Anger Management: Your Best Move in Crisis PR

David Letterman is taking a continued public relations beating over his flings with interns and it didn’t have to be that way.

Most PR firms will tell their clients to manage a crisis by being the first out of the gate with bad news – but it won’t help if they fail to recognize the larger dynamic behind the problem. David Letterman is no dummy and at first glance, his clever mix of self-deprecating humor and attempts at humble honesty could be considered textbook crisis PR.

But unfortunately, the other side of this story was rooted in deep anger far more than financial opportunity. Whether it involves a celebrity, politician or your business, an enemy scorned is acting on emotion and that is a PR nightmare. Your crisis plan needs to expect the worst – in fact, because you are rational and your opponent is not, think out of the box and expect beyond the worst.

Letterman and his PR team were kidding themselves thinking that being the first to spin a tale of extortion would temper public opinion on the actual acts committed and thus, shut the enemy down.

If anything, it fired up Letterman’s opponent even more.

Let’s start with some obvious advice – “say it out loud first”. If it doesn’t sound good, it probably isn’t a good idea. Case in point – Taking the intern you are flinging with along on a family vacation sounds less than brilliant, doesn’t it? Letterman of all people should know that combining non-marital sex and public figures is risky business. Just ask Louisville Basketball Coach Rick Pitino – nothing good ever comes out of romping in the back parking lot of an Applebees. Add a steamy diary and a jealous boyfriend to the mix and maybe the “victim” approach isn’t always best option to mitigate a crisis.