Master Class

We skimmed the book so you wouldn’t have to

Masters of Disaster: The Ten Commandments of Damage Control, by Christopher Lehane, Mark Fabiani, and Bill Guttentag (Palgrave MacMillan) $27

When a crisis hits, don’t act impulsively — like Representative Anthony Weiner, who tried to lie his way out of his Twitter scandal. “Had [he] not attempted to chase the news cycle, Weinergate would have been a survivable crisis.” p27

It’s all about timing. After Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco admitted to having an affair, he was “reelected by a historic margin.” How? Newsom timed his apology perfectly at the “front-end” of his crisis. p55

There is always a “core audience” that collectively controls your fate — such as a company board — and with them, you should maintain your poise and “demonstrate studied nonchalance.” p84

Fight back “with overwhelming force.” In the 1990s, when author James Stewart accused Hillary Clinton of breaking the law, the Clintons found a discrepancy in his reporting. “It became a defining moment. The damage had been controlled.” p236