Preparing leadership for crisis media interviews
Launch library · evergreen read
Leadership figures are not always naturally comfortable in the specific format of a genuine crisis interview, where questions can be pointed, repeated and deliberately uncomfortable in ways that differ quite significantly from the more controlled interviews leaders typically encounter during ordinary, everyday business activity and media appearances.
Preparation should genuinely include practising the truly difficult questions, not just the ones leadership already feels confident answering comfortably, since the actual interview will almost certainly include the very questions everyone secretly hoped would not come up at all. Rehearsing this discomfort well in advance makes it far more manageable when it actually arrives on the day.
Beyond the specific content itself, preparation should also carefully address tone and demeanour, since audiences read a leader's composure and apparent sincerity just as closely as they read the actual words being spoken aloud. A technically correct answer delivered with entirely the wrong tone can still damage trust quite significantly with a watching audience.