If you’re a casual observer of business news and you were asked what these companies had in common, you’d be forgiven for thinking this blog was just an intro about how to build a multinational brand which can stand the test of time. Whilst that’s a relevant and sensible topic, we’ll likely save it for another day.

Anyone who’s been heavily across the pages of the FT over the last few years will know there’s a slightly different trend connecting these industry juggernauts – companies with CEOs ousted for romantic affairs with employees (yes, you read that correctly).

In recent news, Nestle’s CEO Laurent Freixe was fired for an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate, which not only massively shook investor confidence, but also added to the reported number of 14 CEOs which have been fired for consensual affairs since 2016.

If you’re a business owner in the Caribbean, you may think,

“What does a crisis scenario at a Swiss chocolate maker have to do with me?”.

However, this situation presents a crucial lesson for businesses worldwide. In a world where issues such as AI FOMO, tariffs and cyber risks are front-of-mind for founders, the most dangerous threats to your bottom line aren’t just limited to the spheres of inflation, innovation or regulation. They also extend to your reputation.

Irrespective of size, location and industry, no business is immune to a crisis, and whilst the obvious challenge when these issues occur lies in dealing with the operational impact, it’s equally important to have a clear strategy from a communications standpoint (especially when the world’s eyeballs are all over your dirty laundry).

Above all else, prepare

If you ever engage a comms professional for advice around navigating a crisis, the top three tips they’d provide are prepare, prepare and prepare again. As a founder, should you be aware of any situation which could be significantly harmful to your business or your stakeholders, get proactive about establishing a clear crisis communications plan.

• Do you have a statement prepared?
• Which stakeholders do you need to inform and in what order?
• What internal escalation procedures do you have in place?
• Is there a list of responses to potential questions from the media?

These are just a sample of the considerations you need to think about and in the heat of a rapidly moving crisis scenario, it’s extremely difficult to get the headroom to make effective decisions. Building a plan-of-action before a crisis leaks to the press gives you a vital headstart to test out different approaches and establish a properly considered strategy. Admittedly, the nature of crisis scenarios means getting ahead of the curve isn’t always possible, but if an opportunity presents itself to implement this approach, don’t hesitate to take it.

Beware of the vacuum

If a story breaks and quickly picks up steam amongst a lot of your key stakeholders, the more you refuse to engage with questions from the media, the easier it is for journalists to fill this vacuum with their own theories. This is especially dangerous, as it allows misinformation to spread quickly, which can become the accepted truth and ultimately prove extremely difficult to correct further down the line.

In the heat of a challenging crisis scenario, there’s a massive temptation to bury your head in the sand and just hope things go away. However, the faster you get out there and address a situation, the easier it is for you to grab control of the narrative and limit the damage to your brand.

Don’t wait until a crisis to get friendly with media

Understandably, most founders have a preference for the calibre of publications they want to engage with, which can create a bias and, at times, snobbery of smaller-scale titles. However, these “lower-profile” publications can often be the same outlets which are first to run a story on your crisis before larger titles pick them up.

If you consistently ignore smaller publications for interviews, this severs crucial communication channels with the journalist, which not only restricts your ability to put forward your side of events, but also leaves them with many unanswered questions about your core business. It’s vital to appreciate the value of different types of outlets, as they can become your allies when you need them most.

In truth, most businesses (hopefully) won’t suffer the fate of a Nestle-style CEO scandal. However, they will need to navigate some form of a crisis in their lifetime. Aside from the longer-term benefits of a clean digital footprint and better processes that a crisis comms strategy provides, the current macroeconomic pressures clearly show there’s no room for businesses to become their own worst enemy, making crisis comms management an even greater priority.

With this in mind, if you don’t have a strategy in place, don’t wait until you’re in the eye of the storm to seek advice – get started now.