Tuesdays: 5:00pm - 6:00pm (EST)
EPISODE SUMMARY:
How can we address and recover from crisis? We must first learn to spot it well before it gets out of hand, then have the right resources to recover.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
Recognizing that crisis can happen at any time and preparing for it is a sign of sophisticated leadership. In this episode you will learn:
- The most common types of crises to land on the doorsteps of leaders -- and how to spot and mitigate them,
- The role effective leaders play in connecting employees, clients, and stakeholders in a crisis,
- The vital importance of creating a crisis readiness program that permeates the entire corporate culture.
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ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Stephanie Craig has built her reputation as a crisis expert by guiding some of the world’s most prominent people and organizations through their most trying moments. Combining her deep experience in politics, media and business, she mitigates crises, repairs reputations and inoculates against future reputation damage. In her career, Stephanie has guided media organizations, Fortune 50 tech companies and members of the House and Senate in the United States and Canada through some of their most trying days. She sharpened her crisis skills on several campaigns including three presidentials. She is a battleground specialist and likely the only person to have worked in both houses on Capitol Hill and Parliament Hill. Stephanie has counted former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, the mayor of the nation’s 10th largest city and some of the most notable global brands as clients. When not handling crises, Stephanie supports causes she cares about by helping to establish the groundbreaking group — I Am ALS and chairing the Force to End Harassment in Advocacy as an effort during the #Metoo movement.
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LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE:
www.gotowerscope.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigstephanie/
https://kith.co
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigstephanie/
https://kith.co
#CrisisManagement #TheHardSkills #Leadership
Dr. Mira Brancu welcomes crisis expert Stephanie Craig to explore how effective leaders prepare for, navigate, and recover from crises—emphasizing that reputation management is a vital and often overlooked aspect of organizational resilience. Craig shares personal stories and strategic frameworks, including the creation of core crisis teams and investing in crisis-readiness as hallmarks of sophisticated leadership. Leaders are reminded that ignoring crisis planning is not just risky—it undermines long-term organizational value, as reputation can account for up to 35% of a company’s worth.
Mira Brancu and Stephanie Craig delve into how personality, cultural background, and lived experience shape one’s ability to anticipate and respond to crises—and how leaders must build systems that support a shared understanding of what constitutes a crisis. Craig introduces the concept of strategic speed, which emerges from the combination of clarity (in values and stakeholders) and trust (in people, policies, and procedures), allowing organizations to respond swiftly and cohesively. They emphasize that misalignment between stated values and actual behavior is a common trigger for reputational crises, making internal consistency and stakeholder trust non-negotiable for sustainable leadership.
Stephanie Craig illustrates how crisis readiness is both a values-driven investment and a powerful trust-building tool, using real-world examples like a veteran-heavy company managing a payroll issue and Costco’s direct customer outreach during a food recall. She emphasizes that “strategic speed” isn’t about reacting quickly for its own sake but making thoughtful decisions in advance so that the right response happens fast when it counts. Together with Mira Brancu, they drive home that reputation is a critical, intangible asset—often held by stakeholders, not the organization—and must be actively protected with planning, consistency, and authentic care.
In this closing segment, Stephanie Craig explains that cultivating a crisis-ready culture requires breaking down organizational silos and building genuine cross-functional trust, where even informal touchpoints like a barbecue can foster critical communication. She emphasizes that in today's polarized and high-stakes environment, organizations must anchor themselves in clearly defined values and stay true to their stakeholders' expectations—even amid political or social pressure. By investing in preparedness, communication, and people, companies not only reduce harm but also deepen loyalty, protect reputation as a vital asset, and create cultures equipped to thrive through continuous disruption.
00:00:51.360 --> 00:01:00.920 Mira Brancu: Welcome back to the Hard Skills show, and I do not think I will ever get sick of hearing my own intro music. It just gets me going.
00:01:01.070 --> 00:01:21.710 Mira Brancu: So the hard skills show is where we take a deep dive into the most challenging soft skills required to navigate leadership, uncertainty, complexities and change. That's why it's called the hard skills. And it's for today and into the future. I'm your host, Dr. Mira Branku, psychologist, leadership, consultant and founder of towerscope.
00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:25.769 Mira Brancu: Now, what stories and messages
00:01:25.990 --> 00:01:30.930 Mira Brancu: do we pay attention to that? Guides, how we think about workplace, culture and safety.
00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:38.469 Mira Brancu: and what stories and behaviors must we let go of to create healthier workplaces.
00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:43.130 Mira Brancu: So today, we're really going to explore
00:01:43.500 --> 00:01:53.910 Mira Brancu: how we set up, how we see crisis, how we mitigate crisis, how we respond to crises, how we whether we are even able to spot it.
00:01:54.570 --> 00:01:56.469 Mira Brancu: and how we recover from it.
00:01:56.720 --> 00:02:01.589 Mira Brancu: and I honestly cannot think of a better focus
00:02:01.970 --> 00:02:19.709 Mira Brancu: for season, 7. Focus on navigating, unhealthy environments and also uncertainties. Right now we are navigating in a time of high uncertainty. Many crises. I feel like they're almost like right on top of each other.
00:02:19.990 --> 00:02:26.349 Mira Brancu: which I think is different then many of us are accustomed to even training for a crisis.
00:02:26.600 --> 00:02:31.740 Mira Brancu: So I'm super excited today to talk with you
00:02:32.020 --> 00:02:38.389 Mira Brancu: and share some of these ideas with a special guest who is the expert
00:02:38.600 --> 00:02:56.319 Mira Brancu: in addressing, spotting, mitigating crises, responding to crises. You know, even around your reputation around crises, all of these things. Right? So whether you're a leader managing a team, a coach simply trying to support your colleagues. This conversation is for you.
00:02:57.070 --> 00:02:59.510 Mira Brancu: and before we get started.
00:02:59.860 --> 00:03:06.280 Mira Brancu: this is also a reminder that our workshop, redefining and developing your leadership identity in 2025 is coming up.
00:03:07.066 --> 00:03:11.219 Mira Brancu: This is the final week to get the preferred pricing for it.
00:03:11.500 --> 00:03:39.089 Mira Brancu: and the workshop includes a leadership assessment. Several tools to help you explore how to apply your leadership, style and identity to current leadership decisions, transition people management. You can find that information all on the events. Page of my website. Www, dot go towerscope.com backslash events, or just go to gotowrascope.com go under resources, find events, and you'll find it there.
00:03:39.110 --> 00:03:44.209 Mira Brancu: Okay, let me introduce you to our guest. Stephanie Craig
00:03:44.420 --> 00:03:52.259 Mira Brancu: is a crisis management expert who has guided some of the world's most prominent people and organizations, including Fortune, 50 tech companies.
00:03:52.430 --> 00:03:56.500 Mira Brancu: members of the House and Senate in the United States and Canada.
00:03:56.790 --> 00:04:07.420 Mira Brancu: and former first, st Lady Rosalind Carter, through their most trying moments, combining her deep expertise in politics, in media, in business
00:04:07.570 --> 00:04:14.239 Mira Brancu: she mitigates crises, repairs, reputations, and inoculates against future reputation damage.
00:04:14.600 --> 00:04:20.790 Mira Brancu: So she is like the wraparound service for crisis management.
00:04:20.980 --> 00:04:28.480 Mira Brancu: She is also a battleground specialist, and likely the only person to have worked in both Houses on Capitol Hill and Parliament Hill.
00:04:28.760 --> 00:04:31.360 Mira Brancu: Super interesting. Can't wait to talk
00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:35.120 Mira Brancu: with her. Welcome and great to have you on the show. Stephanie.
00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:43.010 Stephanie Craig: Mira, I am so thrilled to be with you. It's I should take you with me everywhere, because that was a wonderful introduction. I really appreciate it.
00:04:43.450 --> 00:05:00.409 Mira Brancu: Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so you have worked in media. You've worked in lots of different sort of crisis management situations with politics, other industries. 1st of all, like, how did you get into this field? In the 1st place.
00:05:01.070 --> 00:05:12.490 Stephanie Craig: It's being calm in the middle of chaos is something I've always done. My mom used to say that I've been through every kind of natural disaster, except a tsunami.
00:05:12.490 --> 00:05:13.000 Mira Brancu: Wow!
00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:19.340 Stephanie Craig: And I do not choose to cross that one off the list. But I was born in the Canadian Arctic to.
00:05:19.340 --> 00:05:20.320 Mira Brancu: Hmm.
00:05:20.719 --> 00:05:24.710 Stephanie Craig: My dad was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and
00:05:25.110 --> 00:05:25.660 Mira Brancu: Cool.
00:05:25.660 --> 00:05:28.584 Stephanie Craig: You know, a lot of his job was was
00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:31.610 Stephanie Craig: hostage negotiation, to be quite frank and.
00:05:31.610 --> 00:05:32.460 Mira Brancu: Ow.
00:05:32.460 --> 00:05:36.441 Stephanie Craig: Is, comes, it comes naturally to me.
00:05:37.340 --> 00:06:04.449 Stephanie Craig: problem. Solving is something that I do well, which a lot of women in particular do very well is problem solving. And it just kind of happened that I graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1997. And if anyone Googles that I woke up to one of my sorority sisters, shaking my foot, saying, Hey, staff! Grand forks is flooded, universities canceled, and congratulations you just graduated.
00:06:05.280 --> 00:06:06.039 Mira Brancu: Oh, my! Gosh!
00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:28.849 Stephanie Craig: And so it, you know, just kind of flew from there. I was. My parents were in Canada, which was actually, oddly, directly north of the flooding river, and I ended up kind of driving my mom up the wall, and she said, There's a Federal election going on. Go figure out which party you belong to and go work.
00:06:29.420 --> 00:06:46.980 Stephanie Craig: And I've just learned so much from there fell in love with politics. And actually there's a real moment that stands out for me in that that experience is, I was working with a team that was supporting a very, very prominent member of Cabinet.
00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:59.899 Stephanie Craig: and if you're familiar with how Canada's politics works. It's, you know, Cabinet members also go back for reelection, and we were doing an event, and it was supposed to be a town hall with seniors.
00:07:00.390 --> 00:07:15.350 Stephanie Craig: and it was being run by this candidate's head of communications, and it started raining, which most seniors tend not to want to go out when it's raining, and we got word that this 65 person event.
00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:24.099 Stephanie Craig: about 8 people were coming. An entire caravan of media were going to be there.
00:07:24.430 --> 00:07:41.810 Stephanie Craig: And so this woman looks at me and she goes. Her name's Leslie. She goes, Stephanie, what kind of event are we having? And I'm 21 years old. I'm wearing pants that I've just bought because all my stuff had been flooded, and I was like a town hall. She goes. No, we're having a round table.
00:07:43.610 --> 00:07:47.750 Stephanie Craig: and I looked at her. She goes, go find a table.
00:07:47.930 --> 00:07:54.470 Stephanie Craig: and then we're going to. We're going to put all these chairs away, and we're going to have 10 chairs around the table, and we're going to have a conversation.
00:07:54.950 --> 00:07:55.460 Mira Brancu: Brilliant.
00:07:55.460 --> 00:08:03.739 Stephanie Craig: That was really my 1st example of being of being in the moment and saying, Okay, we need to fix this. And we need to fix this now.
00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:12.239 Mira Brancu: Yeah. Yeah. Pivoting brilliant assessment of the situation and quick pivoting right?
00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:13.030 Stephanie Craig: Oh, yeah.
00:08:14.190 --> 00:08:21.087 Mira Brancu: And also, I just realized I don't know if we're the same age, but we graduated same year.
00:08:21.450 --> 00:08:23.680 Stephanie Craig: Must have been a vintage year.
00:08:24.110 --> 00:08:25.960 Mira Brancu: It was the most important here.
00:08:25.960 --> 00:08:26.490 Stephanie Craig: Absolutely.
00:08:26.490 --> 00:08:33.539 Mira Brancu: So, yeah, okay, so this is really interesting. So your 1st experience with crisis management was around.
00:08:34.485 --> 00:08:42.530 Mira Brancu: Assessing that you had to pivot with an event, and still make it valuable and meaningful for the people who were attending.
00:08:43.130 --> 00:08:49.489 Stephanie Craig: And also you. You don't want the news story in the middle of a campaign that nobody showed up to your event.
00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:51.460 Mira Brancu: Right, right.
00:08:51.460 --> 00:09:02.580 Stephanie Craig: So I I'm not. Gonna you know. I'm not gonna snow you or or your viewers. That's probably more about what it was then. But you know it. Just I think it's
00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:17.399 Stephanie Craig: it's being able to look at a situation and figure out how to make it the most advantageous for everyone involved. So when you look at that particular incident, these seniors.
00:09:17.630 --> 00:09:27.439 Stephanie Craig: the the you know, the 8 or so that ventured out in this rainstorm got to sit down and have a conversation with one of the most powerful men in the world at that time.
00:09:27.780 --> 00:09:39.910 Stephanie Craig: and so it was beneficial for them. It was beneficial for the campaign, because they came to a great event. You know, the media came to a great event, and it was very beneficial for the
00:09:40.020 --> 00:09:46.979 Stephanie Craig: the Member of Parliament, and I'm I'm apologizing. I have some sniffles, so I'm going to have to to do the old lady thing.
00:09:48.010 --> 00:10:09.956 Mira Brancu: And it's all good, I mean. I was. I was telling Stephanie that such a complete professional that she's, you know, feeling under the weather, but she didn't want to leave us in the lurch. And here she is, you know, with the sniffles and everything. Still here. There's there's another crisis management story in there. I'm sure.
00:10:10.710 --> 00:10:22.869 Stephanie Craig: Well, just a funny little aside. I actually broke my leg about 10 years ago, and I was running external affairs for Trade Association, and we were doing a an announcement that went with the sun across the country.
00:10:23.010 --> 00:10:29.540 Stephanie Craig: and I ended up in the back of the ambulance on my phone trying to direct what was happening.
00:10:29.540 --> 00:10:30.060 Mira Brancu: Gosh!
00:10:30.060 --> 00:10:33.010 Stephanie Craig: So I I think I might be a little unhinged. I think.
00:10:34.450 --> 00:10:47.399 Mira Brancu: This is this is not you're like, this is nothing. So you say that recognizing that crisis can happen at any time and preparing for it is a sign of sophisticated leadership.
00:10:47.650 --> 00:10:52.010 Stephanie Craig: Why, most people, if you think about.
00:10:52.740 --> 00:10:58.539 Stephanie Craig: let's look at it. For from a perspective creating wills and funeral planning.
00:10:58.890 --> 00:11:02.710 Stephanie Craig: most people do not like to think about bad things.
00:11:03.630 --> 00:11:17.169 Stephanie Craig: and that transfers directly to organizational leadership. They don't want to think about bad things, and it's sometimes it's it's a they don't want to think about it. Sometimes it's just pure arrogance that it won't happen to them.
00:11:17.570 --> 00:11:26.589 Stephanie Craig: But being aware that a crisis and let me be clear about something. Crisis is is unique to you.
00:11:26.920 --> 00:11:29.640 Stephanie Craig: Something that is a crisis to a
00:11:29.900 --> 00:11:35.170 Stephanie Craig: shoe. Manufacturing company isn't going to be a crisis to a social media company.
00:11:35.460 --> 00:11:41.080 Stephanie Craig: So crises are very unique. And so it takes a sophisticated leader to 1st of all.
00:11:41.560 --> 00:11:45.150 Stephanie Craig: address the problem, say, okay, we will have a problem.
00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:49.029 Stephanie Craig: And then invest in it.
00:11:50.540 --> 00:11:51.250 Stephanie Craig: And
00:11:51.840 --> 00:12:00.249 Stephanie Craig: that's where the sophistication comes in that people don't sit back and say, Okay, well, it'll just. We'll just take care of itself when it happens.
00:12:00.390 --> 00:12:04.049 Mira Brancu: Yeah, and what I mean by investing, I mean.
00:12:04.310 --> 00:12:06.679 Stephanie Craig: Identifying it for your leadership team.
00:12:08.100 --> 00:12:16.930 Stephanie Craig: Putting aside some of your budget for crisis preparation and skill refinement activities.
00:12:18.190 --> 00:12:27.659 Stephanie Craig: making sure that you have clear and concise structures that are articulated throughout your organization. But what's supposed to happen?
00:12:29.660 --> 00:12:34.690 Stephanie Craig: And this is something that we really advise on, which is create a core crisis team.
00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:39.479 Stephanie Craig: and it is usually 6 to 8 people.
00:12:39.750 --> 00:12:48.910 Stephanie Craig: and I like them to have one, if not both, of these characteristics, that they can make a decision, or that they're a subject matter expert.
00:12:49.920 --> 00:12:56.640 Stephanie Craig: and they are the folks that are tasked with making decisions when a crisis happens.
00:12:57.580 --> 00:13:08.410 Stephanie Craig: And there's a distinction that people make that they've never really understood, which is, people say, Okay, well, you know, we had a fire at our shoe manufacturing plant.
00:13:08.850 --> 00:13:11.229 Stephanie Craig: but it's not a reputational crisis.
00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:18.049 Stephanie Craig: It is a reputational crisis, some some child's not getting their new tennis shoes for Christmas.
00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:20.110 Stephanie Craig: That brings down
00:13:20.950 --> 00:13:29.880 Stephanie Craig: the the value of your product in their eyes. Your supply chain does no longer has faith in you. That's a reputational crisis.
00:13:29.880 --> 00:13:30.460 Mira Brancu: Hmm,
00:13:31.040 --> 00:13:37.950 Stephanie Craig: And so when you talk about sophisticated leadership, it's understanding that all of those factors
00:13:38.610 --> 00:13:46.170 Stephanie Craig: matter to the value of your business and in the industry. Now.
00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:53.410 Stephanie Craig: I think folks are settling on that. Your reputation is 35% of your value.
00:13:54.280 --> 00:13:54.960 Mira Brancu: Hmm.
00:13:55.190 --> 00:14:04.820 Stephanie Craig: Some people, it goes up some people, it goes down. But it's really settling on 35%. So if you think about an organization that makes something.
00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:13.529 Stephanie Craig: Are you going to your company? Is probably your pardon me, your factory is probably worth 50% of your business.
00:14:13.990 --> 00:14:21.070 Stephanie Craig: so your reputation's worth almost as much as the physical structure. Wouldn't you do the same things to protect it?
00:14:22.690 --> 00:14:33.419 Stephanie Craig: And that's why we call it sophisticated leadership, because, understanding all how this all plays together, and how it all weaves together, and then acting on it
00:14:33.670 --> 00:14:54.790 Stephanie Craig: and showing leadership to the rest of your organization, that I think this is important. So I am putting people and resources and time behind it. That shows a sophisticated leader that wants to protect what they've built, what their people build and wants to see it progress into the future. That's why it's sophisticated.
00:14:55.300 --> 00:15:16.239 Mira Brancu: Amazing. Now I have a million thoughts and ideas and questions for you, but we are reaching an ad break. So what I'd like to start with when we come back from the ad break is around like just thinking about the impact of somebody's culture, personality and background experiences
00:15:16.340 --> 00:15:38.379 Mira Brancu: in terms of how they end up anticipating and prepping for these kinds of things. So you're listening to the hard skills with me, Dr. Mira Branco and our guest today, Stephanie Craig. We air on Tuesdays at 5 Pm. Eastern. At that time you can find us live streaming on Linkedin, Youtube and several other locations@talkradio.nyc. And we'll be right back in just a moment.
00:17:20.599 --> 00:17:27.679 Mira Brancu: Welcome back to the hard skills with me, Dr. Mira Branku and our crisis expert in residence, Stephanie Craig.
00:17:27.829 --> 00:17:41.699 Mira Brancu: So, Stephanie, you got me really thinking about these elements of sophisticated leadership focusing on reputation management around crisis. And there's 3 areas that got me thinking, number one
00:17:42.099 --> 00:17:48.079 Mira Brancu: is in some ways the ability to look for Spot anticipate
00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:51.569 Mira Brancu: crises that are going to happen in front of us
00:17:52.139 --> 00:18:01.949 Mira Brancu: come from our experiences, being able to manage those things. And now we have more awareness to look for them in the future.
00:18:02.885 --> 00:18:05.859 Mira Brancu: It also might come from personality.
00:18:06.169 --> 00:18:17.479 Mira Brancu: People who are overly optimistic, more confident, less bothered by crises, you know. They might kind of brush off
00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:32.879 Mira Brancu: things like you said that like might be more of a concern to other people, and might not spot that. It will be of concern in the eyes of other people, even if it's not a concern in their eyes. Right? And then there's like cultural background. You made me think about how
00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:44.939 Mira Brancu: like in my culture as a Jewish person, we talk about death death all the time. It's like not a big deal. We plan for it, etc, etc, and as someone who, you know, immigrated.
00:18:44.939 --> 00:19:03.323 Mira Brancu: I also got comfortable with thinking about all the what ifs and making like Plan B plan C, plan D to make sure that we're financially stable. And we're okay. And all of that stuff, whereas people who have been comfortable for a long time don't think about those things, or maybe
00:19:03.809 --> 00:19:32.229 Mira Brancu: just the Us. Culture of being comfortable with chaos or overlooking things that we shouldn't overlook. You know, all of those things have an impact on how we prepare for look for anticipate crises. And so, if I'm more on the end of comfortable with crises, and not bothered by being thrown at lots of things at me, and overly optimistic. And all of these things.
00:19:32.639 --> 00:19:42.499 Mira Brancu: how might I prepare better to better meet the needs of my constituents or the people who would actually be concerned, and care and want to see something else of me?
00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:51.860 Stephanie Craig: Well, it's it's very much. There are people like me, and sounds like you who I'm could be standing in the middle of a stampede and be perfectly.
00:19:53.070 --> 00:20:08.339 Stephanie Craig: But I would also recognize it's a crisis. And this is something that we counsel people on. Is there has to be a common within your organization, and that is where it starts is that you work with your
00:20:08.910 --> 00:20:17.650 Stephanie Craig: top down, leadership down. And everybody understands that when I say crisis for my widget factory.
00:20:17.890 --> 00:20:20.159 Stephanie Craig: We all know what that looks like.
00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:21.100 Mira Brancu: -
00:20:21.330 --> 00:20:22.109 Stephanie Craig: And so.
00:20:22.110 --> 00:20:22.730 Mira Brancu: -
00:20:22.730 --> 00:20:30.199 Stephanie Craig: You may be working on the line in the Widget factory, and something breaks down or
00:20:30.410 --> 00:20:32.700 Stephanie Craig: a widget comes out looking funny.
00:20:32.810 --> 00:20:41.820 Stephanie Craig: You know that because because that Widget is looking funny, I have to let somebody know, because we've talked about what a funny widget looks like.
00:20:43.150 --> 00:20:44.670 Mira Brancu: Yeah. Good, point.
00:20:44.980 --> 00:20:48.810 Stephanie Craig: And that kind of common understanding
00:20:49.480 --> 00:21:03.830 Stephanie Craig: is really important, as, like you, I am also an immigrant. There are things that I still say very strangely that my stepkids don't understand. I still call a sofa a I just
00:21:04.110 --> 00:21:05.420 Stephanie Craig: it just completely.
00:21:06.070 --> 00:21:09.649 Stephanie Craig: Why, mine Chesterfield, I call a sofa, Chesterfield.
00:21:09.650 --> 00:21:10.120 Mira Brancu: Oh!
00:21:10.590 --> 00:21:16.960 Stephanie Craig: We have no idea what that means, and those kind of common
00:21:17.460 --> 00:21:40.680 Stephanie Craig: just they seem very simple to look at me. Everyone's like. Oh, you know, she went to the University of North Dakota, and she's a sorority girl, and she's all these things. But I remember being a little kid and having to stay after school because there were wolves in town, not something that most kids in America have had to deal with, and so, having that common understanding of what a crisis?
00:21:41.840 --> 00:21:47.520 Stephanie Craig: Because to your point, if I'm telling like, I know, wolves in town, our problem.
00:21:47.950 --> 00:21:54.540 Stephanie Craig: I tell somebody who's never lived in those areas and they're visiting. And then, oh, there's wolves in town. They're like, Oh, cute wolves!
00:21:55.460 --> 00:22:03.709 Stephanie Craig: That's a misunderstanding of language, and it doesn't have to be the actual wolf. It could be the
00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:10.329 Stephanie Craig: fictitious wolf in your in your company. But you all need to understand what the wolf is.
00:22:10.530 --> 00:22:11.310 Mira Brancu: Yeah, yeah.
00:22:11.310 --> 00:22:13.900 Stephanie Craig: What the crisis is, and that comes from.
00:22:14.220 --> 00:22:22.040 Stephanie Craig: And of course we would love to do these big, elaborate crisis simulations with us, and do all this
00:22:22.150 --> 00:22:26.260 Stephanie Craig: honestly. It can be really simple to start these
00:22:26.570 --> 00:22:30.839 Stephanie Craig: of trainings and these types of
00:22:32.100 --> 00:22:51.709 Stephanie Craig: language pairing with each other. You know, every Friday at your staff meeting, hold up your phone, or if you still use newspapers of your local newspaper or your industry, your trade association newspaper, and say, if this happened to us. What would we do?
00:22:51.710 --> 00:22:52.440 Mira Brancu: Hmm,
00:22:53.940 --> 00:22:59.530 Stephanie Craig: Just so you have this starting point of a conversation.
00:22:59.910 --> 00:23:13.500 Stephanie Craig: and it doesn't have to be scary. And it doesn't have to be okay. Sirens are rolling. And and you know you're expected to know exactly what you need to do. You have to start in a way that says, Okay, we need to build the systems.
00:23:13.620 --> 00:23:41.950 Stephanie Craig: We need to build the system that says, Okay, you know what the job is. You know who you who you need to call. Next, we've actually framed that into something called clarity plus trust equals, strategic speed. And if anyone knows anything or about crisis management or crisis communications, or really even watch that nice early 2,000 show scandal that, you know, speed is the differentiator for crisis response.
00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:51.169 Stephanie Craig: I would differ on that. It's not speed for speed's sake, it's strategic speed. If you were just responding willy-nilly, and you don't have a clue. What you're doing.
00:23:52.740 --> 00:23:59.740 Stephanie Craig: You're not getting anywhere. So hey? Clarity! So clarity in who you are like.
00:23:59.970 --> 00:24:02.230 Stephanie Craig: what you know, who matters to you?
00:24:02.620 --> 00:24:04.430 Stephanie Craig: What matters to you?
00:24:05.270 --> 00:24:09.229 Stephanie Craig: And then who matters to you again, and who matters to them.
00:24:09.850 --> 00:24:11.549 Stephanie Craig: So clarity in
00:24:11.710 --> 00:24:24.560 Stephanie Craig: your top constituents, your top stakeholders. What matters to that? Top stakeholders? That's a toughie. And then you know what matters to you? What are your values as an
00:24:25.090 --> 00:24:29.839 Stephanie Craig: organization? Because we found that if you
00:24:29.940 --> 00:24:35.929 Stephanie Craig: state of value and you don't live that value, that's a friction where a crisis will start
00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:44.340 Stephanie Craig: if you say you are for clean water, and your company is
00:24:44.930 --> 00:24:49.840 Stephanie Craig: disposing of your waste in the local streams. That's going to be a problem.
00:24:50.080 --> 00:24:54.890 Stephanie Craig: So know your values, know your stakeholders, and know what your stakeholders value that.
00:24:56.940 --> 00:24:59.890 Stephanie Craig: and then, plus trust trust in the people.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.180 Stephanie Craig: the policies and the procedures that you are going to rely on in a crisis.
00:25:06.020 --> 00:25:08.620 Stephanie Craig: That means everybody knows their job.
00:25:09.230 --> 00:25:13.459 Stephanie Craig: They're not deciding on the spot who the spokesperson's going to be. They know
00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:21.029 Stephanie Craig: they know that. Okay, this is a ransomware attack. We have ransomware insurance.
00:25:21.320 --> 00:25:24.299 Stephanie Craig: And this is what that ransomware insurance says.
00:25:25.670 --> 00:25:45.339 Stephanie Craig: because you've trusted in the policies and procedures, and the people to know who knows what, who does, what, who does, what, when, and the clarity in who you are, what you are, and who matters to you, plus the trust and the people, policies and procedures equals that strategic speed which will make the differentiation.
00:25:46.610 --> 00:25:54.640 Stephanie Craig: And that start. And and once you get to that point once everybody knows what they're doing. Everyone knows your values. You're all speaking the same language.
00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:57.760 Stephanie Craig: so you all can spot a crisis when it shows up.
00:25:58.020 --> 00:26:09.470 Mira Brancu: Yeah, that's beautiful. You know. So so let me just highlight a couple of things that I pulled out, and then also follow up on on a couple of follow up questions here. So number one, I hear
00:26:09.982 --> 00:26:20.199 Mira Brancu: define what crisis is right shared language around crisis is critical. We talk about having a share language all the time when it comes to teams
00:26:20.350 --> 00:26:37.840 Mira Brancu: right? And the miscommunication that happens when you don't understand, for example, what each of you think about as what respect means to me? Right? This is the same idea. But around crises what is a crisis to us? I love that, and then also
00:26:37.970 --> 00:26:45.660 Mira Brancu: makes perfect sense simulation. Right? Have simulation. Ex experiences and
00:26:46.540 --> 00:26:53.350 Mira Brancu: some of where you were starting to go with clarity plus trust equals strategic speed.
00:26:54.130 --> 00:27:21.899 Mira Brancu: You know. I I've worked in hospitals and you know, they have a clear understanding of having this crisis response team right? And within the department of Veterans affairs. They often call it like a command control, you know, and they know who to put in place, and and they understand their values. You mentioned values. But outside of that setting
00:27:21.990 --> 00:27:28.149 Mira Brancu: I would suspect that it's less obvious, and let's less clear
00:27:28.370 --> 00:27:38.699 Mira Brancu: who should be in the position of the sort of crisis responders. What? What the sort of common crises should be. And I'm I'm curious, like.
00:27:39.699 --> 00:27:43.040 Mira Brancu: How well number one?
00:27:43.330 --> 00:27:49.469 Mira Brancu: Are there crises that all, all or most industries should be thinking about?
00:27:50.870 --> 00:27:56.920 Mira Brancu: And then how do they go beyond those common crises
00:27:57.360 --> 00:28:01.759 Mira Brancu: to their industry, specific or company specific crises.
00:28:03.130 --> 00:28:09.119 Stephanie Craig: Well, I think that the 1st part would be around values. That's something that almost everybody
00:28:09.470 --> 00:28:15.999 Stephanie Craig: really wants to dive should dive into is their values and their values. If you were going to stay to value
00:28:16.180 --> 00:28:26.449 Stephanie Craig: you. Gosh! Darn well, better live it. If you say diversity is important, your board better be diverse, your supply chain better be diverse. Those are very common
00:28:27.280 --> 00:28:28.830 Stephanie Craig: prices for folks.
00:28:28.830 --> 00:28:29.270 Mira Brancu: Yeah.
00:28:30.070 --> 00:28:32.499 Stephanie Craig: I best move as far as
00:28:33.190 --> 00:28:35.360 Stephanie Craig: reputation and brand are not the same thing.
00:28:35.810 --> 00:28:40.620 Stephanie Craig: Your brand is what you pay for. Your reputation is owned by your public.
00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:41.600 Mira Brancu: Hmm.
00:28:41.600 --> 00:28:44.080 Stephanie Craig: They have an expectation of you.
00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:52.450 Stephanie Craig: So they're your stakeholders, and they hold your reputation. So if you are doing things that they don't expect from you
00:28:52.980 --> 00:28:57.799 Stephanie Craig: that creates a crisis. So it's the values and then living the values.
00:28:57.800 --> 00:29:20.299 Mira Brancu: Yes, yes, we've seen that so many times. By the way, in in the news right now, where companies are abandoning certain values right, like like you mentioned diversity, equity, inclusion. We see, you know, all these companies that say they stood behind. And then all of a sudden, the you know. Administration changes and they've abandoned, and everybody's like what
00:29:20.900 --> 00:29:27.699 Mira Brancu: and it it does cause a crisis. And it's it's creating a loss of like you said a loss of trust
00:29:28.060 --> 00:29:34.630 Mira Brancu: in the company. As a result, I want to get a little bit more into it. But I also recognize we're almost at this and break.
00:29:34.940 --> 00:29:44.590 Mira Brancu: So let's continue with this, like common crises versus industry or company specific crises. How can they sort of start identifying in order to plan those out.
00:29:44.750 --> 00:29:54.739 Mira Brancu: You're listening to the hard skills with me, Dr. Mira Branco and our guest today, Stephanie Craig, who is a crisis management and reputation expert. We'll be right back in just a moment.
00:31:25.590 --> 00:31:34.209 Mira Brancu: Welcome. Welcome back to the hard skills with me, Mira Bronco and our guest today, Stephanie Craig Stephanie, we talked about
00:31:35.129 --> 00:31:38.249 Mira Brancu: not living out the company values.
00:31:38.530 --> 00:31:43.629 Mira Brancu: And, I would add, like also, I think you mentioned misalignedment, right misaligned values.
00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:51.710 Mira Brancu: Any other common types of crises that all companies or industries should be looking out for, and then
00:31:51.820 --> 00:31:57.180 Mira Brancu: what else might they be able to assess internally, that is maybe specific to them.
00:31:58.740 --> 00:32:02.079 Stephanie Craig: I'd like to tell a little story to, to really identify.
00:32:02.270 --> 00:32:06.380 Stephanie Craig: identify that we have a client that's a government contractor.
00:32:07.310 --> 00:32:13.659 Stephanie Craig: and you'd mentioned the Va. Before they like a lot of Government contractors, they employ a lot of veterans.
00:32:14.680 --> 00:32:21.780 Stephanie Craig: And so the Thursday night before the Friday of Veterans day weekend, which happened to be a pay period.
00:32:22.460 --> 00:32:25.060 Stephanie Craig: they get a call from their payroll provider.
00:32:26.220 --> 00:32:28.369 Stephanie Craig: Your payroll is not going to be there on time.
00:32:29.850 --> 00:32:34.260 Stephanie Craig: so not only are their employees going to be without
00:32:34.670 --> 00:32:36.980 Stephanie Craig: their pay on a long weekend?
00:32:37.610 --> 00:32:42.540 Stephanie Craig: It happens to be a veteran heavy company during Veterans day weekend.
00:32:43.630 --> 00:32:44.180 Mira Brancu: Hmm.
00:32:44.610 --> 00:32:49.150 Stephanie Craig: But because they had done all of this work that I primed.
00:32:49.750 --> 00:32:55.220 Stephanie Craig: They knew that their number one value, was supporting their
00:32:55.400 --> 00:33:00.099 Stephanie Craig: their employees, their employees were their number one asset.
00:33:00.740 --> 00:33:06.750 Stephanie Craig: so they knew, no matter what they were going to make sure that these folks made it through the weekend.
00:33:06.750 --> 00:33:07.350 Mira Brancu: Hmm.
00:33:08.080 --> 00:33:14.539 Stephanie Craig: They also knew that they that they needed a rainy day fund for that. So they had that.
00:33:15.570 --> 00:33:21.539 Stephanie Craig: The 3rd thing they knew is that their employees would receive information by email.
00:33:22.410 --> 00:33:25.700 Stephanie Craig: But they would only interact by phone.
00:33:26.560 --> 00:33:30.630 Stephanie Craig: So they sent out an email that said, this has happened.
00:33:31.100 --> 00:33:33.649 Stephanie Craig: If you can't make it through the weekend.
00:33:34.530 --> 00:33:38.530 Stephanie Craig: Here's a 1 800 number. We'll help. We'll make sure that you make it through.
00:33:38.780 --> 00:33:39.360 Mira Brancu: Hmm.
00:33:40.360 --> 00:33:43.780 Stephanie Craig: I think they had at the time 4,600 employees.
00:33:44.140 --> 00:33:45.430 Stephanie Craig: 12 called.
00:33:47.170 --> 00:33:48.739 Stephanie Craig: Everybody made it through.
00:33:49.860 --> 00:33:56.080 Stephanie Craig: But a funny thing happened because they responded this way, employee satisfaction went up.
00:33:56.080 --> 00:33:56.970 Mira Brancu: Yeah, yeah.
00:33:56.970 --> 00:33:59.799 Stephanie Craig: Retention went up, and recruitment went up.
00:34:00.100 --> 00:34:02.819 Stephanie Craig: all because they had done this pre work.
00:34:03.790 --> 00:34:09.749 Stephanie Craig: And so those types of crises are very excuse me for one second. Mira!
00:34:09.750 --> 00:34:10.350 Mira Brancu: Yeah.
00:34:10.460 --> 00:34:16.450 Mira Brancu: And while you take a sip, I was thinking like that just shows care
00:34:16.560 --> 00:34:30.590 Mira Brancu: like we all want to feel cared for by not just our family, but our employers, our leaders.
00:34:30.780 --> 00:34:37.655 Mira Brancu: you know, like that's what we all are are looking for, and that is the thing that
00:34:39.120 --> 00:34:46.700 Mira Brancu: I hate the word loyalty, but it increases art like desire to stay engaged
00:34:46.860 --> 00:34:55.760 Mira Brancu: and connected and appreciate where we are and feel good about where we are. I mean that that's what I heard in your story.
00:34:55.760 --> 00:34:58.700 Stephanie Craig: Absolutely. And and also this is about
00:34:58.830 --> 00:35:00.790 Stephanie Craig: the people that are loyal to you.
00:35:01.670 --> 00:35:03.659 Stephanie Craig: In this case it was their employees.
00:35:04.240 --> 00:35:08.360 Stephanie Craig: Trying to remember what the the issue was. This was about 6 to 8 weeks ago.
00:35:08.650 --> 00:35:21.729 Stephanie Craig: Costco. There had been a huge recall. I think it was cucumbers, and you know, everyone announced there was a you know, and a recall. Costco called their customers.
00:35:24.090 --> 00:35:30.100 Stephanie Craig: They know that their most important stakeholder groups is their customers, so they called them.
00:35:30.260 --> 00:35:38.480 Stephanie Craig: Do you think that through the for the rest of those customers lives they will cancel their Costco membership? Absolutely. Not
00:35:39.010 --> 00:35:45.060 Stephanie Craig: because they showed that they cared about them, but they also had a crisis plan in place, because they knew they had to call them.
00:35:46.050 --> 00:35:53.299 Stephanie Craig: So all of this planning helps you make those decisions before the the issue hits.
00:35:53.550 --> 00:36:09.010 Mira Brancu: Yeah. And what I'm also hearing is, that's part of the investment like you mentioned investment in the beginning of the call. And it's not just a monetary investment is the investment like of calling. That's an investment of time and and tension.
00:36:09.220 --> 00:36:15.730 Mira Brancu: right? 2 people. And it seems like a lot to contact 4,600 people or everybody who
00:36:15.890 --> 00:36:17.719 Mira Brancu: is a Costco member. Right? But.
00:36:17.720 --> 00:36:18.130 Stephanie Craig: Lovely.
00:36:18.130 --> 00:36:22.700 Mira Brancu: Actually right? But actually, that is an incredible
00:36:23.406 --> 00:36:30.120 Mira Brancu: investment in the future sustainment of your stakeholders and retention of your employees.
00:36:30.310 --> 00:36:31.590 Stephanie Craig: You want if you
00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:38.429 Stephanie Craig: kind of game out this company. So they took the time to figure out their their employees would open email.
00:36:38.610 --> 00:36:42.620 Stephanie Craig: but they would only communicate via phone.
00:36:42.860 --> 00:36:54.289 Stephanie Craig: So they have happy employees. Those employees tell other employees or other people, you know, coming into the workforce and say, this is a great place to work.
00:36:54.510 --> 00:37:03.690 Stephanie Craig: so that great place to work means that they can expand who they work with, because everyone knows that they have happy employees. That means they're getting the best employees.
00:37:03.910 --> 00:37:11.990 Stephanie Craig: so they get more business from it. So this is really a ripple effect. It is lovely. The carrying is real.
00:37:12.120 --> 00:37:15.360 Stephanie Craig: I don't think you can fake that. People are really smart.
00:37:16.540 --> 00:37:21.700 Stephanie Craig: but the ripple effects it has for a an organization, a company in particular.
00:37:22.330 --> 00:37:33.069 Stephanie Craig: It does actually benefit you as an organization to make these investments and show the people that hold your reputation, that you care about what they think.
00:37:33.360 --> 00:38:00.769 Mira Brancu: Yeah, absolutely. Now, let's switch gears. We've talked a lot about identifying crises and sort of spotting, anticipating. Let's move into sort of like responding, reacting, mitigating. Later on. And I'm going to go back to your framework. Clarity plus trust equals strategic speed. Can you define more about strategic speed. What does that mean?
00:38:01.230 --> 00:38:02.630 Stephanie Craig: Well, so strategic
00:38:03.090 --> 00:38:13.519 Stephanie Craig: is you can. You know what's going to happen? Right? You've thought about the different kinds of situations that can befall you. You can spot them earlier.
00:38:14.250 --> 00:38:21.719 Stephanie Craig: And then you know what you're going to do. So if it's a food out, if it if it's a food, recall.
00:38:22.350 --> 00:38:26.439 Stephanie Craig: you know that you're gonna be able to get to people faster
00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:42.840 Stephanie Craig: because you don't have to make a lot of these decisions in the moment company I mentioned, they before folks left for work on Friday, and wondered where their paycheck was. They knew exactly what they were going to do.
00:38:43.440 --> 00:38:48.330 Stephanie Craig: and they did it, so there was no negative blowback
00:38:48.810 --> 00:38:52.730 Stephanie Craig: because someone went to their bank account and their money wasn't there.
00:38:54.740 --> 00:38:58.789 Stephanie Craig: And so these type of situations where you have all the
00:38:58.920 --> 00:39:15.430 Stephanie Craig: the decisions made prior to not all the decisions, because you can't make all of them. That's what the difference between strategic speed and speed. You have to be fast, you have to. You have to act. You can't sit there, and you can't hum and hob. Oh, gosh! What are we going to do? Because
00:39:16.820 --> 00:39:28.000 Stephanie Craig: people can fill in the blanks for themselves? And you don't want that. But you also don't want to make decisions in the in the moment that should have been made that you could have made before. Well, who's our spokesperson?
00:39:28.190 --> 00:39:42.890 Stephanie Craig: Figuring that out. 2, 3 h have gone by. People start filling in the blanks themselves on social media, on breaking news, they start filling it in themselves. Something you could have decided months in advance. So that's why it's strategic.
00:39:43.130 --> 00:39:52.299 Stephanie Craig: The the things that you need to do in the moment can be done in the moment, because you've not. You're not busy yourselves with decisions that could have been made 3 months ago.
00:39:52.900 --> 00:40:07.859 Stephanie Craig: and the speed part of it. You need to be fast, because you need to be able to tell your story first.st There's a cardinal rule in politics that I still live by, which is, define yourself before your opponent can define you.
00:40:07.860 --> 00:40:09.290 Mira Brancu: Yeah, yeah.
00:40:09.290 --> 00:40:17.550 Stephanie Craig: This applies here. Tell your story to whoever your stakeholders are, and I think that's an important part of this. You don't need to tell your story to everybody.
00:40:17.810 --> 00:40:22.649 Stephanie Craig: You need your stakeholders to know what your story is.
00:40:23.310 --> 00:40:38.880 Mira Brancu: Yeah. And I would add to that, this is not about spin. This is about owning your own narrative, because people people will make up all kinds of stories about you if if they have the chance. And I had that experience before I had my company
00:40:39.270 --> 00:40:47.603 Mira Brancu: I had you know a situation where someone was upset with a decision that I made. In my past
00:40:48.430 --> 00:40:55.539 Mira Brancu: you know, career. And they put it up on the Internet. And it was not true. And I couldn't take it down.
00:40:55.700 --> 00:41:16.629 Mira Brancu: And that was the 1st thing that popped up because I didn't own my own narrative online about sharing all of the good things I was doing. And you know, being able to sort of demonstrate all of the work I was actually doing, and that taught me a big lesson that if you, if you don't own your narrative, if you don't own your story, someone else will.
00:41:16.770 --> 00:41:21.989 Stephanie Craig: So I I, totally. This is at the individual level as well as at the organization level. Too
00:41:22.360 --> 00:41:30.440 Stephanie Craig: absolutely well. Your reputation as an individual is important, too, and it's when it's somebody that's in your sphere
00:41:31.030 --> 00:41:39.599 Stephanie Craig: that is false or inaccurate narrative. It's harming your reputation, which also is valuable to you as an individual.
00:41:39.600 --> 00:41:40.130 Mira Brancu: Yeah.
00:41:40.350 --> 00:41:51.210 Stephanie Craig: And that to me is something that has to be done. You have to deal with it. You can't let it in today's day and age back when you know we were printing
00:41:51.800 --> 00:41:57.259 Stephanie Craig: book by book, by book, on a printing press. That's different. We can't do that anymore.
00:41:57.410 --> 00:42:03.020 Stephanie Craig: It's things last forever.
00:42:03.020 --> 00:42:09.153 Mira Brancu: Yeah. And one of the other things that I'm I'm sort of like light bulb moment. Here is how much?
00:42:09.630 --> 00:42:11.769 Mira Brancu: the intangible
00:42:13.300 --> 00:42:30.789 Mira Brancu: asset of reputation is like reputation is an asset. We don't think about it that way, but it's part of your company that's an asset, and you want to invest in that asset, and maintain that asset and protect that asset as much as the ones that are very tangible. Right.
00:42:31.470 --> 00:42:38.529 Stephanie Craig: Absolutely because somebody holds your reputation. It may not be that you are. I'm trying to.
00:42:38.780 --> 00:42:44.989 Stephanie Craig: We'll go back and use. Costco may not be Costco that has a sterling reputation
00:42:46.110 --> 00:42:57.490 Stephanie Craig: to almost everybody. It very much could be okay. I have, for instance, I have a friend. Her company has 6 customers, they will never have any more than 6 customers.
00:42:58.220 --> 00:43:02.789 Stephanie Craig: But those 6 customers, what their opinion, Matt, is, matters
00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:12.870 Stephanie Craig: exponentially. So understanding who those people are is really really important, because
00:43:14.220 --> 00:43:21.260 Stephanie Craig: that reputation matters to that. Your reputation matters to them because they matter to you.
00:43:22.710 --> 00:43:37.380 Mira Brancu: Yeah. Yeah. I'm noticing that we're reaching. I can't believe we're reaching another ad break. I feel like I just got started on this before we go to the ad break. A couple of things that are on my mind that I want to be able to talk about when we come back is
00:43:38.609 --> 00:43:47.309 Mira Brancu: you know, number one, what are the ways that we can think about the connection between
00:43:47.817 --> 00:43:54.019 Mira Brancu: having a crisis readiness program and building up sort of like a culture of responsiveness.
00:43:54.440 --> 00:44:02.349 Mira Brancu: And number 2 things that maybe we might need to think about more now
00:44:02.580 --> 00:44:17.490 Mira Brancu: than maybe we before, right? The the current sociopolitical climate and all of that stuff. So you're listening to the hard skills with me, Mira Bronco and our guest today, Stephanie Craig, and we'll be right back in just a moment.
00:46:01.980 --> 00:46:07.560 Mira Brancu: Welcome. Welcome back to the hard skills with me, Mira Bronco and our guest today, Stephanie Craig.
00:46:07.760 --> 00:46:16.139 Mira Brancu: So Stephanie, as we start this last piece of our
00:46:16.250 --> 00:46:22.780 Mira Brancu: podcast together. The thing that I'm that is on my mind is the connection between
00:46:23.390 --> 00:46:27.520 Mira Brancu: having a crisis, readiness response program
00:46:28.030 --> 00:46:32.240 Mira Brancu: and what it means for how we build cultures.
00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:36.690 Mira Brancu: how we build cultures of trust, and
00:46:37.570 --> 00:46:43.959 Mira Brancu: maybe how this applies or what we're not seeing or what we need to be thinking about in this current sociopolitical climate.
00:46:44.940 --> 00:46:51.149 Stephanie Craig: Well, first, st I think, in the idea of trust and what you do within your organization, the
00:46:51.370 --> 00:46:58.509 Stephanie Craig: biggest impediment to having a crisis ready culture, and I do underscore the word word culture are silos.
00:46:58.740 --> 00:46:59.330 Mira Brancu: Hmm.
00:46:59.680 --> 00:47:09.720 Stephanie Craig: That if you, if you hear kind of what I was threading through the whole earlier interview, was, you have to talk to one another. You have to trust.
00:47:09.720 --> 00:47:10.314 Mira Brancu: But.
00:47:10.910 --> 00:47:30.039 Stephanie Craig: Right, and you have to talk across industries or pardon me, silos. It's imperative to creating that kind of culture for one of our clients. We literally just are built a framework, so it legal, and communications could talk to one another.
00:47:31.140 --> 00:47:32.160 Stephanie Craig: That was all.
00:47:32.160 --> 00:47:32.840 Mira Brancu: Hmm.
00:47:32.840 --> 00:47:41.490 Stephanie Craig: Because it's so in the event of a ransomware, this was a global company. So they're in there.
00:47:41.710 --> 00:47:53.249 Stephanie Craig: Cyber infrastructure was critically important. So just talking to each other was a huge step forward for them. So like you said building that trust that falls under the
00:47:53.530 --> 00:48:02.270 Stephanie Craig: mast. You know the big mast head of trust, but trust that the person that you are going to lean on is going to do what they say they're going to do.
00:48:02.730 --> 00:48:12.160 Stephanie Craig: so that is trust in your own team. Be that an organizational wide team, or your own communications team or your own it team or your own legal team.
00:48:13.020 --> 00:48:17.079 Stephanie Craig: and then it's then it is understanding that you need to talk across
00:48:17.200 --> 00:48:21.369 Stephanie Craig: sectors or section, because you need to speak the same language.
00:48:22.820 --> 00:48:28.919 Stephanie Craig: So building those relationships, building those bridges, building those cross function
00:48:29.100 --> 00:48:42.630 Stephanie Craig: fibers that can help you absolutely energize when you need to. I have a friend, that is, works for a global casino or a global gaming company. I'll call it that. And their head.
00:48:43.770 --> 00:48:51.940 Stephanie Craig: This calls everybody together in the infrastructure once a pardon me twice a year, twice a year for barbecue
00:48:53.000 --> 00:49:03.910 Stephanie Craig: for no than a Barbie, because he understands that the person in and the person, I guess.
00:49:04.180 --> 00:49:13.810 Stephanie Craig: need to be comfortable enough to pick up the phone, knowing it's 3 o'clock in the morning in
00:49:14.330 --> 00:49:15.569 Stephanie Craig: Las Vegas.
00:49:15.570 --> 00:49:16.240 Mira Brancu: Yeah.
00:49:16.740 --> 00:49:19.530 Stephanie Craig: And that sort of bridge building
00:49:19.640 --> 00:49:23.750 Stephanie Craig: that can happen at a big organization, a small organization.
00:49:25.310 --> 00:49:30.590 Stephanie Craig: It's important. And it needs to happen. And it doesn't matter what side of organization you are
00:49:31.280 --> 00:49:37.970 Stephanie Craig: and folks. Yet again, it comes down to relationship building absolutely and knowing who's important.
00:49:37.970 --> 00:49:38.550 Mira Brancu: Yeah.
00:49:39.290 --> 00:49:47.050 Stephanie Craig: To the second part of your question. I think that that's also really important, which is, you know, we are in interesting times.
00:49:47.430 --> 00:50:15.379 Stephanie Craig: is, what's that old Chinese proverb? But you live in interesting times. We are living in interesting times, and corporate America is really all businesses, if you think about it are on very unsettled terrain, uneven terrain, and that I think my biggest recommendation to our clients and folks in general is, find out what your, what your core values are and who your core stakeholders are.
00:50:15.980 --> 00:50:21.160 Stephanie Craig: and then you have to weigh external external factors.
00:50:22.560 --> 00:50:36.149 Stephanie Craig: As I mentioned, I went to the University of North Dakota, and so, if anyone is ever been to a target in the Upper Midwest, it is. They are like shrines, but so I'm a very loyal target person.
00:50:36.450 --> 00:50:49.409 Stephanie Craig: but they've seen a real impact because they were very much known as folks that they prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion. And then they said they weren't going to anymore.
00:50:49.890 --> 00:50:53.979 Stephanie Craig: So an entire community has said, Well, we will not shop there.
00:50:55.090 --> 00:51:03.499 Stephanie Craig: and that's that disconnect between your holders and doing what you say, you're going to do. And I,
00:51:04.210 --> 00:51:09.829 Stephanie Craig: it's a hard decision, because they're being told, can't have these anymore.
00:51:10.020 --> 00:51:11.829 Stephanie Craig: Their consumers are saying.
00:51:12.700 --> 00:51:23.499 Stephanie Craig: you need to have those programs. That's what we expect of you. And there. So there are some really hard conversations happening in organizations. But I think if you are to core to who your values are
00:51:24.290 --> 00:51:28.850 Stephanie Craig: and who your stakeholders are back to Costco again.
00:51:29.320 --> 00:51:34.769 Stephanie Craig: They knew they're very, very clear on who they are and who matters to them.
00:51:36.430 --> 00:51:38.540 Stephanie Craig: and so they haven't gotten rid of them.
00:51:39.293 --> 00:51:43.660 Stephanie Craig: I mean by that I mean de and I policies. And so
00:51:44.180 --> 00:51:54.780 Stephanie Craig: this is. This is a time where you know, for instance, if your State government and your Federal Government differ on what they require, the safest place for you to be
00:51:55.220 --> 00:51:58.730 Stephanie Craig: is your core values and your core constituents.
00:52:00.970 --> 00:52:03.660 Mira Brancu: Yeah, this
00:52:04.610 --> 00:52:13.840 Mira Brancu: I'm not gonna get the saying right. But it reminds me of the saying like, don't get, let a good crisis go to waste, you know, like the these are, these are
00:52:14.680 --> 00:52:24.730 Mira Brancu: If if you're gonna spend this in some kind of positive way, like these are the moments that test us. You know that that force us to really focus
00:52:24.930 --> 00:52:30.539 Mira Brancu: hard on those values. And and think about
00:52:30.870 --> 00:52:34.379 Mira Brancu: all of the things that you mentioned the who are we?
00:52:34.990 --> 00:52:41.590 Mira Brancu: The what matters to us going back to? Who? You know, are
00:52:42.160 --> 00:52:45.549 Mira Brancu: What matters to the people that matter to us
00:52:45.860 --> 00:52:49.343 Mira Brancu: right? And developing those
00:52:50.220 --> 00:52:55.770 Mira Brancu: trust based policies, procedures, etc, that help us.
00:52:56.410 --> 00:53:00.639 Mira Brancu: instead of causing us to spin and get lost.
00:53:01.070 --> 00:53:07.159 Mira Brancu: When there's these kinds of massive turmoil and crises in the last few minutes.
00:53:07.420 --> 00:53:23.760 Mira Brancu: Actually, 1 min. Any thoughts about the sort of management of crisis upon crisis like it feels like it's sort of stacking one on top of each other. Is there anything different that you would recommend now that you would have? Then you would have recommended, like
00:53:24.110 --> 00:53:25.900 Mira Brancu: 5, 10 years ago.
00:53:26.840 --> 00:53:28.630 Stephanie Craig: I was just. You need to be ready.
00:53:28.860 --> 00:53:35.809 Stephanie Craig: It's it's no longer an option. You have to be ready, but also check in with your people.
00:53:37.270 --> 00:53:38.230 Stephanie Craig: It's
00:53:39.310 --> 00:53:44.959 Stephanie Craig: there are a lot of folks that aren't built like me, which is probably a really good thing. That
00:53:45.080 --> 00:53:50.899 Stephanie Craig: this crisis upon crisis upon crisis is, is very mentally unsettling.
00:53:51.160 --> 00:54:04.700 Stephanie Craig: and it is very draining. So check in on your people. And honestly, if you are, if you do the thing to prepare. It's actually easier on your people because they know they don't have to worry about doing the things
00:54:05.410 --> 00:54:15.390 Stephanie Craig: they're they. They know that the things are gonna happen that they're going to be able to make the decisions that they've already decided what their values are. So their decision making process is easier.
00:54:16.230 --> 00:54:19.690 Stephanie Craig: Yes, crisis upon crisis upon crisis. But do the things?
00:54:19.900 --> 00:54:28.810 Stephanie Craig: Do all the preparation? Do the values evaluation. So you know, you don't have to be making those type hard decisions
00:54:29.030 --> 00:54:30.840 Stephanie Craig: in a moment of crisis.
00:54:30.840 --> 00:54:46.770 Mira Brancu: Yes, yes, excellent. Okay. I have loved our conversation today. If people want to learn more from you, work with you, where can they go, how can they find out more? I do have it up on the screen for those of you who are watching, but for those who are listening. Where can they go?
00:54:47.737 --> 00:55:06.339 Stephanie Craig: Well, we are going to give you something for your show notes which will be a dedicated web page for everyone who's listening and watching, but also find me on Linkedin. I'm just Stephanie Craig. I look like an approachable ninja I like to call myself, but also I'm on substack.
00:55:06.520 --> 00:55:22.109 Stephanie Craig: and we have a free service for folks which is called crisis of the month, which is right there, and it just helps. Instead of holding up a newspaper. We deliver once a month a free email that helps you work through
00:55:22.490 --> 00:55:25.780 Stephanie Craig: what a crisis would look like for you always will.
00:55:26.670 --> 00:55:29.009 Stephanie Craig: Kith is part of kith and kin.
00:55:32.520 --> 00:55:35.979 Stephanie Craig: friends, and our friends, and part of that is, if something's free, it's going to be free.
00:55:36.450 --> 00:55:59.970 Mira Brancu: Awesome, awesome. All right. Audience, what did you take away from our conversation today? And more importantly, what's 1 small change you can implement this week, based on what you learned from Stephanie. There's a lot she shared, and a lot of very implementable things. So share it with us on Linkedin, she mentioned. She's on Linkedin. We both live there, share it with us so we can cheer you on
00:56:00.360 --> 00:56:09.699 Mira Brancu: talkradio. Dot Nyc. Is also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, twitch, apple, spotify Amazon. Podcast, that's where this podcast. Is going to be all over the place.
00:56:09.860 --> 00:56:12.330 Mira Brancu: If today's episode resonated with you.
00:56:12.490 --> 00:56:25.730 Mira Brancu: share it with a colleague, leave a review, and if you're looking for more personalized support or leadership around leadership and team coaching, you can also go to gotowerscope.com and schedule a consultation with me.
00:56:26.330 --> 00:56:30.070 Mira Brancu: Thank you to talkradio dot Nyc. For hosting
00:56:30.390 --> 00:56:38.180 Mira Brancu: together. We will navigate the complexities of leadership and emerge stronger on the other side. Thank you for joining me, Stephanie.
00:56:38.650 --> 00:56:45.319 Mira Brancu: Really appreciated the time today and learning much more from you about the connections that we made between
00:56:46.074 --> 00:56:51.720 Mira Brancu: crisis reputation as an asset, and as a culture builder
00:56:51.850 --> 00:56:57.299 Mira Brancu: 2 companies and industries had never made those connections. But I love that.
00:56:57.560 --> 00:57:05.000 Mira Brancu: So. This is Dr. Mira Bronchu, with Stephanie Craig, signing off until next time. Stay steady.
00:57:05.470 --> 00:57:09.909 Mira Brancu: stay present, and keep building those hard skills.
00:57:10.440 --> 00:57:12.720 Mira Brancu: Thank you. Everybody. Take care.
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