TFB 047: What your business can learn from the Oxfam scandal

What can we all learn from the reputational crisis currently ripping through Oxfam and parts of the NGO sector? On today’s show, I wanted to take a break from the normal guest format and put on my other hat, the hard one I wear when I’m advising clients on issues management. Now on the surface, you may think there’s not much a small business can learn from what has happened to Oxfam, but you’d be wrong. All of us face reputational threats on a daily basis – it might be a poor online review, a few nasty tweets, or yes in some cases national media exposure. What all of these have in common is how you engage dictates whether or not you ride the storm and emerge stronger or sink like a stone. A reputation that has taken years to build can be gone in just a few hours and on today’s show I give you my insights on what went wrong for Oxfam and how you can take these learnings to protect yourself in the future. The key learning? Fear is your enemy in a crisis. Preparation, speed, consistency, and courage are your friends. This is the anatomy of a crisis…and the prescription for the recovery.