September 25, 2025
Learn to manage a crisis from start to finish, from one of the world’s leading crisis communications experts.
We recently hosted a webinar with Judy Smith, a leading crisis communications expert, former Deputy White House Press Secretary, and Founder and CEO of the strategic advisory firm Smith & Company.
Judy is the real-life inspiration behind the hit TV series Scandal, and has been dubbed “America’s best-known corporate fixer” by The Washington Post. She has decades of experience guiding global brands, Fortune 50 companies, and high-profile figures through high-stakes crises — from political scandals to corporate reputational storms. Her clients have included Former President George W. Bush, Amazon, Sony, and Monica Lewinsky, demonstrating her expertise across diverse crisis scenarios.
In a discussion with our CEO Adam Joseph, Judy shared tips on how to manage a crisis from start to finish, covering global and local crisis management, reputation repair, PR crisis response protocols, and stakeholder communications.
Read below for her mini crisis communications playbook – including how to set expectations during a crisis, navigate internal team discussions, and rebuild trust after a reputational hit.
Foundations of a Successful Crisis Response
Corporate reputation management has become increasingly complex as organizations face unprecedented levels of scrutiny across digital and traditional media channels. The financial stakes of reputation crises continue to escalate, making effective crisis communications more critical than ever for organizational survival and recovery.
Crisis situations rarely have quick fixes, and promising otherwise sets teams and leaders up for failure. When a crisis hits, the first move is to set realistic expectations, not promises.
A fundamental principle Judy stresses is setting realistic expectations early in the crisis response process.
For a successful crisis response, communications teams should:
Be proactive in informing senior leaders and stakeholders about the situation and likely outcomes. Communications teams should lay out possible scenarios and align the team on contingency plans while providing clear talking points to executives and team members.
Be honest about what you can realistically do to mitigate reputational damage, but don’t overpromise. Tell leaders explicitly what communications can and cannot fix, and clarify what outcomes are outside your control. This honesty about capabilities helps build credibility with leadership and establishes a foundation for effective crisis management.
Establish clear internal roles and communication protocols immediately to manage information flow effectively. This includes assigning specific spokespersons, establishing briefing schedules, and creating escalation triggers so everyone understands when and how to act as the crisis progresses.
"Be realistic about what as a communicator you can accomplish. If I don’t think that I can fix something, I will say it."
Strategies for Working with Executives and Stakeholders
Internal alignment represents one of the most challenging aspects of crisis management, particularly when CEOs, legal teams, and marketing departments have conflicting priorities. To manage a crisis successfully you need to manage internal alignment and stakeholder engagement:
Secure a seat at the executive table early. Judy recommends that communications professionals advocate strongly for representation in executive strategy sessions to influence both external and internal narratives. This positioning ensures that communications considerations are integrated into decision-making processes from the outset rather than being added as an afterthought.
Avoid groupthink. Engage key stakeholders one-on-one to listen closely to their priorities, clarify concerns, and address objections before group meetings. This approach helps create space for honest feedback and identifies potential blind spots that could undermine the crisis response.
Tailor messages to each stakeholder’s priorities. Different stakeholders require customized approaches based on their specific concerns and responsibilities. For example, CFOs need reassurance through quantified financial risk mitigation efforts, while legal teams require detailed compliance strategies. The most effective approach involves highlighting safeguards built into the crisis plan for each functional area.
Frequent updates are essential during a crisis. Over-communicating with calm, consistent updates helps reduce anxiety across the organization. Judy often takes a personal approach with her clients, calling them directly with routine updates to maintain strong communication channels.
“We as comms people have an important role. Sometimes everybody is not on the same page. You have to wrangle people, to meet them where they are and move them to where you need them to be.”
Decision-Making: When and How to Respond
In today’s fast-paced digital age, the instinct to respond is strong but not always wise. Not every issue requires a formal response. During a crisis, Judy advises communications professionals to think critically about when to engage:
Evaluate the broader environment and potential fallout before issuing public statements. Run fact-checks and scenario analyses so you can justify response timing and content, but don’t be pressured into providing a statement immediately following a crisis. Sometimes silence or delayed response is strategic.
Trust your intuition. After gathering all available facts, give yourself room to exercise judgment on what the way to proceed is. Experienced communicators know when to allow a situation to evolve while gathering facts, as premature statements could escalate the crisis.
Use clear, straightforward messaging when responding; avoid jargon and convoluted statements. Prepare direct and transparent contingency messages for your team, as the public can sense if something feels disingenuous or misleading.
"The old rules about responding to everything no longer works. Not everything deserves a response. You want to really look at the environment and weigh it because sometimes you don’t need to respond.”
Rebuilding Trust After Reputation Damage
Post-crisis reputation repair requires a methodical, long-term approach that extends well beyond the immediate crisis response period. Here are Judy’s top four tips for how to proceed after a crisis blows over:
Realistically assess whether trust can be fully restored and establish timelines for progress. Define clear, measurable milestones (such as issuing a public apology, implementing restitution mechanisms, or enacting policy changes) and regularly review these goals with leadership to ensure they’re being implemented in the recovery process.
Craft a detailed plan for rebuilding trust with customers, employees, and other stakeholders. Instead of just managing optics, focus on consistent, transparent communication that is genuine and thoughtful. Prioritize proactive dialogues, share concrete actions taken, and invite regular feedback that demonstrates a genuine commitment to change rather than simply controlling the narrative.
Address internal team morale and burnout with intentional care. Prolonged crises can take a significant toll on communications teams. Just as rebuilding trust with your external audiences is critical, nurturing and restoring trust within your team is equally as important.
Be transparent about the lessons learned and the changes underway to prevent future crises. Create and distribute a post-crisis report that captures root causes, evaluates response effectiveness, and outlines specific next steps - such as updated policies, training programs, or process changes. The best way to learn from a crisis is to really dig into what happened, figure out what worked and what didn’t, and then use those insights to continue improving future crisis response protocols.
Conclusion
Whether you work in public relations, communications, or public affairs, knowing how to navigate unpredictable, messy reputation risks is essential. Obviously every crisis is unique, and what works for a nonprofit organization will likely look different from handling a political scandal, but the core operating principles remain the same.
Successful crisis communications are always rooted in building trust, internally and externally. Trust is earned by thoughtfully guiding executives through worst-case scenarios, investing in rigorous planning, and opening up direct lines with stakeholders for two-way communication. When these fundamentals are baked into your crisis response, you'll be well equipped to handle whatever crisis comes your way.
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