The NY Times published a provocative article today about the world of crisis management.  In the article, recent attempts at crisis management with BP, Toyota, and Goldman-Sachs were reviewed and critiqued as to their overall effectiveness.  It's a worthwhile read and fairly accurate as to how effective a crisis management campaign can be in averting or limiting the damage of a crisis.

In my opinion, the most important aspect of the Times' article concerns their recognition of the role integrity plays in crisis management.  It should be an easy formula to follow-tell the truth, especially the bad news up front.  Get it all out there and accept responsibility.  This is the most important aspect of any crisis management plan.  However, that plan depends upon the company's or individual's history of truth telling.  In other words, it comes down to integrity.  It's a pretty simple formula.  Be honest, own mistakes, admit responsibility for failures and the public will normally be more apt to forgive.  The classic example is the 1980's Tylenol contamination case.  As in all other human affairs an honest reputation will usually weather the storm. 

On the other hand, if there is no history of truth telling, very little can be done to weather a public relations storm.  There is no substitute, no antidote to get around this. 

In the end, integrity and honesty are the best components of any crisis management plan.  There are no substitutes. 

In the span of the last 24 hours we've witnessed three one-act plays in human drama, damnation, reconciliation and forgiveness.  And it all happened in the context of Major League Baseball.  The first one-act play involved a young Venezuelan pitcher who should be celebrating an historic perfect game today.  Instead, he has to be content with a one hit shutout courtesy of a missed call by the umpire.  Gallaraga's reaction?  A smile. He didn't bump the ump.  He didn't curse him. He didn't trash him in the media.  No, the day after he comes out to the ballfield, shakes the ump's hand and is gracious.  That's greatness and class that no perfect game can match.  Kudos to Armando Gallaraga. 

The second one-act play involves grisly Jim Leyland, the chain smoking manager of the Detroit Tigers (who's brother is a Catholic priest).  Leyland gives the ump hell after he obviously blew the call that would've assured his pitcher a perfect game.  The next day, Leyland leads the charge in imploring Detroit fans to forgive a remorseful umpire Jim Joyce.  Joyce, who'd admitted he blew the call, must have talked to Leyland after the game and realized what he'd done.  Leyland, in response, decides to send Gallaraga out the next day to exchange lineup cards with the same ump who'd denied him a perfect game! 

The third one-act play involves the umpire, poor Jim Joyce.  After reviewing videotape of his ninth inning, two-out call, he immediately admitted he was wrong and cost "this kid a perfect game".  He did it with humility and heart-wrenching sorrow.  What a classy man.  He was wrong, admitted it and went to Gallaraga after the game and apologized.  Perhaps Joyce should run for political office.  He has the type of integrity sorely lacking in most of our elected officials. 

Finally, watching today's video of Joyce and Gallaraga meeting at home plate was heart wrenching.  You could see Jim Leyland standing on the top step of the dugout clapping.  What a testament to baseball.  What a testament to these three men who showed class and dignity in the face of a horrible mistake.  What a great game we have!

As more Toyota recalls mount, Toyota executives are making crucial public relations mistakes.  Akio Toyoda, Toyota Motor Corp.'s top official and grandson of the company's founder, brushed aside calls for him to appear personally in Washington DC to answer Congressional questions about the recalls.  Making matters worse, his body language was stiff and his tone appeared defensive (although he spoke in Japanese so who really knows.)  His press appearance this morning was a disaster. 

Instead of being perceived as a take charge leader who's willing to travel to Congress to take the heat and guarantee that defects concerning his cars will be resolved, he's sending an "underling", the head of Toyota's operations in North America.  I don't think it helped that he conducted the entire press gaggle in Japanese. 

Now, some will say I'm not being fair to the beleaguered Japanese leader. It's probably true that his head of North American operations is more qualified to speak to Congress about the nuts and bolts of the recalls.  It may also be true that Mr. Toyoda doesn't speak any English.  However, that's not the point.  As president of Toyota Corp., Toyoda's actions are symbolically and perceptually important.  In moments of crisis, leaders must inspire confidence by their actions and their words. 

A recent example may serve to illustrate my point.  After the State of the Union address, President Obama went to the Republican retreat and met with them to discuss how to resolve differences and overcome partisan rancor.  Was anything of substance accomplished by President Obama's actions?  Probably not.  However, the move signaled a willingness on the part of the Administration that the President was serious and believed in the importance of bipartisanship.

Similarly, if Mr. Toyoda wanted to instill consumer confidence in his product and assure Congress that he would ensure the recall issues would be resolved and that Toyota is a good, quality product, he should have gone to Washington.  He even could have thrown in a few words in English during today's presser.

The time is now. Right now.  Toyota must come clean about any quality control problems or manufacturing issues it's had over the past few years.  Toyota shouldn't wait for a Congressional inquiry or a Transportation Safety Board Review, it has to tell the public of its shortcomings right now.  Otherwise, it faces a huge problem recapturing its place as the nation's most popular car company. 

It's not easy to make this move.  In fact, it's painful.  Yet, it's better if the bad news comes from Toyota execs.  The public is wondering and waiting.  As each day passes, public confidence in the company slips.  It's better to get the bad news out there before anyone else does it for them.  This is a basic public relations principle that is too often ignored by politicians, companies, and media personalities.  Speak before you are spoken for!  It's that simple. 

There are a few different ways to get your business active online such as advertisements, social profiles, and blogs. One thing you cannot afford to ignore is Facebook. This social networking site has taken the Internet as well as personal relationships to a place we only imagined during the MySpace phase. The smart viral marketing techniques for people, businesses, musicians, television shows, brands, and others have brought millions of people together from all over the world. But why should your business get involved? And how should you do it?

 For starters, DO get a Facebook Page; DON’T get a Facebook Profile. The water is already murky for businesses on Facebook, so it is best to keep your business on the professional side of things. You can have a personal profile or a professional profile for individuals, but when it comes to Facebook for your business, you want to create a Page. The biggest differences between the two are that profiles have “friends” while pages have “fans.” You can have an unlimited number of fans of your page, but only 5,000 friends on your profile.

 DO post your company’s logo as the main picture; DON’T post personal pictures. If you have group shots of company gatherings, luncheons, and seminars, you can add them to your page, but do not use them as your main picture. The main picture should be your company’s logo. This increases brand recognition. Whether you are selling a service or a product, just having your logo visible to potential customers can increase your sales. If they happen to recognize your logo when they are searching for something in your industry, they are much more likely to trust you because your company already seems familiar.

 DO take advantage of appropriate Facebook applications; DON’T install applications that are anything like Farmville or Mafia Wars. Luckily, when you create a page, you are unlikely to get invitations for some of these more ridiculous applications, but there are plenty of other ones out there. Take heed whenever installing applications because almost all of your actions are posted to your fans’ newsfeeds. While this can be very beneficial for your viral marketing, it can have negative effects if you do not keep it professional. There are plenty of appropriate applications for business pages on Facebook that you can use to stay connected.

 DO publish articles, videos and links to your wall; DON’T post unprofessional or borderline inappropriate articles, videos and links to your wall. You can post news stories, how-to videos, and information about new products and services, but do not take it much further than that. Avoid anything that is humorous or interesting at the expense of others, and unless your business is adamantly liberal or conservative, you want to remain out of the political realm altogether.

 There are plenty of businesses that have been able to take advantage of the various benefits of Facebook. Some companies’ Facebook pages have creative tricks, links, and games to promote new products, and whenever a fan takes part, they help the business through viral marketing. Even if you do not consider yourself Facebook savvy, be sure to create a page for your company and remain as active as you can. You may be surprised by the results.

 This guest post was written by Ryan Frank, an avid blogger and Internet marketing enthusiast living in San Diego, CA. Ryan currently works for BestRank.com, a San Diego Web Design firm