Replacing senior executives is something quite common. In every organization, there have been, are, or will be situations when the boss decides to leave his or her post, either because of age, weariness or unhappiness. There are also situations when the corporate board of directors decides to do without the CEO’s services. Even when the dismissal is announced in advance, there is always a sense of nervousness and crisis when a new leader takes over.

Santiago Barba Vera suggests a recipe for successful leadership change in this article from the Wharton school, and describes how these challenges apply equally to the boardroom and the football dressing room.

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Psychiatrists fear media interviews

If you worry that facing the press is an intimidating experience, spare a thought for psychiatrists. Media training for psychiatrists is considered more challenging than for company executives because reporting of issues related to mental health is so often distorted and stigmatizing, says John Illman who has run programmes for the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
“Although media coverage of women’s rights, black civil rights and disability has changed markedly, mental health coverage has yet to come in from the cold. Psychiatrists are better placed than anyone else to change the climate, but some fear being ineffectual or misrepresented"

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Chinese Bloggers send Starbucks packing

Starbucks is the latest company to feel the wrath of China’s online millions. It has lost a fight to keep open its café inside China’s Forbidden City in Beijing after a blog posted by China Central Television (CCTV) host Rui Chenggang complained that it was an erosion of the nation’s culture.

According to the state run China Internet Laboratory the nation has 132 million internet users half of which are bloggers who are having a dramatic impact on corporate crisis management for many leading international brands, forcing the hand of names such as P&G, Wrigley and KFC.

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A 21st Century Crisis Tools Glossary

Thanks to robust new technologies, there’s no longer any reason for organizations to claim they had no way of notifying their affected stakeholders of impending or immediate disaster.

Because new technologies breed new words at an ever-accelerating rate, we thought we would provide a glossary of terms for directors who may need help speaking and understanding the new language of technocrats. This list was produced by Anna Sceia Klein, and published in the Bernstein Crisis Management newsletter.

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Crisis Briefs

• News of a crisis of a welcome kind. A leading expert on midges has said their numbers have slumped this summer due to the heavy rain meaning they cannot get a frequent supply of blood. Earlier this year, Dr Alison Blackwell, of Edinburgh University, said it could be a bumper year for the Highland Biting Midge - culicoides impunctatus. However, she has now said that all of the 30 official midge traps throughout Scotland were well down on last year. Dr Blackwell warned a warm and dry end to the summer could reverse the trend.
  

• And finally.. evidence that lightning can strike twice. Ask Don Frick. Frick said he survived his second lightning strike on Friday - 27 years to the day of his first and emerged a bit shaken, with only burned flies and a hole in the back of his jeans. "I'm lucky I'm alive," Frick, of Hamlin, Pennsylvania, said.