Who Approved This?: The Galliano Question Nobody Asked Early Enough
Fri., Sep. 4, 2026
Austin Holmes
It's almost always possible to recover from past mistakes, but the way the Met handled the John Galliano fiasco is an object lesson in how not to do that.

How to reach audiences who have stopped trusting the biggest names in media.
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?
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.



