Nobody Panic: Dos & Don’ts of Crisis Management, with Sydney Isaacs

In our world, it's not a question of if but when a crisis will strike. In 2023, 96% of businesses experienced emergencies, but only one in five companies were prepared to take action. So in today’s episode, we’re learning to expect the unexpected with the help of our guest: Sydney Isaacs.

Sydney is a Managing Director for H/Advisors Abernathy, a communications advisor with one of the leading crisis management firms in the U.S. Far beyond PR strategy, Sydney has spent the last two decades handling and preventing crises like workplace misconduct, product recalls, cybersecurity attacks and physical disasters.

So today, Sydney helps us come up with action plans to handle many business crises. Together, we learn how to build efficient teams of first responders, spot crises before they occur and prioritize the right course of action to fix imminent issues. We also unpack how trust, emotion and communication influence crisis prevention and recovery.

So keep calm and tune into this week’s episode. With Patrick and Sydney, you’ll learn to weather every storm.

Highlights:

• What is a crisis? (3:09)
• A flexible approach to crisis management (5:14)
• Why actions speak louder than words (8:11)
• Fight or flight: handling human emotions in a crisis (10:00)
• Differentiating transparency, honesty and forthrightness (11:49)
• “In a crisis, we want to be boring” (13:17)
• When trust interacts with crisis management (14:35)
• People believe in what they see (16:09)
• How to assemble a crisis management plan (18:53)
• The importance of proof-testing your plan (21:37)
• Qualities of a first responder (23:13)
• Crisis management and social media (26:54)
• Building reputation as crisis prevention (29:12)

Links:

• Cadence Bank Website
• Cadence Bank X (Twitter)
• Cadence Bank LinkedIn
• H/Advisors Abernathy Website
• Sydney Isaacs LinkedIn
• PwC’s Global Crisis and Resilience Survey 2023
• Why A Business Crisis is A Catalyst for Experimentation

Feedback:

If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producers, Natalie.Barron@cadencebank.com, Eydie.Pengelly@cadencebank.com, or danielle.kernell@cadencebank.com.