EXXON VALDEZ: THE GREAT CRISIS MANAGEMENT PARADOX - Executive Action Crisis Communication Management System, by James E. Lukaszewski

EXXON VALDEZ: THE GREAT CRISIS MANAGEMENT PARADOX©
Executive Action(r) Crisis Communication Management System
by James E. Lukaszewski, APR, Fellow PRSA

“Exxon and Valdez have become the sine qua non for the mishandling of both an
environmental disaster response and the corporate communications surrounding it. No
environmental disaster in the twentieth century captivated the world's attention to the extent
of
the Exxon Valdez oil spill in March 1989. It certainly captivated the attention of public
relations
practitioners and corporate communicators, triggering exhaustive new crisis planning and
crisis preparation efforts in many organizations. Yet, top business management often use the
Exxon spill as a key platform for raising questions about the need for crisis planning beyond
that necessary to operationally manage a problem.

“Even now, years later, many members of corporate senior management remain at odds with
public relations practitioners over lessons to be learned from the incident. This monograph
explores the powerful lessons this paradox teaches.”

=============================================

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JAMES E. LUKASZEWSKI, APR, FELLOW PRSA

“James E. Lukaszewski (loo-ka-SHEV-skee) advises, coaches, and counsels the men and
women who run very large corporations and organizations. The bulk of his practice is in the
Western Hemisphere, although he has clients from most parts of the world. He believes that
the communications problems they face can be solved through superior personal leadership
skills combined with positive, strategic communication.

“He is a specialist in trouble-shooting tough, touchy, sensitive corporate communications
issues. He provides counsel to companies facing serious internal and external problems
involving: activist counteraction; community relations and grassroots campaigns; corporate
relations failures; reputational threats; crisis communication management; employee
relationship building; ethics/integrity/compliance; litigation visibility management;
management communication strategies; media relations strategy and analysis; public
affairs/exposure management; strategic Web site construction; Web-based attacks; and
strategy. His broad-based experience ranges from media-initiated investigations to product
recalls and plant closings, from criminal litigation to takeovers. He is frequently retained by
senior management to directly intervene and manage the resolution of corporate problems
and bad news. The situations he helps resolve often involve conflict, controversy, community
action or activist opposition. The fastest growing portion of his practice involves civil and
criminal litigation.

“He helps prepare spokespersons for crucial public appearances, local and network news
interviews including 20-20, 60 Minutes, Dateline NBC, and Nightline, financial analyst
meetings, legislative and congressional testimony; and personal coaching for executives in
trouble or facing career-defining problems.

“He is a prolific author (several books, more than 130 articles), lecturer (corporate, college
and university), trainer, counselor, and public speaker. He is quoted in publications such as
The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Miami Herald, the Harvard Business
Review, and industry trade journals. He authors the quarterly column strategy for pr reporter,
is a member of the editorial board for Ragan's Public Relations Journal, a contributing editor
to Public Relations Quarterly, a contributing columnist to PR News, and was the first crisis
columnist for the PRSA's member publication, PR Tactics. His book Influencing Public
Attitudes: Strategies that Reduce the Media's Power was published in December 1992 by
the Issue Action Press. The Public Relations Society of America released fully revised
editions his Executive Action(r) Crisis Communication Management System in September
2000: War Stories and Crisis Communication Strategies, An Anthology; Crisis
Communication Planning Strategies, A Workbook; and Media Relations During
Emergencies, A Guide. He published 19 unabridged monographs on critical communication
subjects since 1994, three based on chapters he authored in books published by Gale
Research, Exxon Valdez: The Great Crisis Management Paradox; McGraw-Hill, Building
Quality Community Relationships: A Planning Model to Gain and Maintain Public Consent;
and the Public Relations Society of America, The Newest Discipline: Managing Legally
Driven Issues.

“His clients will tell you that he is a pragmatist and straight shooter. He has won a reputation
for doing as well as thinking. He is a teacher, thinker, coach, and friend with the unique ability
to help executives look at problems from a variety of principled perspectives, to think through
and strategize in new ways and to take appropriate, highly focused, ethically appropriate
action. He has personally counseled, coached, and guided thousands of executives in
organizations large and small across the U.S. and from many cultures representing
government; the military and defense industry; the agriculture, banking, computer, financial,
food processing, health care, insurance, paper, real estate development and
telecommunications industries; cooperatives; trade and professional associations; and
non-profit agencies. He is one of the few who can and truly does coach CEOs.

“An accredited member (APR) of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and a
member of its College of Fellows (Fellow PRSA), Mr. Lukaszewski is a member of the
PRSA's Board of Ethics & Professional Standards and is active in the Counselors
Academy,
the Corporate, Employee Relations, and Public Affairs/Government Sections and the New
York City Chapter. He is also a member of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, the
International Churchill Society, and The Issue Management Council. He is an Adjunct
Associate Professor of Communications at New York University's School of Continuing and
Professional Studies and has served as a civilian advisor to the United States Marine Corps
and several federal agencies. He lectures annually at the U.S. Marine Corp's East Coast
Commander's Media Training Symposium and is an internationally recognized speaker on
crisis management, ethics, media relations, public affairs, and reputation preservation and
restoration.

“Lukaszewski received his B.A. degree in 1974 from Metropolitan State University in
Minnesota. He is a former deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Economic
Development and assistant press secretary to former Minnesota Governor Wendell
Anderson. He founded Minnesota-based Media Information Systems Corporation in 1978.
Prior to founding The Lukaszewski Group Inc. in 1989 he was senior vice president and
director of Executive Communication Programs for Georgeson & Company and a partner
with Chester Burger Company, both in New York City.”

======================
1993, 26 pages. Order #DR506
======================