Communicating Under Fire: The Mindset to Survive Any Crisis and Emerge Stronger by Dallas Lawrence

Amazon.com

The crisis communications survival guide.

Anyone who promises a “blueprint” for managing a crisis today is, frankly, lying. Blueprints might have worked in the 24/7 news cycle of the 1990s and early 2000s, but in today’s 1440 news cycle—when every minute counts—the flames of crisis fires rage too quickly for the old ways of thinking.

In his over twenty year–career leading crisis communications for governments and organizations across the globe, Dallas Lawrence has seen it all. His work has taken him from the communications headquarters for the Iraq War to Yemen in an effort to avert the Yemeni Civil War, from the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facilities in Cuba to the Horn of Africa’s command center for anti-pirating activities. Lawrence has helped manage crisis responses for nuclear disasters, celebrity scandals, the Boston Marathon bombing, the collapse of Wall Street, the Boy Scout sexual assault crisis, data breaches, cancel culture, and more.

The need to be prepared for the rigors of a reputational assault have never been greater, thanks to:

Anyone now being capable of wielding a global platform to swing at their favorite punching bag

Every news outlet circulating updates that just five years ago would never have made the editorial cut

Political leaders using their bully pulpits to attack everyone, from the media to private companies and high profile individuals

Communicating Under Fire provides the desperately needed mindset, strategies, and communication moves that anyone with a reputation worth defending will need when—not if—their crisis moment arrives.

About the author

Dallas Lawrence is a globally recognized crisis and reputation management expert who brings a unique perspective to the crisis world, having served in the highest levels of the political, government, and corporate worlds. Today, he serves as an advisor to multiple technology companies and executives, in addition to serving as an on-air contributor for Fox Business and Bloomberg TV on the changing media landscape.

In his over 20-year-career leading crisis communications for governments and organizations large and small across the globe, Dallas Lawrence has seen it all. His work has taken him from the communications headquarters for the Iraq War to Yemen in an effort to avert the Yemini Civil War, to the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facilities in Cuba, and to The Horn of Africa’s command center for anti-pirating activities. Lawrence has helped manage crisis responses for nuclear disasters, celebrity scandals, the Boston terror bombing, the collapse of Wall Street, the Boy Scout sexual assault crisis, data breaches, and cancel culture.

He has served as the chief communications officer for two of the fastest growing technology companies in the world and as the chief global digital strategist for the world’s largest public relations agency. He has shaped the highest profile PR battles in the media and entertainment space for Roku and helped to define the future of crisis engagement in the new streaming landscape.

During more than a decade spent in Washington, DC, Lawrence served in the executive branch of government as a member of President Bush’s communications team as the director of Public Liaison for the United States Department of Defense for Secretaries Rumsfeld and Gates. He accepted a further assignment from the President in 2004 to Baghdad, Iraq where he served as a White House spokesperson for the US Ambassador and the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Lawrence was previously a commissioned public affairs officer in the United States Navy with service aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier and the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, the USS Nebraska. As a Naval officer, Dallas helped lead the crisis communications component of the War Games capstone exercises for the Unite...