5 ways PR pros can handle crisis situations like Olivia Pope
Judy Smith, the inspiration for “Scandal’s” lead character, gives communications experts some great advice for those times brands fall under fire.
Real-life crisis manager Judy Smith, the inspiration for “Scandal” fictional character Olivia Pope, hits the nail on the head with her “glass half full” approach to managing life’s tricky situations.
Related: How to Save Face in a Business Crisis
Friends and family ask me how “Scandal” could possibly remain one of my guilty pleasures given my own role in managing crises for clients. They ask, “Don’t you have enough of that kind of stress in your professional life?”
Maybe it’s the pleasure I take in watching the fast and effective delivery of this “fixer’s” reply to the media or her staccato sentences that say enough—and not a word more. It’s the fierce devotion she has for protecting and defending the public images of her clients that I tune in to watch, week after week.
Balancing character traits.
In her book, “Good Self, Bad Self: Transforming Your Worst Qualities into Biggest Assets,” Smith outlines the seven shared character traits that, when unbalanced, will likely lead to trouble: ego, denial, fear, ambition, accommodation, patience and indulgence.
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