., Optimus Robots, Nerualink...

Tailhook Crisis:

Sept. 5-8 1991, Las Vegas
Military aviation officers sexually assaulted 83 women, 7 men at the 35th Annual Tailhook Association Symposium at the Las Vegas Hilton ("the gauntlet")

Marc Grossman:

Senior VP of Hilton Las Vegas during Tailhook crisis (guest speaker)

John Fitzgerald:

President of Hilton Las Vegas during Tailhook crisis

Tailhook Association:

U.S.-based non-profit organization supporting the interests of sea-based aviation

Barron Hilton:

Son of the founder of Hilton Hotels: Conrad Hilton. Had a close relationship with the Tailhook Association

Lt. Paula Coughlin:

Whistleblower of the Tailhook crisis, sued Hilton for the money

Sam Donaldson:

Aggressive investigative journalist for ABC News, did a story about the Tailhook crisis

Lessons Marc Grossman learned from handling the Tailhook crisis:

-Don't speculate with reporters, stick with the facts you know to be true
-Lawyers want you to say nothing, PR wants you to say everything, find a balance
-If you can't comment, say that, but always explain why
-In a crisis, limit the number of people who are speaking to the media/public
-Press conferences are usually a no-go
-Demonstrate concern not responsibility
-Get ahead of the story, no drips or slow bleeds

Norfolk Southern settlement update:

4/10/24
Settled one derailment suit with the community for $600 million, with many other lawsuits still pending

Ford + Firestone crisis:

1990s
Hundreds of people died in automobile crashes caused by the failure of Firestone tires installed on light trucks and SUVs made by Ford (specifically the Ford Explorer)

Ford + Firestone pre-scandal relationship:

Long time partnership between two huge auto companies and their families

Ford + Firestone pre crisis failure:

-Ford Explorer had bad stability and was prone to flipping
-Ford put less tire pressure in the front tires on the Explorer which made blowouts more likely
-Tread separation in Firestone tires
-Ford engineers suggested changes to Explorer design, but nothing changed
-Ford + Firestone both knew about the faults, did nothing

Ford + Firestone crisis response failure:

-Tried to cover up tire failure
-Did not work together
-Finger pointed at each other instead of solving crisis
-Ended 100+ year relationship with each other

Ford + Firestone crisis outcomes:

-Stricter tire testing
-More involved testing
-Harsher penalties for auto companies
-Electronic stability control system invented

Griggs quote:

"If there's a lot of finger-pointing, there is almost certainly a cover-up--journalists, that means a juicy story."

Flint Water crisis:

Michigan, 2014
Flint Michigan switched water supply from Lake Huron to Flint River to save money, the river was contaminated and caused health problems and deaths in Flint

Flint Michigan crisis response failure:

-Switched water because it was cheaper
-Officials tried to cover it up, then downplay the severity
-Took years to fix problem, change water supply
-Elected officials betrayed the Public Trust

Volkswagen Emissions scandal:

2008-2015
VW created "clean" diesel engines that emitted 40x accepted levels of nitrogen oxides, programmed software to cheat testing. 59+ deaths, caused health problems in many more, tested their product on live monkeys

VW crisis response failure:

-Company finger-pointed, blamed conspiracy on mid level engineers and managers