I never assign blame in a crisis. There is no benefit to doing so.

Social media has dramatically changed the playing field in terms of crisis communications - and any company that does not effectively use social media to take the pulse of its constituents on a constant basis, and know how to communicate with them in a crisis, is breaching its fiduciary responsibilities to its stakeholders.

Too often, clients want us to give them a one-size-fits-all crisis management plan from off the shelf. Some of our competitors do this because it's fast and cheap. They build a plan once and keep using the same plan over and over with other clients.

A moderate amount of stress - not too much, not too little - generally means you understand the problem and are psychologically stoked to solve it. Moderate stress yields the best, most optimum performance in a crisis.

Mistakes are good provided you learn from them, and correct them promptly.

I often say that good crisis management is good decision-making under stress.

So many companies today, when first confronted by a crisis, go into a bunker mentality. They either say, "No comment," or they lie as a knee-jerk reaction. Neither of these sins, I believe, is generally committed on purpose. Rather, companies often panic when first confronted with a crisis and either say nothing, which looks like they're covering something up, or they speak what they wish was the truth.