Tag Archive for: Mental Readiness

On January 21, 2022, Helio Fred Garcia was featured in an article on Communication Intelligence about a recent webinar Garcia led for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

The webinar, titled “Maintaining and Restoring Trust in Times of Great Change,” focused on the drivers of trust and techniques to maintain and restore trust in times of crisis.

In this interview, Garcia shared some of the core ideas and key takeaways from his webinar on January 20.

“Trust is the natural consequence of three related but distinct factors,” Garcia explained. He then described each of these factors in detail: promises kept, expectations met, and values lived. When you take these drivers of trust seriously, you are more likely to ask the right questions and make smart decisions in a crisis.

Garcia also explained one of the key reasons why organizations and leaders struggle to respond to crises effectively.

“Most failed crises arise when leaders fail to think of the crisis from the perspective of stakeholder expectations, but rather start from their own personal preferences, fears, anxieties, etc. This is the case in celebrated failed crisis response, from Volkswagen to BP to United Airlines to Trump COVID,” Garcia explained. “Making decisions in a crisis from personal preference is a mark of poor leadership and nearly always makes the crisis worse.”

Click here to read the full article.

On March 31, 2021, Logos President Helio Fred Garcia was highlighted in The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations for partaking in Peritus PR’s professional development series, which is designed to help their employees grow as strategic communicators. This Lunch & Learn series featured prominent thought leaders in the public relations and communications industry.

During his session, Garcia discussed the importance of mental readiness in a crisis by teaching lessons from his book The Agony of Decision: Mental Readiness and Leadership in a Crisis to help participants understand some of the core principles of crisis response.

Members of the Peritus PR team shared their biggest takeaways from the session. “Our value as public relations counselors during crises is not measured by the loudest voice in the room or the years of experience under our belt. It’s measured through our mental readiness,” explains Louise Oliver, president of Peritus PR “We can’t ask for a seat at the table when the going gets tough, but we can earn it by being mentally ready to lead in a crisis.”

Read the full article here.