From AI to DEI: Navigating Crises in 2025
Potential brand crises have proliferated in recent years. Whereas once a company or nonprofit had to do something significant to hurt stakeholder trust and negatively impact the bottom line, now a single wrong phrase can go viral for all the wrong reasons.
Or, in the case of AI deepfakes, a brand doesn’t even need to do anything wrong — the deepfake itself does all the work.
Landmines are everywhere, which is why our two recent LinkedIn Live panels featured four crisis communications experts who explained:
- How brands can anticipate potential crises
- How to take the temperature of the potential crisis
- Ways to ensure that no brand lives on the reputation of a single leader
- How to navigate the crisis when it hits
“It’s cheaper to prevent a war than to fight one,” Four Corners’ Drew Kerr told moderator and Proven Media Solutions founder Dustin Siggins. He and Aaron Walker of Big Think described the importance of having data on hand to assess market realities, observing and responding to trends, and anticipating stakeholder responses to both market shifts and overarching trends.
The second panel focused on preventing executives’ personal brands from becoming liabilities to a company’s success. And it’s not always as flashy as a scandal or the executive bombing a media appearance. It can be as seemingly small as a charismatic leader with a huge social media following going to another company — and taking the audience with him.
“With the emergence first of social media and really the ‘TikTok-ification’ of brands, it’s so much about the leader, the person, as the face of the brand. … We trust the visibility of a person rather than a faceless company,” said Ryan Cohn of Sachs Media.
Cohn and Matter Communications’ Julianna Sheridan advised spreading the leadership brand across multiple members of the C-Suite. Several key leaders should be trained to be “faces” of the brand, with messaging that drives their niche portion of the overall brand narrative.
All four panelists agreed that culture is especially challenging for companies as they navigate matters like DEI. Large organizations especially can be caught in traps as they try to please multiple stakeholder audiences that may volubly — and expensively — disagree.
The key to success here is the same for solving any potential crisis: know what your core stakeholders want and then deliver on that. And only that. Do not get caught up in matters that have nothing to do with your brand, or you risk self-inflicted brand injuries.
Finally, companies need to be prepared and equipped to navigate a crisis when it hits. The communications team’s first job is to help leadership determine the scale of the crisis from 1 to 10, with 1 being a flash in the pan you can ignore and 10 being a potential atom bomb for the company.
After all, as we’ve said before, public opinion is harsh, but it is often short-lived. Overreacting — on social media, in the press, or even in the company newsletter — can turn a blip into an oncoming asteroid. You don’t want to give trolls any power, so it’s important to assess the relevance and trustworthiness of the source of the potential crisis.
And no matter the size or scope of the crisis, there are six key steps to take to mitigate its impact:
- Be as transparent as possible.
- Share relevant data and, if possible, good news.
- Take prompt actions.
- Develop and announce concrete next steps.
- Execute the next steps.
- Never stop communicating until the crisis is over — and then some.
A crisis can hit even if companies do everything right. Communications professionals should have a seat at the leadership table long before the crisis hits. Our job shouldn’t just be to pick up the pieces when disaster strikes, but to set the stage for smooth sailing even when the weather is calm. Successfully navigating rough waters when we hit them requires thinking ahead, knowing how to take the temperature of the potential crisis, and ensuring that the right team is in place to quickly lock it down.
