Powills: How Technology Forever Changed the Crisis

In today’s technologically speed of light world, keeping a crisis at bay has become increasingly challenging. In a world where secrets don’t exist (just ask Donald Sterling about his private turned public statements), no crisis is safe, no matter how good of a publicist you have on the other end. Jonah Hill, unfortunately, fell victim (a term used in the lightest sense, especially since he was the one who said the word) to 21^st century communications when the funny-man actor spit out a homophobic slur at a member of the paparazzi. Had this happened 10 years ago, it may have fallen on deaf ears – not today. The video was rolling when Hill spit out the slur and within minutes, TMZ published the video on the Internet. A crisis in the 90s may have been limited to action and an aggressive publicist calling in favors to anyone who may have released it in a damaging way. Today, those favors also fall on deaf ears. Hill, who is in the middle of promoting a few movies, was whisked away to New York to hit the media circuit and craft his response/apology. Hill’s media team picked two outlets for the discussion – Jimmy Fallon and Howard Stern. Genius. The beauty of Fallon’s show is that he is at the top of the ratings – the hottest show on Late Night. Hill would emotionally apologize for his mistake and win back a huge chunk of his second-guessing audience. The bigger win, though, was Stern. Although criticized by much of the general public, Stern has something that other shows can’t offer: unedited time. Hill could say what he wanted, as he wanted it, and without being edited through written words or cut TV. No sound bites, just pure unedited vocals. Stern was the perfect place to hash out the survival of his career. And it worked. The reality is, every crisis will have a beginning, middle and end. Even if Hill was homophobic, his career would have still found its way. Hill knew this. However, the way you play your cards in a moment of distress will ultimately determine the speed at which the end comes. When in a crisis, the end is desired as fast as possible. Luckily for the business world, TMZ rarely cares about you – and probably won’t be waiting for you as you exit your favorite restaurant with in-your-face cameras and pointed questions. Unfortunately for the business world, Howard Stern isn’t calling your name either to give you a platform to resolve your issues (if Sterling was smart, he would have done Stern instead of Anderson Cooper). Act fast. When you, as a business owner, make a mistake, don’t try to hide it. The Internet, the digital media and Social Media will not be very forgiving if you try to cover up rather than swiftly acting and resolving the mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, many are willing to forgive, if you handle it like a boss (I always wanted to use that term in a column). Technology has forever changed the crisis. There will never be a game of hide-and-go-seek. And, that’s OK. However, as business owners, you much recognize the shift and plan for when a crisis will happen. If you are in business, it will happen, it’s just a matter of when and how severe. Make sure your team knows what to do in a case of a crisis. Hill’s team acted fast, owned up to the mistake and moved forward. Jonah Hill’s approach can teach you a lot about how technology can start (TMZ) and end (Stern) a crisis. Learn from his misfortunes and you will see a clear path to survival.