When a former Penn State University football coach was accused earlier of this week of sexually molesting numerous boys over the past several years, the school found itself engulfed in the biggest crisis in its history.
The first statements from school officials were dreadful. By the end of the week, the University finally got itself on firmer footing.
In this video, I’ll break down three statements released by University leaders – one ugly, one bad, and one good. The statements serve as great lessons to all communicators who find themselves in crisis – so think about how you would apply these lessons if your organization suddenly finds itself in the media spotlight.
(If you haven’t been following this story, you can catch up by reading my two previous posts here and here.)
November 13th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Excellent post, Brad. It will be interesting to see how the entire situation unfolds over time, and if the university will continue to learn from its previous mistakes.
John
November 13th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
SmART post, Brad! The ART here is the union of attentive words with corrective actions by the Board. Words matter, they speak loudly! Actions adjust.
November 15th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
Great post – you took the words out of my mouth, actually. Sometimes the “good, the bad and the ugly” get overused, but you did it in just the right way; thanks. Let’s see what happens next…