If Ethics Don't Scale, Can Crisis Preparedness?
Tue., Jul. 7, 2026
Montieth Illingworth
It's not just the tech sector—when companies in any sector grow rapidly, what happens to their ability to manage, learn from and prevent critical issues from evolving into full-blown crises?

Deepfakes have crossed a critical threshold from an emerging concern to an effective tool, where any public figure is now a target for AI-enabled reputational manipulation. Here’s what PR pros need to know.
If you’re like a lot of people, you have been obsessed with “Love Story,” the FX series that has been airing for the past eight weeks about JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. But why didn’t Kennedy use crisis PR to deal with the paparazzi, the news media and the tabloids?
Much is made of the importance of proper planning to anticipate and manage a crisis—but what matters most is understanding how decisions will be made once the crisis is underway.
Slow and procedural messaging without emotional resonance, fragmented leadership communication, overwhelming policy‑heavy language and a pervasive gap between words and observable action have repeatedly undermined corporate credibility.
While finding the right solution to a problem is still important, the work that differentiates effective communications leaders is problem-finding—identifying the real risk before it becomes visible, reputational or irreversible.
Apologies are often seen as a weakness or as proof that a leader has lost control of the narrative. But Donald Trump's failure to apologize after he posted—and then deleted—a video with a racist clip of Barack and Michelle Obama shows how flawed this mindset is.
The new playbook for surviving a public crisis.
Why crisis situations typically start with a decision, not a mistake.
Keys to building a communications plan that successfully prepares companies for a cyber incident.
How debt market volatility is creating a new crisis communication scenario.
Communications strategies to build more housing of all kinds.
In today’s B2B and supply-chain crises, proactively managing your GEO footprint is now a reputational necessity.
How to tell whether you’re dealing with a crisis firm or simply a “PR firm that does crisis.”
To thrive in the uncertainty surrounding them, brands must make a profoundly counterintuitive shift: embrace the chaos.
American companies must now employ smarter—not louder—communications to navigate today’s evolving global tariffs.
The forces that will redefine corporate strategy and reputation management in 2026.
In an era of heightened political polarization, rapid news cycles, and social media scrutiny, PR pros are under constant pressure to respond, react, or remain silent.
Reputation isn’t a byproduct of crisis management. It must guide strategy.
In 2025, reputational crises were less about isolated missteps and more about how quickly leadership, clarity and proportional judgment reacted under pressure.
Examples of failed leadership in organizations that can enable misbehavior and risk addiction among senior executives.
Brown University’s response to the tragic and horrific mass shooting on its Providence campus on Saturday, December 13, revealed reported breakdowns in crisis communication, operational execution and real-time situational awareness within university leadership as the emergency unfolded.
A cyber incident plays by different rules. And if leaders don’t recognize those differences, their response will falter.
Discover how crisis communications has evolved and why proactive storytelling, digital strategy, and internal alignment are now essential to protecting reputation in a 24/7 media landscape.
Defense companies must recognize that storytelling needs to be a strategic priority.
In today’s always-on news cycle, one misstep can become a national story in minutes. Crisis PR expert Jonathan Beaton — a veteran of Florida’s most high-profile legal, corporate, and political battles — explains how to control the narrative before it controls you.
Looking at the most effective crisis PR campaigns of 2025 with an eye to what they did right, offers lessons any communicator can apply.
Across 15 years in journalism, a few in politics, and more than a decade leading crisis communications at Orchestra, the first half of 2025 was the busiest I’ve ever experienced.
Amid the salacious snickering about the Coldplay Kiss Cam embarrassment is a very serious corporate reputation crisis for Astronomer.



