Crisis and emergency risk communication by leaders for leaders

This book gives leaders the tools to navigate the harsh realities of speaking to the public, media, partners and stakeholders during an intense public-safety emergency, including terrorism. In a crisis, the right message at the right time is a "resource multiplier"--it helps response officials get their job done. Many of the predictable harmful individual and community behaviors can be mitigated with effective crisis and emergency risk communication. Each crisis will carry its own psychological baggage. A leader must anticipate what mental stresses the population will be experiencing and apply appropriate communication strategies to attempt to manage these stresses in the population. Nowhere in this book is there an implied promise that a population or community faced with an emergency, crisis, or disaster will overcome its challenges solely through the application of the communication principles presented here. However, this book does offer the promise that an organization can compound its problems during an emergency if it has neglected sound crisis and emergency risk communication planning. Included in this book are excerpts from interviews so that you can hear directly from leaders--governors, mayors, health officials, and fire chiefs--who stepped up to the microphone during crises and faced their community and the world. Learn how they made tough decisions about how to inform, console and motivate their constituents during and after the crisis.2004821