CIG: Denver Public Relations, training, graphic design, research and proposal writing

Calm, Cool and Comedic

I walked into a project meeting at a client’s office last week and was greeted by a lovely receptionist who offered me a cup of coffee. Accepting her offer, I took a sip of the coffee and set the mug on the table in front of me. Written on the mug was the phrase: “Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it.” Known as the “90/10 Principle,” the phrase resonated with me from a PR and crisis communication perspective.

In our line of work, we deal with our fair share of crises, and as a PR practitioner, I have an innate interest in the ways various people and companies handle disaster. While the art of crisis communication (yes, it is an art…) has no manual, the one common thread across all successful methods of dealing with crisis is the ability to make the best of a bad situation.

That being said, let’s talk about our old friend, David Letterman. In case you missed it, on the Oct. 1 episode of “Late Night,” Letterman addressed a live audience and millions of viewers regarding a blackmail case involving sexual relations with his female staffers, joking through what easily could have been a public relations catastrophe.

Letterman has since been commended, even praised, for the way he handled the situation. So what makes this “sex scandal” so different from all the others we’ve seen from the likes of Bill Clinton, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards and most recently South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford? I’ll gladly argue that it all boils down to good, strategic crisis communication. Instead of taking a reactive approach a la Edwards and Sanford, Letterman proactively addressed the situation before it hit the news. He was able to take control by being the first person to admit fault (rather than claiming innocence, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman…”) and made the best of a rather unpleasant situation by using laughter as a tool to transform an embarrassing, uncomfortable topic into comedic fodder and win over his audience.

The point to take home is that crisis is unavoidable – bottom line. In life and work, we will all encounter unexpected and sometimes catastrophic events. What we can do is be prepared before they happen, be in control when they do and understand that the outcome depends almost entirely on the way we respond to them. After all, life is only 10 percent what happens to you, and 90 percent how you react.

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