The Leading in a Crisis Podcast
Interviews, stories and lessons learned from experienced crisis leaders. Email the show at Tom@leadinginacrisis.com.
Being an effective leader in a corporate or public crisis situation requires knowledge, tenacity, and influencing skills. Unfortunately, most of us don't get much training or real experience dealing with crisis situations. On this podcast, we will talk with people who have lived through major crisis events and we will tap their experience and stories from the front lines of crisis management.
Your host, Tom Mueller, is a veteran crisis manager and trainer with more than 30 years in the corporate communications and crisis fields. Tom currently works as an executive coach and crisis trainer with WPNT Communications, and as a contract public information officer and trainer through his personal company, Tom Mueller Communications LLC.
Your co-host, Marc Mullen, has over 20 years of experience as a communication strategist. He provides subject matter expertise in a number of communication specializations, including crisis communication plan development, response and recovery communications, emergency notifications and communications, organizational reviews, and after-action reports. He blogs at Blog | Marc Mullen
Our goal is to help you grow your knowledge and awareness so you can be better prepared to lead should a major crisis threaten your organization.
Music credit: Special thanks to Nick Longoria from Austin, Texas for creating the theme music for the podcast.
The Leading in a Crisis Podcast
EP 44 American Airlines plane collision at Reagan National Airport - review of initial communications response
On January 29, an American Airlines commuter plane collided with an Army Blackhawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport. All aboard both aircraft were killed, in what is our nation's worst airline incident in 11 years.
How did American Airlines manage early communications around this horrific incident, a worst case scenario for any airline? We walk through the company's initial communications response to understand how they chose to speak to families of those who were on the plane, their employees involved in the response, and other stakeholders. We review their initial messaging and approaches to see what messaging they used and which channels they chose to deliver it.
Hosts Tom Mueller and Marc Mullen are joined by PR practitioner Destin Singleton, APR to discuss their early assessment. Destin is principal at Emic Communications, a strategic communications consultancy. Find her at emiccomms.com.
We'd love to hear from you. Email the show at Tom@leadinginacrisis.com.
