There are some things that people just don’t want to think about…death, rape, or disease, for instance. Fun stuff. But somebody’s gotta do it. Because every now and then, bad stuff happens. And that’s when the communicators have to step in. Hey… that’s us!

This week, our PR team spent a day with Nick Kalm, founder and president of Reputation Partners in Chicago, one of our Pinnacle Worldwide partners, talking about the importance of crisis planning and reputation management. We had to dream up all the worst things that could happen to our clients. Not good for a bunch of overactive imaginations. It got ugly.

Fortunately, Nick helped us focus on what we could and should do to help our clients prepare and manage through any potential crisis. As uncomfortable as it got, we were all glad we did it.

We talked through messaging, phone trees, who speaks to whom, how to conduct drills and all the potential audiences aside from media and social networks, such as employees, customers, vendors, trade associations, investors and the many stakeholders that matter in a crisis. Many thanks Nick — not only are you very tall, you are very wise, especially when it comes to crisis planning and reputation management.

Have you thought through the potential crises that face your company or client’s business? Have you got a plan?

Whether you do or don’t, check out our interview with Nick for some words of wisdom on crisis planning and reputation management.