Invincible Brand with Melissa Agnes

Connection is at the heart of any good crisis communication strategy.  

However, we’ve all seen leaders attempt to connect with their audience with all the right words, and yet something feels… off. 

While a Crisis Ready Hindrance is often blocking that connection, understanding near and far emotional enemies is a powerful tool to help you overcome those Hindrances to resonate and connect in meaningful ways.  

Within this podcast, which is the audio version of a recent Crisis Ready blog post, Melissa Agnes explores how near and far enemies give leaders and crisis communicators the language to better understand why some attempts at emotional connection fall flat, and to better resonate with stakeholders in critical moments.

Links:

➡️  The whole article can be found here, on the Crisis Ready Blog.

➡️  If this message resonates with you and you'd like to truly master the art of crisis communication and leadership, enrol in our Crisis Ready® Course, which is the first step in becoming certified in crisis comms.

Make no mistake: AI absolutely will affect crisis communication — and crisis in general, for that matter. Recently, my friend and the queen of PR herself, Gini Deitrich said something that got me thinking about predictive AI even further: Could AI predict the emotional escalation of a crisis… before it begins to happen? This episode explores this concept and what it could mean for the crisis communication industry.

This is the audio recording of a blog post, written and narrated by Melissa Agnes, and published to CrisisReadyInstitute.com.

is the powerful differentiator from your competitors, lends to the emotional connection you build with your stakeholders, and can ultimately make or break your brand’s invincibility.

Author and Customer Retention Expert, Joey Coleman, joins the Invincible Brand Podcast to discuss strategic ways to foster a culture whereby increased customer retention leads to brand advocacy, business resiliency, and ultimately, brand invincibility.

Studies show that 20% – 70% of your new customers will likely decide to stop doing business with you before they reach the 100-day mark. Meanwhile, if you can retain 5% of your customers who would otherwise stop doing business with you, you can increase your profits by 25% – 100%.

In his work as an author, keynote speaker, and consultant, Joey Coleman helps organizations strengthen the relationships they share with their customers and clients, with the goal of building long-lasting, emotionally connected relationships. In this discussion, Joey shares some of the specific steps he takes to achieve this. The strategies and insights he shares apply to all entities, whether in the public or private sector.

• Interesting ways that working with the CIA has shaped Joey’s leadership and how that mindset can be adapted for your organization.
• Strategic ways to raise important points with leadership and gain buy-in for cultural improvement and evolution.
• How focusing on the customer experience makes team members’ jobs easier and speaks directly to the bottom line in substantial ways.
• Real world examples, stories, and tactical strategies that can be applied to your organization.

• Pick up a copy of Joey’s book, Never Lose a Customer Again
• The podcast with Mountain View Police Department: How To Get Ahead Of A Crisis When You’re Already Behind – Invincible Brand Podcast

• Interested in working with Joey? Learn more here: joeycoleman.com

In a world where distractions are thrown at us at every corner, Attention Expert, Neen James, joins the Invincible Brand Podcast to share techniques for being mindful and intentional about where you dedicate your attention, in a way that prioritizes the things that matter most to your business, your team, your stakeholders, and your career.

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and YouTube.

We live and work amongst an overload of distractions and requirements that pull us in every direction, in almost every moment. This can make it difficult to give dedicated and mindful attention to the things that matter most to us, both personally and professionally. And yet, when we give our attention to the right things, we give and receive an abundance of opportunity and rewards in a myriad of ways.

In this episode of the Invincible Brand Podcast, Neen James discusses what it means to be intentional with our attention and how it helps foster cultures of trust, resilience, and business and reputational rewards.

• The 3 ways people pay attention.
• The ways in which attention pays.
• Techniques to use attention to gain buy-in–and even progress your career.
• Cheat sheet: how to build processes that systemize your attention to strengthen relationships, progress your career, and foster the right kind of culture.

• Pick up a copy of Neen’s book, Attention Pays

• Check out the ways in which Neen helps leaders pay attention at neenjames.com
• Neen is fun to follow on Instagram!
• Connect with Need on LinkedIn

This month’s question comes from Natalia who asked some core questions that pertain to crisis management and crisis readiness, such as:

“What is crisis management and what does it mean to be a crisis management professional?”

“What are some of the most common mistakes organizations make in the midst of crises and issues?”

“What are some of the qualities and characteristics that lend to being great in this profession?”

… and a question that caught Melissa by surprise, but she loved: “What does she think of the show Scandal in the context of crisis management?”

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and YouTube.

• The Crisis Ready Model

Do you have a question you’d like Melissa to answer, and are you willing for that discussion to be recorded (in a way that respects your privacy and confidentiality)? If so, click here to set up some one-on-recorded-one time with Melissa and have your pertinent crisis ready questions answered.

Utility companies are no stranger to the multitude of challenges that present themselves in times of crisis. As a result, they have a ton of real-time crisis management experience that others can learn from. Alectra is one such organization.

With a 1,250 m2 (or 2,000 km2) service territory delivering power to approximately one million customers in Ontario, Canada, Alectra deals with issues and crises on a regular basis. In this episode, Blair Peberdy, Vice-President of Government and Corporate Relations at Alectra, joins the Invincible Brand Podcast to share the many crisis management lessons he has learned throughout his career.

It’s always great to learn from the mistakes, successes, and lessons learned by others—hopefully saving you from having to learn them the hard way. In this episode, Blair shares the structure behind Alectra’s crisis ready program, along with the many lessons the company has learned throughout its years of managing dozens of real-life and simulated incidents.

This episode provides a behind the scenes look at the different strategies and tactics that Alectra has implemented into its crisis ready program. These strategies and tactics continue to help the organization further strengthen its crisis ready culture, and the best part is that each of the lessons that Blair shares within this conversation are directly applicable to your organization and team.

• The multi-tiered prongs that facilitate Alectra’s crisis communication to its different key stakeholders.
• The structure of the company’s crisis management governance, including the different roles they’ve designed and how they ensure these roles are scalable with employee turnover and the growth of the company.
• The role that crisis simulations play in helping Alectra continuously strengthen its crisis ready program and its team’s skills.
• A look at Alectra’s post-crisis debriefing structure and processes.
• How social media has changed the crisis management landscape.

• Email Blair with any questions: [email protected]
• Learn more about Alectra at alectra.com

Humor Engineer, Drew Tarvin, joins the Invincible Brand Podcast to discuss how humor can be used to effectively help solve so many common workplace issues, such as a lack of employee engagement, stress management, communication issues, and much more.

Drew’s outlook on life and the way he helps organizations use humor to solve internal issues, build a stronger culture, and increase productivity is unique and effective. It also aligns with the crisis ready philosophy and mindset, providing another piece to building brand invincibility.

During this conversation, Drew shares how a humoristic outlook and application improves communication, helps build relationships, improves problem solving skills, increases productivity, and helps to strengthen leadership. And the best part, is that it is simple to implement whether you believe yourself to be a funny person or not!

This was not only a fun and interesting conversation, but it’s so applicable and offers so many advantages. Tune in, laugh a little, learn, and then pass it on. This is one of those conversations that applies to and offers something valuable to everyone!

• How to leverage humor to turn mundane tasks into amusing and productive moments.
• How to use the strategy of humor to highten meeting attendance and engagement.
• How being funny is a learnable skill… Drew even took me to do standup comedy and proved this to be right! (More on this story in the episode).
• The Don’ts of using humor in the interest of mitigating preventable risks for you and your organization.

• Check out Drew’s work: humorthatworks.com
• Watch Drew’s TedX Talk that has over 2.4 million views: The Skill of Humor
• Order and read Drew’s awesome book: The United States of Laughter: One Comedian’s Journey Through All 50 States
• Follow Drew on Twitter: @drewtarvin
• Connect with Drew on LinkedIn
• Subscribe to Drew’s videos on YouTube

Dr. Nick Morgan, author of Can You Hear Me?(amongst other great books) and founder of Public Words, joins the Invincible Brand Podcast to discuss the impacts that the virtual world have on internal teams and the conscious efforts and actions that leaders can take to mitigate the risks that these impacts present on company morale, team-building, and ultimately the organization’s culture and reputation.

Virtual communication deprives us of the emotional knowledge that helps us understand context. This presents risks to relationships with stakeholders–especially in regards to your internal teams and departments. In this episode, Nick Morgan explores new research that dives deeper into this reality, the challenges it presents to leaders and their teams, and provides strategic insight into how we can mitigate the risks that come along with this reality and build more connected teams and a stronger internal culture.

• New research and data that demonstrates the emotional impacts, voids, and effects that the virtual world presents.
• The way in which leadership can use this information to form stronger connections with their teams during conference calls, virtual meetings, email communications, and more.
• Helpful verbal and nonverbal cues to consciously deliver.
• Tips for creating trust in a virtual context.

• Pick up a copy of Nick’s new book, Can You Hear Me? How To Connect With People In A Virtual World.
• Nick’s book that I referenced at the beginning of the podcast, Power Cues

• Check out the great work Nick and his team do at Public Words
• Connect with Nick on LinkedIn

This month’s question comes from Bridget… and, in fact, Bridget had a handful of really great questions that Melissa got to provide responses to. Here’s a sampling of what these questions were:

“Is crisis management different from industry to industry?”

“What is the best way to manage controversial issues that spark heated emotion within a subset group of stakeholders?”

“Who should be a part of the issue management team, when an incident doesn’t need to escalate straight through to leadership?”

• Strategic ways to successfully manage controversial viral issues.
• The power of banking goodwill and trust prior to experiencing an issue or crisis.
• Strategies of response when your hands are tied and you are not legally able to share information.
• Where the crisis management nuances lie and how to be prepared for all forms of incidents.
• A look at how to make your crisis management governance structure scalable across all forms of issues and crises.

• Crisis Ready Issue Management Response Flowchart
• Crisis Ready Formula for Managing Controversies
• If you’re in Tavares Florida, check out Jones Brothers Seaplane Adventures!

Do you have a question you’d like me to answer, and are you willing for that discussion to be recorded (in a way that respects your privacy and confidentiality)? If so, click here to set up some one-on-recorded-one time with me.

Shashank Nigam, author of Soar and CEO of Simpliflying, joins the Invincible Brand Podcast to share some powerful strategies on how today’s leading airlines have managed to build sustainable trust – and how that serves them when undesirable incidents risk occurring.

The airline industry is tough. The risks are exponential; profit margins are difficult to maintain; the general public is critical, emotional, and has the ability to instil a world of impact on brand equity and reputation; regulatory compliance is strict and severe… and the list goes on. And yet, there are some airlines out there that just simply get it. These airlines continue to do phenomenal work in creating brands that deliver an experience and put people first, fostering a culture that aspires to achieve brand invincibility and works proactively towards this objective every day.

Fortunately for the rest of us, there are so many crisis ready lessons and strategies that can be taken from these airlines and adapted into your own organization, no matter its industry. In this week’s episode of the Invincible Brand Podcast, Shashank sat down with me to discuss the strategies, mindsets, and crisis management failures and successes that he has seen in his work with over 90 of these airlines over the past several years.

• What the strongest, most profitable, and beloved airlines have in common-and what you can learn from their success and strive for invincibility.
• Why achieving brand invincibility should be aspirational.
• How the CEO of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, single-handedly raised the bar for airline crisis management, and the important lessons you can learn from his decisions and actions.
• A fascinating example of how a stagnant crisis management plan hindered Thai Airways’s chance to effectively manage an issue.

• Order a copy of Soar
• More on Thai Airways’s issue management fail.
• Shashank’s daily show, Simpliflying Live

• Learn more about the great work that Simpliflying does.
• Connect with Shashank on LinkedIn
• Follow Simpliflying on Twitter: @Simpliflying