Should your company speak up? Or stay quiet?
As companies try to keep up with a plethora of breaking news, social movements, political shifts, and cultural flashpoints, determining which ones to respond to requires communicators to assess relevance and risk.
When the pressure to speak is immediate, the risks of missteps are amplified. And trust can be strengthened — or damaged — in a single news cycle.
My guest is Crystal Borde, Vice President and Community-Driven Communications Practice Lead of Vanguard Communications.
This episode is part of my PRSA ICON Creator Collective journey, leading up to the conference Oct. 18-21.
Crystal will be presenting her session at the event on Oct. 20 at 9:45 a.m.
Show summary:
In this episode of PR Explored, host Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant, author, and writer, welcomes Crystal Borde, a vice president at Vanguard Communications and past president of PRSA’s National Capital Chapter, about her PRSA ICON session on crisis communications.
Borde explains how social media has accelerated crises and misinformation, and describes the post-2020 “statement era,” when organizations felt pressure to issue public statements on external events, now complicated by polarization and increased risk.
She outlines preparation steps like creating a crisis communications plan, defining a response team, and using holding statements, emphasizing that “silence is a statement” and can erode trust.
Borde offers four decision questions—mission/values alignment, stakeholder impact, credibility, and ability to back words with action—and stresses authenticity, clarity, and collaboration with legal.
Examples include Disney’s mismatch between statements and employee experience, Cornell’s perceived insufficient stakeholder communication, and World Central Kitchen’s transparent response after volunteer deaths.
They preview her ICON talk in Orlando.
00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro
00:59 Crystal Borde Background
04:22 Why Crisis Comms Changed
06:47 Defining Statement Era
10:48 Prep and Stay in Lane
14:59 Four Questions Framework
19:05 Silence as Strategy
26:32 Cornell Case Study
30:59 Answering Sensitive Questions
33:03 Confidentiality Boundaries
33:48 Silence Sends Signals
34:28 Buying Time With Reporters
35:52 Holding Statement Basics
38:05 Authentic Statement Framework
40:24 Legal and Comms Alignment
41:35 Clarity Honesty and Testing
45:22 Keepers of the Why
48:00 Crisis Severity Scale
49:04 World Central Kitchen Case
53:57 Fear Versus Strategy
56:17 Build and Practice Playbooks
59:56 Strategic Plan as Foundation
01:00:49 Conference Wrap Up
Show notes:
Crystal Borde on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalborde
PRSA ICON registration (use code MICHELLE10 to save 10%): https://www.prsa.org/conferences-and-awards/icon-2026
Full transcript:
To Speak or Not to Speak_ Crisis_ Trust and Reputation in the Statement Era
Michelle Garrett: [00:00:00] Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of PR Explored, a video podcast where we delve into trends and topics related to public relations. I’m your host, Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant and writer. My guest today is Crystal Borde. Welcome, Crystal.
Crystal Borde: Hi, nice to meet you, Michelle.
Michelle Garrett: I’m excited to hear about, your PRSA ICON presentation, which, is what we’re gonna be focusing on today. And I know we’re both gonna be at the conference, so I’m very excited. We’ll chat a little bit about that, too. But first, if you would, please tell us, about you and your background and what you’re doing now, and anything you want to share, and I’ll put a couple links up while you’re, doing that.
Crystal Borde: Great. Thanks so much. I’m so excited to be a part of this conversation today. So I [00:01:00] am a vice president at a PR agency based in Washington, DC called Vanguard Communications. and I have been there for, it’ll be 20 years in January. Very unusual in agency world to stay in one place for that long, but, part of the reason for that is the type of organizations that we work with, which are all impact-driven organizations.
So I’m working with non-profits and foundations and associations and government agencies working on social issues, which is near and dear to my heart. as part of that role, I also lead our community-driven communications practice, which is really about, applying inclusive communications strategies and tactics to the work that we do, and making sure that the audience is always at the center.
and some, and often, hopefully, a partner in the work that we do. I’m also the immediate [00:02:00] past president of the PRSA chapter in here in the DC area, called National Capital Chapter. So I’ve been a long time PRSA member, and love going to ICON when I can. and interesting fact about me is that I am originally from Los Angeles, so oftentimes we find people here in the DC area have come from someplace else.
So I’m one of those people. grew up there, and I went to college there, went to Cal State Fullerton, that’s located in Orange County near Disneyland. Ooh. And knew from high school that I wanted to do public relations. Very unusual that, to know that early in one’s career. Like I, I know I’m n- not a common story, but I always knew that was what I wanted to do because it married for me the things I was the most interested in, which is I love to write, I am a pop culture [00:03:00] junkie.
I love the conversations that are happening in those spaces and how they’re communicated. and then, I have a bit of a bleeding heart. I love, care about a lot of different issues. And so it was such a, a kismet of me connecting with Vanguard when I moved here to the area, because now I get to work on as many issues as I want, and do as many types of PR services as I want because it’s an agency environment, and that’s where I’ve built up that skillset in crisis communications, which is what my ICON presentation’s gonna be focused on.
Michelle Garrett: I know. I was, like I said, I was excited when you said you would, talk with me today because when I read about your, topic, I think it’s just so timely and- your body of work is, very, I’m sure, I- it’s just like a lot of peop- not, everyone has this much experience and, [00:04:00] knowledge about this topic and how it’s changed, over the years.
I it’s, constantly, I feel like it’s changing all the time. what advice we listened to a few years ago now is probably not going to be the same. So- Yeah … it’s a really dynamic, area of PR work, I think.
Crystal Borde: You’re absolutely right, and I think part of the reason why it’s evolved so much in just the period of time I’ve been doing it as a career is because our modes of communication have changed so much.
at the start of my career, social media didn’t exist. Now it is one of the, like predominant ways organizations are communicating and getting messages out to the audiences they’re trying to reach. That changes everything when it comes to crisis communications, because things move so much faster than it did before, and mis and disinformation moves so much faster than it could before.
And that [00:05:00] plays a big part in thinking about crisis comms. But, I’ve been doing public relations, I don’t wanna date myself, but it’s more than 20 years. and I have done more crisis communications counsel with organizations in the past year and a half than I’ve done in the totality of my career.
And what that says to me is that we’re in a different moment for organizations right now. And, and that’s part of the thinking behind this presentation that I pulled together is to really talk about how to communicate in that space and what should you be thinking about. And- do you have to be a part of everything that’s going on?
right?
Michelle Garrett: Gosh, I hope not.
Crystal Borde: it’s not wise, Michelle. It’s not wise. but we’ll talk about that more as we- Yeah … as we go along.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yeah, no, it’s, it’s a, w- I, [00:06:00] I’m fascinated. I’m not a crisis communication specialist, but I, know enough to, to be fascinated by it.
And, honestly, I just, I, I think organizations need a lot of help. And thank goodness there are- people, like you too, to help them because they need it. so let’s get into this. Sure … your session is, is called To Speak or Not To Speak: Crisis, Trust, and Reputation Questions in the Statement Era.
So let’s, I wanted to kinda ask first, when I saw statement era, I had to Google it, I’ll be honest, because I am not sure exactly what that means. So let’s talk a little bit about that.
Crystal Borde: All right. I have to first give acknowledgement to Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift did inspire me talking about eras.
Okay … she brought that to the forefront. But what I mean, Michelle, is since [00:07:00] 2020 in particular, after George Floyd’s murder specifically-
there was, and Black Lives Matter movement grew again. ‘Cause it’s always been there, but it just kinda grew again in response to that moment.
a lot of organizations said a lot of things because they felt like they needed to say something, right? they couldn’t be the ones on the outside not giving a response about
Michelle Garrett: all
Crystal Borde: this.
and th- I feel like there all of a sudden became this statement era that started, which they’re either, like, issuing press releases with statements responding to things that have happened, often tragic things that have happened, like school shootings, and, other things like that.
And, or they’re sharing something on social, like in a [00:08:00] graphic, some kinda statement to acknowledge that, “Yes, we know this is happening,” most of the time. “Yes, we feel really badly this happened, and w- it should not happen again.” But for most organizations, it didn’t really have much to do with them as an organization.
They just felt like, “There’s a bandwagon, and I need to be on the bandwagon,” right? ‘Cause it says something if I’m not on it. And so I feel like we’ve still been in that cycle, because there’s been a lot of things that have happened, since 2020, in this decade that we’re only six years into, but feels like a lot.
A lot has happened. And I think that organizations are still battling with this. And, I think we’re still in this kind of statement era, that one, there’s an expectation from media and an expectation from our audiences, the people we’re… our stakeholders, people [00:09:00] we’re communicating with, that we should be speaking up or out about certain things that happen-
or are occurring.
But then now we’re in a really polarized, fraught community, especially here in the United States. And so now it’s much more risky for organizations to speak up and speak out. And so now we’re seeing organizations saying, we’re just gonna not say anything.
Even if it has something to do with us, and, we have some connection to this, we’re just… we would rather just say nothing, and, hope it just fades out- and nobody comes back to us and being like, why didn’t you say something?'” So it’s really complicated. So that’s what I mean by the statement era, and I feel like we’re still in it in 2026.
We’re still in that moment.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, no, it’s really fascinating. And, we saw… I think we saw, yeah, [00:10:00] everybody got out there, and then everybody, pulled back. And, or, a lot of organizations. We won’t say everyone, but a lot of them did. And, Yeah … may- I also wonder, here’s another question just popped into my head.
And by the way, if anyone’s listening, watching, wants to ask a question, I’m sure Chris will be happy to answer questions, so please feel free to ask questions as we go here.
Crystal Borde: I love questions.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. oh, so maybe there’s just too much to ke- is there just too much to keep up with? that, that’s another thing that maybe we could touch on is just, maybe just the amount of, issues and crises and things, headlines and just, 24/7, y- news.
Crystal Borde: I
mean,
Michelle Garrett: that would be another thing …
Crystal Borde: yes. That’s… the answer to that question is yes, there is so much happening at such a rate of speed- That I think organizations need to do two [00:11:00] things. One, when they’re not in that moment- they need to prepare as if they’re going to be. like- start putting together a cri- I’m always shocked how many organizations do not have a crisis communications plan, do not know who the crisis communications t- response team will be.
who in the organization needs to be in the loop on that first call when you’re talking about what happens next, right?
So doing that legwork in advance so that when the crisis happens, you can just jump right into the crisis and be able to respond faster and more strategically, right? ‘Cause there’s a framework.
The second thing is that you need to figure out do… is this your lane? And what I mean by that is n- everybody doesn’t have to be in every conversation. The conversations [00:12:00] organizations should be in are the ones that are in alignment to their mission and their values, right? So what they’re about and what they believe in.
Okay. And if there’s some responsibility that they might have, or it’s impacted directly, then those are other deciding factors as to whether some kind of communication response, whether that’s a statement or something else, needs to happen. But I think oftentimes there’s not a structure in place so that those questions aren’t posed, and then people just jump into talking about things that isn’t their lane to talk about.
Or- … we’re not identifying there’s other people that are better suited to have a conversation there. And so maybe, you elevate those other people. if they’re p- your partners or you have a relationship- with those organizations- as opposed to you being the voice. [00:13:00]
Michelle Garrett: And maybe they do it with a good intention.
they do it- Yeah … with the best of intentions, but it’s maybe it’s still not the right move.
Crystal Borde: Yes. like the one that comes to mind, and this is dated from 2020, was, Disney coming out and saying, “Yes, Black lives matter.” And then their Black staff members publicly came out and said, “We don’t feel that way.
we don’t feel that what you’re saying in the statement is what our experience is as a Black staff member in this organization, in this corporation.”
Michelle Garrett: Yikes.
Crystal Borde: so the things have to be, it’s, so it’s also doing the assessment of like what can we say, right? Not should we say something, what can we say?
What is it that we can offer that is true and authentic and credible? Because the minute you miss that, [00:14:00] that boat, then what happens is you, your trust that you have with your c- audiences diminishes, and your reputation takes a hit, and it’s gonna be really hard. It’s really hard to rebuild trust, and it takes a long time to rebuild reputation
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
we could talk about how people move on too and forget pretty quickly sometimes too. Not, with everybody. I think Target’s really gotten, really stayed in the crosshairs for some folks, but, Yeah … but yeah. some organizations make missteps, and people seem to move on in a, month or two or six or whatever.
But, but there are others who have definitely taken a hit because they’re, they’ve not, walked their talk, basically.
Crystal Borde: Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: so we’re kind- we’ve covered, how should an organization determine which crisis to speak up about. We- is there anything else you want to say about that, or
Crystal Borde: do you- no.
I [00:15:00] think that, I think it’s just really important to ask kind of key questions, And, the four I always come back to is, w- once… If, there’s a responsibility that your organization has to this crisis, then absolutely you need to do or say something. But if th- that’s no, and you’re still trying to figure out, “Should we be a part of this conversation?”
There’s four questions. You ask yourself, “Does it align to our mission and values?” So it says yes, then you move to the next question. “Are our stakeholders affected?” So the people that we engage with who are important to us, are they impacted by this? a good example of that is, like, when a natural disaster happens, right?
And your community, the people that you serve, are impacted directly by that natural disaster, right? Then that would be a yes. Yeah. Then maybe we should say something and do something.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: Three, do we have credibility on the issue? is [00:16:00] this in our wheelhouse? is this something that we can actually offer something new or something helpful-
into this conversation? And then the last one is, can we back our words with action? And I think this is the one that gets missed the most, because people love thoughts and prayers, right? We love to say, “Thoughts and prayers,” or- Yeah … “We think this is wrong,” or, “It shouldn’t have happened,” or any of those things.
But then what?
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: what’s the next thing that you can offer, and I’m… I say this as counsel I give to our clients, but I also, this is the counsel I, provide to my company, to Vanguard, ’cause I’m always a part of, the, the decision-making around statements. And if we can’t come up with something that is actionable for us to do that contributes to helping or resolving the crisis that’s [00:17:00] happening, then that means there’s no statement, because there’s no point in just saying, like- “We’re really sad that this happened,” or, “This is incredibly tragic”- if we’re not willing to do something else to make the situation better.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. No, I think that’s a great point. Because I think, yeah, I’m gonna go back to Target, because I feel- like that, that’s how they got themselves in a pickle because they…
And then they were saying one thing, and then their actions weren’t really- backing up what they were saying, and people- called them out for that. Now that, like I said, that doesn’t always happen, and I feel like sometimes one brand gets kinda, hung out to dry- I think-
but another one might, not. And
Crystal Borde: I, also think you have to think about size of organizations. that’s- Yeah … really hard to control an organization, the communications of an organization the size of a Target or a Walmart or, one of those kind of Fortune- Yeah … 500 companies that are, huge.
[00:18:00] but that’s where you say that, you acknowledge that. And say, “This is a challenge for us, but we are committed in the next five years to do X, Y, and Z in order to-” Wow … have staff members have a deeper understanding of this issue, so they don’t pick a Halloween costume that is, disrespectful to Black Americans.”
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, that’s, that did just happen, didn’t it?
Crystal Borde: That did just happen.
Michelle Garrett: yeah.
Crystal Borde: Yikes, again. So I,
Michelle Garrett: think,
Crystal Borde: so there’s a cultural thing you have to acknowledge too at times in crisis, but culture can’t be shifted overnight. So that’s where you manage expectations of, we’re committed to the long work that is required-
Michelle Garrett: Yeah
Crystal Borde: to make sure that this does not happen again. And so manage the expectations of the audience that, this isn’t gonna turn around overnight. We’re acknowledging a problem that’s a big problem, but we’re [00:19:00] committed to finding resolution for it.
Michelle Garrett: Oh, yeah.
so we… So we’re, we talked before we went on the, we went live about-
silence as a strategy, and that’s- gonna be my next question. But I also, we- I mentioned to you, and I’m gonna mention it now, that the USC Annenberg’s, survey found, that 41% of professionals who responded to the survey said that staying quiet is sometimes the most effective approach, and among in-house communicators, that number rose to 52%.
So that’s about half, of course. so what, what do we think about this? ‘Cause this kind of flies in the face of, I feel I’ve been, doing this a while, and that just was never… there weren’t as many things, and things didn’t spread as quickly. So of course times- Right
are different [00:20:00] now than they were, then. But, but it’s just, it’s interesting to me that, people would choose that as a, as an approach.
Crystal Borde: I would loved, would have loved more specificity in that question, because- Yeah … I think i- there’s, two scenarios.
One, are you saying that you would stay silent if the crisis impacts you?
Or is it staying silent because there’s an external thing happening crisis-wise? And, ’cause I think those answers could be different, right? Yeah … I think it’s really important that people understand that silence is a statement. We’re gonna let that sit- sit for a second. So whether you say something or whether you don’t say something, you are still communicating something to your audiences, [00:21:00] right?
And there are gonna be circumstances in which silence is the best response, is, And when I say the best response, it’s the most strategic response.
But everyone should know, from the communicators involved in that, the C-suite level, if there’s a board, like everybody should be on board that silence is a statement.
It’s just a different statement with no words. But people still draw and interpret what that means to them.
Edelman does their Trust Barometer work every year, which I so appreciate them doing, which basically gives us a lot of intelligence about where and how people in the US and globally feel about trust, and organizational trust.
And they did a special report that was focused on climate change, but I [00:22:00] got… There was a lot of really interesting things that came out of that research, and one of the statistics that came out of it was that 34% of the respondents believed that even if they didn’t hear something from an organization, that they just felt like they’re probably still doing something good, they just weren’t talking about it publicly.
That’s still really low, right? 34%. So that means that two-thirds of the respondents made the assumption that if they didn’t hear something from an organization, and in this case about environmental impact and doing something about the environment, that meant that the organization wasn’t doing anything or they were hiding something.
And I think that’s really interesting if you, expand it out to what we’re talking about today, which is that there is a risk to being silent, [00:23:00] just like there’s a risk for saying something, right? Yeah. Both are risky.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I
Crystal Borde: actually have, a slide in my presentation that’s titled Either Way, It’s Risky, because I feel like that needs to be acknowledged.
there’s, not one version of this that is completely risk-averse, right? The most risk-averse is not being involved in the crisis at all, right? of it not being your crisis. That’s the most risk-averse version of this. But everything else is gonna carry some risk, so you have to measure it out.
You have to determine what is worth it for your organization, what are you gaining? And that’s why those four questions, I think, are so important, because if you’re basing it off of your mission and values, who your stakeholders are, what it is that you can offer, whether that be in, expertise or resources- and what action you can take- [00:24:00] then that makes a stronger case for whatever decision you make, right? So that, yes, you may be taking on some risk, but there is a stra- a strategy behind how that response is happening- which gives you a stronger way of managing the risk when it occurs.
Michelle Garrett: so yeah, I- that’s when you… We were talking beforehand, and you said silence is a statement. that is, it’s just something to keep in mind, ’cause again, I feel like a lot of organizations feel like, we’re gonna, we’re gonna stay out of this, this one.” But with that decision, they are actually making a communication- Yeah
decision. They’re making a call, and people are gonna- They’re making a
Crystal Borde: call …
Michelle Garrett: interpret that,
Crystal Borde: And l- and, here’s a workplace example of that, because I think a lot of people now are in, telework situations, where they’re not in the same space [00:25:00] with their colleagues that they’re collaborating with.
And haven’t you had the moment where you send out an email or, a message, and it’s crickets. the person that you were talking to hasn’t responded to you, and so you’re just, sitting there going, did they see my message? Did that, Should I talk to them in another way?” is this being worked on?
maybe it’s time-sensitive, and, you really needed them. And then maybe hours later in the workday, you get a response back, but there was all this time in between when you sent the message and when they responded-
that you didn’t think anything was happening. Because you get no confirmation.
So something I talk to my colleagues about oftentimes is, sometimes just acknowledge receipt of the message.
Yeah. And sometimes that’s the same thing for organizations [00:26:00] who are impacted by a crisis. You need to acknowledge that something has happened, ’cause everybody knows something has happened.
And so if you sit silent-
Michelle Garrett: Yeah …
Crystal Borde: everyone assumes either you are ignoring it, you don’t know about it, you don’t care about it. They’re making all kinds of assumptions, and you’re losing time, and what is building up is disinformation and misinformation- that’s gonna make it harder when you do respond.
And the perfect example of that in real time right now is Cornell University.
Michelle Garrett: Oh.
Crystal Borde: Cornell University, because, and I will acknowledge, they have privacy concerns. I understand that.
But there are still things they can say without violating privacy concerns.
Yeah. Things that they should be telling their students, things they should be telling their staff [00:27:00] and faculty, things they should be telling the parents, and their alumni, like these very key stakeholder groups.
And my understanding from people that I know that have connections to Cornell, none of that’s happening. There’s no acknowledgement other than the one statement put out by the president that was, like, supposed to be the be all, end all statement. They weren’t… They’re not doing stakeholder work. At least it’s not, from the stakeholders I’ve talked to, they’re not feeling that’s what’s happening.
That’s a real problem. That’s crazy. That’s a real problem, and, not just because it’s the right thing for them to do. It’s important for them to do that work because there’s safety concerns. There’s all sorts of real concerns that those stakeholders have right now. But it’s also- they are putting themselves at a disadvantage for how to rebuild [00:28:00] trust and reputation beyond this, right?
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yeah.
Crystal Borde: And they’re making it so much harder for themselves.
Michelle Garrett: Certainly they don’t think this is gonna blow over. I’m sure that- Yeah … can’t be the plan. Yeah.
Crystal Borde: Yeah. So if you were to ask me, of an example of who’s not doing that very well, that would be my example, is Cornell. I don’t think, I’ve, I… They put out a statement. The statement is eight minutes long in delivery, and it was- supposed to be the statement, like, the kinda like- the Super Bowl of statements so they don’t have to say anything else. And I think it missed the mark, and I think it missed where their- Oof
stakeholders are. They didn’t think about missi-… one of their values is a community of belonging. People can’t feel like they belong if you’re not talking to them, [00:29:00] right? If you’re not acknowledging what their concerns are, if you’re not… And that’s not putting you in a legal challenge place.
There’s ways of doing that’s not gonna compromise the legality of the civil lawsuit. There are ways of doing that doesn’t compromise- And it’s- … privacy.
Michelle Garrett: It’s been, weeks, right? at least-
Crystal Borde: since
Michelle Garrett: September- … at least a couple of weeks …
Crystal Borde: for the civil case, but this, occurred in 2024.
Michelle Garrett: Oh, my gosh.
Crystal Borde: And so yeah, so I think that it’s, silence is a strategy, but people should understand that when you use that strategy, you are making a statement, and in the dearth of you saying something, people are gonna fill the space with- Yes … their own interpretations of what is happening or not happening.
Michelle Garrett: That seems more like classic, crisis comms, training and [00:30:00] response, at least from my- experience, is that if you don’t say something, there are other people who are gonna step in there and start saying things, and then that’s- gonna really just put you in a position you really don’t wanna be, and it’s gonna make it- even worse than if you had just said, st- something. And sometimes, like you said, just making an ackno- acknowledging and saying, “
Crystal Borde: That’s what-” Acknowledging receipt, It’s just like- Yeah … saying, I’ve written crisis statements that are three sentences. Like they don’t have to be epic tomes and they shouldn’t be, right?
I think that’s one of the pitfalls for statements in these situations, they’re too long. It’s too much stuff. Like sometimes we just have to answer the question that’s being asked. and sometimes answering that question, you can do it in, a paragraph, if not less.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: But it’s important- We have a question
to be something.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. We actually [00:31:00] have- we have a question. Oh,
Crystal Borde: great …
Michelle Garrett: so how do you handle a question you cannot refuse or evade when answering honestly could reveal sensitive information and create problems? That’s a good question.
Crystal Borde: It is a good question. so we can only answer what we can answer.
And I think being upfront with reporters is really important. this is a concerning issue. Unfortunately, due to privacy constraints or whatever the constraints might be- we can’t say more at this time, but when we are able to say more or can say more-
we will share that information with the public.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: So it’s a way of acknowledging, right now… And, I think one of the best examples of that is, like, when a crisis is evolving, like something, something has happened that was unexpected, and everyone’s [00:32:00] just trying to put together the information and you don’t have all the information.
like the, one of the incidents that comes to mind is, a shooting in a public space, and you’re trying to figure out what has happened- who’s been in- impacted. you’re trying to… So you don’t have all the information, and reporters are coming at you right away, ’cause they’re looking for the information.
And it takes some training to know how to do this, but it is being able to be like, “W- we acknowledge something has happened. We are still gathering the information. As soon as we learn more that we can share, we will share it with the public.” And that’s the answer.
Yeah. But it at least acknowledges to the reporters and the media, like- we also know something has happened.
We’re trying to figure, we’re working with law enforcement, we’re working with, our partners, whatever that phrasing is- [00:33:00]
to learn more, right? And then also to say that, if it’s something related to sensitive information, like particularly like HR-
issues, oftentimes we cannot speak about people being fired or why they were fired or- what the investigation demonstr- some of that stuff is all under confidentiality and sensitive.
And then you just acknowledge that. per our HR policies, unfortunately we cannot share that information.
And if there’s another resource that you can direct them to, like law enforcement, for example, if there’s, an investigation happening, then do that, where maybe they can say more than you can say as in this situation I’m using, like the employer, can say. But I think transparency and o- dodging the question- Is it is a statement. So do- when- Silence and [00:34:00] dodging, still statements.
Michelle Garrett: like when the news crew shows up at somebody’s workplace and they hide under the desk and pretend they’re…
Crystal Borde: Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: I saw that one time where they came to the door and the people were- there’s-
you could see they were hiding in there. I’m- I’m like, “No.”
Crystal Borde: I’m not gonna name names, but there was a famous White House press secretary who jumped in a bush, to avoid talking to a reporter. yeah. I would not recommend that. I would not recommend that. No. and I would definitely not recommend being in front of reporters until you’re ready to be in front of reporters, even if it’s like-
Michelle Garrett: Yeah
Crystal Borde: you’re not ready to give that statement of, “We’re- Yeah … looking at this.” I remember I had a, Just to give an example, I had a call from a reporter one time to notify me that one of the clients that we supported, the leader of that organization passed away. And it, had [00:35:00] just happened, and we had not been notified that this individual had passed away.
And so what I said to that reporter, he w- he was like, do you have a statement in response from the organization?” And I said, “You know what? I’m looking in on that right now. As soon as I have something, I’ll get back to you. Give me your contact information. I’ll get back to you.” And then I had to go and inform my colleagues about what was evolving and then come up with the statement.
But sometimes you’re on your back foot. sometimes reporters get information before you get them, or it’s on social media before you get the official confirmation. But you can’t- say more until you have- official confirmation, right?
Yeah. Or whatever you need that gives you enough confidence that you can say something as an organization about.
Michelle Garrett: and a holding statement can be in place- that you can customize. It could be a very general kind of, [00:36:00] you know, d- something kind of s- generic. Yes. And then you can always add the, specifics for that situation. But that’s one thing- I always say, at the minimum, a crisis plan, who is in the committee, holding sta- it’s just, i- there are few things that you, I think, every
Crystal Borde: organization- Yeah.
we’ve become aware… a classic holding statement is like, “We’ve become aware of this incident.” Yeah. “And we are providing as much resources to determine- Yeah … what’s happened and what we can do next. And when we know more that we can share with the public, we will.” Yeah. that, that is a classic kind of holding statement.
Yeah. that buys you a little bit of time, and… But then it is showing that you’re being responsive.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. ‘
Crystal Borde: Cause that’s really what people want. People just want organizations to be responsive and to see them and hear them- Oh, yeah … and feel them, Yeah. Yes. Because when you’re [00:37:00] seen, and you’re felt, and you’re heard, like I’m wearing my community-driven communications hat for a second, but when you feel those things, then you feel valued And at, at the core of everybody wants to be valued.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: And so when or, when brands or organizations don’t do that very well, they see their trust and reputation decline, because- those audiences don’t feel valued, don’t feel seen, don’t feel like you’re acknowledging that this really difficult thing has happened, or challenging thing has happened, or tragic thing has happened.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: And all they want sometimes want is acknowledgement. Yeah. At least at the bare minimum.
Michelle Garrett: I say the same thing about customer service, it’s like we just wanna know that somebody, hears us and, and- cares, And so it’s ki- it’s very… To me, it’s very basic, but a lot of groups still, [00:38:00] miss the mark.
so we talked a little bit about holding statement. This question is about, how, how should an organization go about putting together a statement that is authentic and helps protect its reputation? Perhaps if they wanna go beyond the holding statement, if we wanna maybe look at that a little bit.
Crystal Borde: I always start, I start with those four questions, right? And then I actually answer the questions in the statement. And what I mean by that is I have references to mission and value in the statement someplace, like where, it makes the most sense. There’s an acknowledgement of who’s been impacted, so really, calling out the communities that have been impacted, because sometimes the crisis isn’t about you, or you shouldn’t make the statement about you.
It should be about who’s the most impacted by what has happened, right? for [00:39:00] Cornell, for example, use… going back to them as an example, it’s a student community, right? It’s the parents.
It’s maybe faculty and staff, right? ‘Cause sexual assault can happen in all kinds of places.
Sexual violence can happen in all kinds of places on a college campus.
and not just at a party. so- it’s about centering it on those communities as opposed to centering it on you as an institution,
Michelle Garrett: right?
Crystal Borde: And then thinking about, what is it that we can offer, have that in that statement, and then what is it w- that we will do?
What can we say that we can do? What is the action that we can take?
and so I think those are the four questions that need to be a part of that statement in some way. And then I think it needs to be as succinct and [00:40:00] short as possible.
And that means edit back.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: And I always start the writing of a statement, with answering the question that’s being asked, right? Like- did something happen? What happened? Acknowledging those things. And this is, where it gets a little sticky with legal teams, ’cause legal teams are like, I don’t want you to put the kinda specifics into the statement, ’cause that’s legally committing us to something, and, we don’t feel like we can.”
so you… I think that sometimes the presumption is that, legal teams and comms teams should be in conflict with one another. I actually think that we can work really collaboratively together to help- Yeah … each other reach our outcomes. which may not be the same, but I think there’s, a, a room for collaboration between legal, [00:41:00] once we understand each, each other’s position.
And I think that’s always a, a great way of starting those calls. Like, when you have the first call after a client is be like, “Okay, what is everybody most concerned about?” And that gives comms people ability to talk about what- and articulate out loud- what they’re concerned about, and then the legal team can articulate out loud what they’re concerned about, so then it helps you find where the middle ground is.
at least to start with. but yeah, those are the things that are kinda critical. And just be honest. This is really, hard for organizations to do. Yeah. And for peop- let’s face it, right? it is, much easier… This is why we get accused, PR people and comms people get accused of being spin doctors, that we like to spin the truth.
but, it’s [00:42:00] not about… If we actually answered things honestly- which is in our code of ethics, PRSA Code of Ethics’ honesty is a big part of that-
I think we’d be in a better place in the long run in managing the crisis.
It’s when you are vague, or you speak in, very technical, wonky language that no one really understands what you’re trying to say, that is what opens the door for misunderstanding and miscommunication, right?
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: And that takes so much… I remember in college, I took a public speaking class, and the professor said that it only takes seven times for people to learn something, to learn something.
It takes, 30-something times to unlearn it.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. Yep.
Crystal Borde: So if that’s the case, we’re… We should be always [00:43:00] putting forth, at least at the time, what we know to be truthful and what we know to be accurate.
And then when it becomes inaccurate, acknowledge the inaccuracy as quickly as possible. Yeah. I always thought that Dr. Fauci did a really good job of that during, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic because there’s a lot of information he had in the beginning that ended up not being accurate-
Michelle Garrett: Right
Crystal Borde: once we learn more. and he did a really good job of balancing that, because I think he really understood that concept of it doesn’t take much for people to learn something, but it takes a lot for them to unlearn it.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. And what you say shouldn’t… Your statement shouldn’t create more questions than it answers.
Yeah. And then sometimes-
Crystal Borde: No, I should say maybe, I feel like the test is, and I know, if you’re [00:44:00] working as a consultant, you might not have these people to bounce off. That’s one of the perks of working in a agency. Yeah. I have, colleagues that, that may be not working on this client.
So I can call them and say, “I’m gonna read you this statement,” and I read them the statement. I just did this the other day. Read the statement, and then I ask them a whole bunch of questions about their- Yeah … comprehension of the statement, which gave me clues as to… And the questions were all, what I wanted the audience to f- know or feel- after hearing the statement. And it revealed some things to me of that we needed to work on the statement. But yeah, if it pres- presents, as you s- put in the chat, if it presents more questions than it answers, that’s, a problem
Michelle Garrett: and it’s, a, I guess it’s just a, an occupational hazard.
But, when I’m watching the news or a crisis has happened, or I turn something on, something’s in play right now, I am putting… I’m looking [00:45:00] at it with my, PR hat. And I’m like, either I’m like, “Wow, this person has had media training and they’re sticking to their story,” right?
or, B, they are, they’re just creating more, the cri- they’re blowing the crisis up as- opposed to quelling things. And that’s, yeah, it’s hard not to think about that. Yeah. But,
Crystal Borde: As much as possible, for the comms people in the room, and everybody in the room has a different role, when it comes to talking about crisis.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: But for the comms people, I always say that we are the keepers of the why. It’s like, why are we doing this? Why are we saying this? Why is this happening? really challenging everyone in the room as they’re making decisions of “But why is that best? Why is that the best strategy? Why is that the best approach?
Why is that the best thing for us to say in this moment?” And, then once we figure out what that answer is, then the comms person’s able to [00:46:00] take, that information and- put it out in a way that hopefully is clear and concise, and takes into account who we’re communicating with, right? Yeah. in an ideal world.
but yeah, we’re, the keepers of the why. We’re the keepers of, making sure the why is included in the statement or press release or whatever it is that we’re putting it out.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. And a lot of times, I feel like there isn’t anybody in the room asking those questions. No. Asking why or, I mean- we’re seeing just so many balls drop that seem very common sense again to me. you don’t even necessarily need the training or experience that we have, not that we don’t bring a lot of value, but you know what I’m saying. A lot of it just feels like nobody, s- certainly they knew what they were doing, ’cause there’s there’s no way nobody spoke up
Crystal Borde: Yeah.
I’m always amazed at how many people [00:47:00] could, look at something and still it goes out into the public and be like, nobody saw this. Nobody thought this was a problem.” and, because fear… We’re all human, right? And fear is a big part of what paralyzes us during a crisis, right? We don’t wanna be the person that, gets canceled, Yeah
or the person that everybody is dumping on social media. And so fear keeps a lot of people from asking that question- Yeah … because it’s a hard question to answer. Yeah. It’s a hard question to answer. Sometimes you can only answer it partially because- Yeah … things need to develop and evolve for you to get more of the answers.
and sometimes the answer is really hard, right? Like- Yeah … changing our culture or, s- whatever the case may [00:48:00] be. and I like to think about crisis response as a 10-point scale- where 10 is, the most challenging of crises, and 1 as the s- the smallest, right? and that a crisis should be aligned to a point system and c- ’cause that, that helps you figure out how much of this response is necessary, right?
Like- does this require a huge- big response, or is this, minor enough that it doesn’t really need a lot, to happen or at all. And just to give a sense of scale, I think when an organization has to talk about loss of life- In whatever way that occurred- that’s a 10 on that scale.
And then everything else is relative, right? Because there’s nothing harder [00:49:00] that you have to talk about than when loss of life has happened. And, an organization that I felt really communicated well in a crisis related to that is World Central Kitchen- which is a non-profit that creates, feeds people during disasters and war and all this stuff by, using local people to help prepare and create that food and deliver it. And, it’s run by, it was founded and run by José Andrés, a famous chef. and in 2024, several of their volunteers who were working in Gaza were killed in an attack.
This is, the worst case scenario for a non-profit to have to respond or deal with, right? these were colleagues that they knew and they cared about, and then now you have to talk as an organization about [00:50:00] what has happened to them and, and, and the complexities of the situation in which it happened in.
And I felt they did a really good job of being transparent and authentic. They communicated often. They communicated what they knew. And they also communicated to correct misinformation or what they f- perceived as misinformation, particularly- coming from, the Israeli government about what had happened.
And- I th-, and even in the moments in which it was emotional, and José Andrés did many interviews, and clearly was devastated by what had happened, and angry about what had happened, he allowed that emotion in, and displays that emotion, but always stuck to the mission values of, like, why they were there to begin with.
And [00:51:00] why, that they were gonna do everything possible to be a tribute to those individuals because they represented the best of who World Central Kitchen was, and they were the epitome of their mission and their values.
And so every statement was, like, a really strong position about not just those that they lost, but then also reinforcing who they are and all the thousands of volunteers in other places that might be dangerous and life-threatening, and giving value to the work that they were doing globally.
it’s a very fine dance, and that’s not a scenario I think that any organization wants to prepare for. but I felt like in the moment and on, in, in the, the pressure of that, they really responded in a very strong, strategic way. Which I think- Yeah … [00:52:00] served them well. I think it raised their visibility as an organization because of the attack.
And, and now I think now all those people that are now getting introduced to World Central Kitchen are gonna see them very differently, right? Yeah. And in a way that aligns with how they wanna move forward as an organization. And that’s what you hope for as the outcome from your communication efforts during, before, during, and after a crisis.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. No, that’s a great example, and- Yeah, they are, I, I, don’t know them to make really a misstep. they are, he is, the, the organization and, both, and Jose are both- so well-regarded. But I’m, but that is, I was gonna ask you to give us an example of someone who did it well, ’cause there’s so many examples of organizations that don’t do it well, right?
it’s hard to find somebody- You
Crystal Borde: know- And I had to think a lot about when- … [00:53:00] Michelle, you shared the questions with me in advance, and I was preparing, and I was like, I had to think really hard about who my good example was, and then be very more selective about who my not so good example was. yeah.
Yeah. Because you’re right. I think there’s, we partly, and, I’d like to be generous and say, crisis communications work is very, hard. It’s very hard. It challenges you in so many ways and I can say that as someone who’s been doing a lot of it recently. It is m- mind challenging. strategic.
I’ve been pulling on all sorts of, knowledge that I’ve gained over time, like from college forward, ’cause I studied PR in college. and, it’s also emotionally taxing. Regardless of what the crisis [00:54:00] is, like whether it’s on that, my 10-point scale it’s a 10 or it’s a two, you still feel under attacked, right?
You still feel under attack, and I think that also adds a filter in how we have the conversations we have about what we should do, what we should say about what we do moving forward. It’s a lot of emotion in the room, and I know that I try to acknowledge that emotion because then I think once we, name the elephant in the room, then everyone’s like, “All right.
Okay, so they see the elephant too. All right. Great.” Yeah. Then, we can, just name it, what our fears are, and then move forward from there. Because making decisions in a fear space, they’re rarely ever good decisions. Yeah. It’s rarely ever good. It’s just like when they say, there’s, the second location’s not a good place to go.
nothing good happens at the second [00:55:00] location or nothing good happens after 2:00 AM. Nothing good happens when we make crisis response decisions from a space of fear.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: We have to make it from a space of strategy.
and strategic thinking.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Crystal Borde: You know- And I have their- … and have some kind of framework to guide that conversation.
Michelle Garrett: and it’s really helpful to have, somebody in the room who can kinda keep their cool and, think like that because I think, the organization, itself, the, those involved, are maybe not going to be in that space.
But they have to try to get there, but it’s helpful to have somebody to kinda help them, see it that way because it’s, it is, it, I think it would be really hard to make decisions when you are, panicky, and I think that’s- the, the atmosphere that we live in now is almost like, yeah, we have to, we have to say something right away and we have to get [00:56:00] out there right now. and e- the acknowledgement can buy you some time. And then, get in your war room or whatever and, your crisis room I should say.
And figure out, what, how you can expand on the acknowledgement maybe,
Crystal Borde: Yeah. And I think figuring out who is in the crisis room- is really important decision-making to do right now before the crisis happens. And it’s really important that it’s based on roles in the organization and not based on personalities.
And because the decision-making needs to happen from the expertise of that role or where that person sits in the organization, and less about who the person is, right?
and there, there should be an acknowledgement of, people volun- being asked and invited to be a part of it.[00:57:00]
because you’re right, not everybody is good in that room. not everybody, has the, the skills or the abilities to kinda manage during a crisis like that. and so it’s important to kinda get people bo- have buy-in and also prepared, right? there’s like- conversations that have happened about what the crisis playbook’s gonna be, what your role in this role is gonna be on this team and what those expectations are so then when it happens and everything starts rolling, everybody understands what they’re supposed to do.
Everybody understands their assignment. Everybody understands what the expectations of other people are of them, and it just makes for a much more s- a smoother transition. Yeah … yeah. But you can still practice. Because so much is unpredictable, like, why not have some things that you’ve already predicted, [00:58:00] like that?
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. And you can practice. You can role play, you can practice, And, yeah, some- I think some organizations may be more prone to finding themselves in the midst of crises than others, and those organizations should definitely have a plan and revisit it and practice and, yeah, it can’t sit on a shelf and just collect dust, so-
it needs to be something that you are always, kinda thinking about, and- and, yeah. Or have somebody in your organization who’s always thinking about it and reminding everyone else.
Crystal Borde: I think in, an ideal world, we should be revisiting our crisis playbook or our crisis comms plan- every quarter.
Michelle Garrett: Every quarter, wow. Yeah.
Crystal Borde: that’s the- Every quarter, ’cause things change in your organization. They can change that quickly. and I think it’s if you can do that at least twice a year- [00:59:00] Yeah … if, quarterly isn’t possible, then at least twice a year.
For some organizations, they never look at it. It’s not even once a year. No.
Michelle Garrett: They don’t even have one. Yeah. That’s what’s always killed me, is even if I’m meeting with a potential new client and I ask about their crisis plan, they look at me like, “Crisis plan?” Like-
Crystal Borde: Yeah. “
Michelle Garrett: What do you
Crystal Borde: mean?”
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. No, I, don’t, I’ve had that reaction more than once. And I feel like we’re living in a time now where it’s… And, there’s all kinds of crises that can befall an organization. It doesn’t-
it doesn’t have to be catastrophic necessarily. Maybe somebody embezzles money, or maybe- Yeah … your site is down, or, I don’t know, there’s, somebody steals data, data privacy.
there’s just so many things. anyway, you need to get those folks in a room and decide, like what things- Yeah … do you need to be prepared for, keeping an eye out, for.
Crystal Borde: And then- And one wa- one way is to ease organizations into it, ’cause [01:00:00] some people don’t have this either, is to have a strategic communications plan, Because a strategic communications plan will have answers to the questions you need for the crisis comms plan. ’cause that’s gonna tell you who your audiences are, right? it’s gonna tell you who, where your channels are. It’s gonna tell you what you’re normally, what are the key messages that you are constantly communicating on behalf of your organization.
It has a lot of the baseline information that you need for the crisis comms plan to take that to the next level. So most of the time, people are more responsive to doing a strategic comms plan than they might be a crisis plan, so maybe that’s a good place to start.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. Yes. It should be part of it, right?
we are, at our a- put up the link. I can’t wait to see you at the conference. Yay. You’ll be [01:01:00] speaking next Tuesday morning, at the conference, and, I’m really excited. Y- th- this has been awesome, and I, I can’t thank you enough for being here, taking time, ’cause I’m sure you’re busy getting ready.
I, I hope we see, a lot of, friendly, familiar faces and hopefully meet some new folks as well at the conference. And, the information I put on the screen to register and learn more. It’s in Orlando. and Crystal and I would love to see you there, so- Yes …
Crystal Borde: yeah. Yeah. I’d love to see you.
And bright and early, at 9:45 on Tuesday- … the 20th. but I definitely… I’ll be talking about some of the things that Michelle and I have talked about today. But, I will also have a little decision-making flowchart. People really like that flowchart. Ooh. Ooh. I’m telling you, cameras come out, phones come out to take pictures-
of that whenever it’s on the screen. yeah, looking forward to seeing everybody at [01:02:00] ICON. I helped plan last year’s ICON here in Washington, DC and- Wow … saw firsthand just how, impactful that conference experience can be for so many communicators. So really excited to see everybody next week.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. Yes. Yay. thank you, Crystal, and thanks everybody who, listened and tuned in, and I will see you again soon with another episode of PR Explored. Thanks so much.
Crystal Borde: Thanks, Michelle. Bye, everybody.
Michelle Garrett: Bye.
About the host: Michelle Garrett is a B2B PR consultant, media relations consultant, writer and author of B2B PR That Gets Results, an Amazon Best Seller. She helps companies create content, earn media coverage, and position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. Michelle’s articles have been featured by Entrepreneur, Content Marketing Institute, Muck Rack, and Ragan’s PR Daily, among others. She’s a frequent speaker on public relations, marketing and content. Michelle has been repeatedly ranked among the top ten most influential PR professionals.
Learn more about Michelle’s freelance PR consulting services here. Book a no-obligation call to talk about your needs here. Buy Michelle’s book here.
