Crisis Communications Strategy: Seven Deadly Sins and Proactive Response Framework

Krista Berlincourt, Head of Communications at fintech company Simple, shares principles for managing corporate communications crises based on her experience handling a major data breach affecting 800,000 customers. The article outlines seven critical mistakes to avoid—disappearance, concealment, inertia, indirectness, automation, assumption, and winging it—and advocates for treating customers with the same care as close relationships during incidents.