Crisis Management - Oprah style

It is often said that it is not bad events that ruin a reputation, but the reaction to those events. No stranger to controversy, Oprah Winfrey was caught in the centre of a storm this week when the school she founded in South Africa was involved in allegations of sexual abuse.The response was Ms. Winfrey was typical and decisive, and a demonstration of the principles of good crisis management.

Read the blog post from Jane Genova here:

Employee Fitness - A Management Issue?

Why should an employer care whether his workforce are fit and living a healthy lifestyle? Is it actually his/her business? According to an article from the University of North Carolina, encouraging good habits among employees can benefit the company in the long term.

Read the article here:

Deliver Bad News Fast to the Right Audience

When there is bad news to deliver, how it is communicated is often remembered as much as the content of the message itself. Who says it, when it is said, and who it is relayed to first - all these issues matter in how the bearer of news is perceived by their audience. Using an analogy that is familiar with any Godfather fans, Richard Amme gives advice as to how to best break bad news and protect a company's reputation.

For Richard Amme's article, click here:

Vasili Arkhipov - the man who saved the world

In perhaps the greatest demonstrate of cool thinking under intense pressure, the Second Russian Naval Captain stood up and spoke against his colleagues in 1962 and prevented an almost certain nuclear holocaust. 45 years on, David Gamble writes in praise of Captain Arkhipov, and suggests what we can learn from his actions.

Read his post from October 25th here:

Crisis Briefs

Think you had a bad day? Spare a thought for a man who was arrested on Thursday after a bizarre series of events that included him crashing his car, getting shot by a homeowner, breaking a restaurant window and stripping to his underwear.

Police said it all started when the man crashed his car into a pole and started banging on the door of a nearby house. After he kicked in a window, homeowner Leroy Bruce shot him. Bruce said the man ran off and left his pants and other clothing behind. The bleeding suspect fled to a McDonald's and threw a rock through the front window.

Witness Lisa Fuqua told WMC-TV that the man was easy for police to identify and that he 'had to be on some high-powered something." The suspect, who wasn't identified, was taken to the Regional Medical Center. Police said they'll charge him when he's released. Officers said when they found the man at the restaurant, he had stripped to his shirt and undershorts.(WMC Memphis)

And finally... a Christmas crisis brewing...... According to a UK government thinktank, Christmas should be downgraded unless other religious festivals are marked on an even footing.

The Institute of Public Policy Research has suggested various ideas to make the UK more multicultural. It also wants "national culture" barriers to be torn down to help immigrants settle into the UK.

In a report due to be published in coming weeks, the organisation said: "If we are going to continue to mark Christmas - and it would be very hard to expunge it from our national life even if we wanted to - then public organisations should mark other major religious festivals too. Even-handedness dictates that we provide public recognition to minority cultures and traditions." (ITN)