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What Were They Thinking?: Crisis Communication -- the Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless
 
 
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What Were They Thinking?: Crisis Communication -- the Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless [Hardcover]

Steve Adubato (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 30, 2008
Some corporations spend millions of dollars on so-called 'crisis communication plans.' Others offer lip service, avoiding the subject like the plague. They simply hope for the best, praying that they never face a crisis. Either way, as Steve Adubato says, 'Wishful thinking is no substitute for a strategic plan.'
Nationally recognized communication coach and four-time Emmy Award winning broadcaster Steve Adubato has been teaching, writing, and thinking about communication, leadership, and crisis communication for nearly two decades. In What Were They Thinking? Adubato examines twenty-two controversial and complex public relations and media mishaps, many of which were played out in public. Adubato discusses the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol scare, the Don Imus controversey, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, Bill O'Reilly, the Hurricane Katrina crisis and the Catholic Church's pedophilia scandal.
Arranged in short chapters detailing each case individually, the book provides a brief history of the topics and answers the questions: Who got it right? Who got it wrong? What can the rest of us learn from them?

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Steve Adubato is one of my favorites. He has a clear point of view and isn't afraid to share it, particularly when it comes to media issues and media coverage of important stories. --Joe Scarborough, host of Morning Joe on MSNBC

Steve is a media expert, a street-smart guy with powerful insight that makes this book so relevant for our time. --Ernie Anastos, anchor, FOX 5 New York

Steve Adubato continues his role as the perpetual teacher by reinforcing that there are lessons to be learned from every circumstance, lauded or loathed. The fact that he had no trouble finding content for this entertaining and instructive book proves how important and necessary it is. Read it to insure you are not a chapter in the sequel. --Thomas Marino, CPA, partner and CEO, J.H. Cohn LLP

Review

"Steve Adubato is one of my favorites. He has a clear point of view and isn't afraid to share it, particularly when it comes to media issues and media coverage of important stories."

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 248 pages
  • Publisher: Rutgers University Press (October 30, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0813543614
  • ISBN-13: 978-0813543611
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Easy Reading, Interesting, Informative, Inspiring, August 27, 2009
This review is from: What Were They Thinking?: Crisis Communication -- the Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless (Hardcover)
This book is easy to read because it's divided into short sections on different corporations and people, each one reviewed as a case study in crisis communication.

I would have liked it if the opening comments wrapped to the end and we learned what the author did with his own crisis.

I would have liked more systematic formatting of points in the individual case studies. Each seemed to have been written without regard to how the others were presented.

I would have liked more progression of ideas. Instead, the lessons from each case study seem to be pretty much about the same.

But I liked this book. I liked reading about the crises in communication, many of which I was very familiar with, and some which were new to me. I liked the basic points being made. And I've passed this book on to my boss, because I think the message is worthwhile. Every business, agency, non-profit corporation, governmental entity, and public figure should have a crisis communication plan.
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2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining, October 19, 2008
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This review is from: What Were They Thinking?: Crisis Communication -- the Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless (Hardcover)
Saw this in a local Borders and rushed home to get it for my kindle. Not available, so I rushed back and bought it at Borders.

Quite entertaining and easy to read. Each chapter can be digested as a seperate helping. Not just about corporations but discusses some big communication problems...think IMUS, Rudolph Guiliani and Dick Chaney!

Lot's to learn at the individual level and some good tips for what to do when things go wrong. Useful for Managers also not just the Big Boys.


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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
crisis communication strategy, crisis communication plan, mine collapse
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ground Zero, White House, Virginia Tech, New York Times, Jet Blue, New Jersey, Glen Ridge, Jayson Blair, Rudy Giuliani, Christie Whitman, Browne Sanders, Pat Tillman, New Orleans, Taco Bell, President Bush, Hurricane Katrina, Dick Cheney, Carla Katz, Alberto Gonzales, Don Imus, Mike Nifong, Catholic Church, West Virginia, Isiah Thomas, David Letterman
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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