Managing Crisis in Law Firms with Bill Coletti

Allison Williams: [00:00:11] Hi everybody, it’s Allison Williams here, your Law Firm Mentor. Law Firm Mentor is a business coaching service for solo and small law firm attorneys. We help you grow your revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.

Allison Williams: [00:00:25] Bill Coletti is a reputation management, crisis communications and professional development expert. Additionally, he is a keynote speaker, Wall Street Journal Risk and Compliance panelist and best selling author of Critical Moments, The New Mindset of Reputation Management. He has more than 25 years of global experience managing high-stakes crises, issues management and media relations challenges for both Fortune 500 companies and winning global political campaigns. So hearing a little bit about Bill you might be wondering why we are having Bill on the show since we service the solo and small law firm space.

Allison Williams: [00:01:06] Bill’s expertise, when I first saw his very impressive resume, I was like, oh my God, wow. He’s he’s a very impressive leader in his space of crisis management. But crises for a Fortune 500 company, different than crises for a solo or small law firm. And then I thought about it and had a conversation with Bill and I realized that’s not exactly true. I mean, certainly there are differences between large corporations and small business, but a crisis is a crisis is a crisis. And how that crisis impacts the internal office that you have, your team members, your your vendors and certainly yourself. And obviously the impact that could happen with a client as well as the external environment, the public, the public perception of your brand, of your business. All of that of course, applies to any person in business and any business in the marketplace. So Bill has a lot to offer in this area, and I’m happy to bring him onto the show. So without further ado, Bill Coletti.

Allison Williams: [00:02:10] All right. My special guest, Bill Coletti. Welcome to The Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor podcast.

Bill Coletti: [00:02:15] Allison, it’s great to be with you. I’m looking forward to a fun conversation.

Allison Williams: [00:02:18] Yeah, me too. So we were just riffing before we actually decided to go live on this interview. And we were talking about the fact that you have one of those practice areas, one of those business areas that lawyers need but don’t always know that they need. So we’re always as lawyers talking about our reputation. And I think a lot of us know that we need to guard our reputation, that it is the way that we can be successful in business. But we don’t often think about the strategies that are necessary to really manage our reputation. And I think this idea of reputation management has taken hold in recent years. And you have been certainly one of the innovators in this area. You know, I have your book and I know that this is something that you’re passionate about. So we’re going to dive into that topic. And I want to start with really just defining, if you will, how lawyers manage a reputation.

Bill Coletti: [00:03:10] Sure. And so I think there’s two axis of that. I think there’s their reputation. And I think we all have this sort of negative bias from some research, I think, in the 90s about politicians, lawyers and used car salesmen, sort of all ranking together from reputational standpoint. I don’t I don’t know if I’ve ever, ever seen the study, but it’s kind of become an old saw that’s out there. But I think there’s there’s the aspect of reputation for the attorneys. But I think attorneys also have a major role in some disciplines, more than others, but also have a primary role of helping to manage the reputation of their clients or at least guiding the reputation of their client, certainly in a litigation context. Absolutely regulatory to a certain extent. So I think there’s both sides of that. And so I think lawyers have a responsibility to protect their reputation in the community. But I also think that they have a primary responsibility of not only serving their clients in a legal context, in the classic legal context, but also protecting the public perception of the way they behave in those legal contexts. So I think there’s two aspects of it.

Allison Williams: [00:04:10] Yeah. And, you know, I couldn’t agree with you more. And one of the things that I think a lot of times lawyers overlook is the fact that we are natural connectors through the work that we do. In many instances, many practice areas will find that we create relationships with people in service of our clients. And through that, we have a reputation that builds from those relationships. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

Bill Coletti: [00:04:33] Yeah, it’s a great point. You know, and you’ve done such great work on your podcast. And I know some of the some of the recommendation that you make. And it’s a pretty well-worn for solopreneurs  and entrepreneurs that are starting, to be the absolute expert, the best that you can about one thing and just be that diamond in the rough that everybody can find. And the days of of when I was building my firm, I didn’t want to be a generalist. I didn’t want to do PR, which means I did everything from ribbon cutting to speech writing to, you know, new product launches to crisis everything there. All I do is crisis.

Bill Coletti: [00:05:07] And I think that some of the best lawyers that I know are specialists. And by definition, if you are a specialist, that means you can’t do everything and therefore you need help to do certain things. In my discipline, there are lots of lawyers that are closet communicators and are closet extroverts and closet politicians, at least there are a lot of lawyers that I’ve run into. They want to do press and they want to defend their clients reputations in a public context. If you agree with that premise about expertise, not everybody’s destined to be on television and do a press conference and not everybody’s destined to do mess… to do spin doctor or message management or whatever you want to call it. So I think that networking, growing and creating a professional network of where I need to know lawyers, lawyers are very important to our business. They grow our business. They refer a lot of business. I’ve got a number of law firms and lawyers specifically that are my partners. I think an area of growth and opportunity is for lawyers to take a similar mindset, if their practice, if their practice warrants it and their discipline warrants it, is to be able to know someone that does insurance, someone that does crisis, someone that does speech writing, someone that can do book publishing, someone that can do a podcast, whatever that that aspect is. So I think there is a marketing facet of relational marketing that I think is beneficial to lawyers. And as a recipient of that, I know it’s beneficial to me.

Allison Williams: [00:06:41] Yeah. So you referenced earlier this idea of reputation being unique to the lawyer, but also specific to the business. And so we know that there is the individual lawyer. And once you grant them some growth and some scale underneath you, you have the business enterprise that is separate from the lawyer. So let’s talk a little bit about managing the business reputation. So in particular, one thing I’m curious about is this idea of what happens when you do have a crisis and when a crisis erupts and causes some potential harm to a reputation. So how does a business crisis impact upon the reputation? And then really what’s to be done about that?

Bill Coletti: [00:07:20] Yeah, it’s awesome. So, you know, it’s a it’s a fascinating question. There’s lots to it. So I think the first place you start is determining smoke versus fire. OK, so your question was, in a crisis damage reputation, every crisis doesn’t damage reputation. There are some just business problems and people get sued and people sue. That’s not a crisis. Litigation happens and that’s not a crisis. Now, if it is a major toxic tort litigation around a chemical plant that’s doing horrific things, that’s going to damage your reputation and that’s impactful. So I think, first of all, doing business and and all the things that your clients do in the course of serving businesses is normal and natural and legal and right and good and responsible. All those don’t equal crises. And so when we have a crisis that is truly reputational and and the way I view it is how do you sort of define a reputation is why have you asked me to define a crisis? What a crisis is, is a an event, a moment that takes you off of your business strategy. So all of the folks that you serve, the lawyers, they’ve got business strategies for growth, but also their clients, the folks that they serve have business strategies, quarterly, annual, 10 year strategies, whatever the case may be. And when a crisis happens that focuses all of the executive suite attention or a lot of the suite attention to something that takes them off strategy, that’s when I come in and that’s when that’s what I sort of define as a crisis.

Bill Coletti: [00:08:57] So those crises that take you away from your strategy are where we’re involved. The reputation part of it comes in when… There are two two sentences that I like on this. One is that a company owns its brand, but the public owns its reputation. So if we have a store or a brand that we particularly like and we are a customer and we spend money and we transact with them either B2C or B2B and we transact them, we find value and we like that. So we’ve got a relationship with someone. So I don’t know about you, but I am not a customer of BP. BP gas stations are not convenient for me. It’s a Shell that is convenient for me. I don’t shop at BP, but living on the Gulf Coast and I know you’ve got some Florida connection living on the Gulf Coast, is that what happened with BP in Deepwater Horizon and the oil spill that was there. I have an opinion about BP, but I’m not a customer of theirs. So a company owns its brand and Shell can do things to entice me to make me more attractive or less attractive to them. There’s not a whole lot BP can do because I’m not a customer, but I, as the public, have a lot to say about BP. So I’m probably not going to invest in them. I’m probably going to question whether I want to work with them as a client.

Bill Coletti: [00:10:11] I’m probably not going to go shop there if I’ve got an equal choice. So a company owns its brand, the public owns its reputation. That’s a definitional concept. The next one is from Seth Godin. And I’m sure you’re a fan of Seth and he’s amazing. Amazing thinking that he does daily, it almost seems like. Is there’s this concept of what your reputation is. It is the public’s expectations of the next thing you’re going to say, do make or sell. So it’s it’s this expectation of what you’re going to do next. So back to our example around lawyers and then their clients. If a lawyer has developed a reputation, and litigation is honestly the facet that I’m most familiar with, as being that person who is really that aggressive litigator and is really, really out there, there is a really good belief and expectation that if they did in case A, they’re probably going to do it in case B and then therefore there are their clients. There is a public expectation. I have a skepticism about BP. I don’t have a skepticism about Starbucks. Starbucks had some issues earlier this year where some aggressive managers did some issues related to race, where some African-Americans were dining and called the police. And it kind of got really weird. I don’t believe that Starbucks is a racist company and I don’t believe Starbucks targeted individuals because I have an affinity for all the other good things that Starbucks has done.

Bill Coletti: [00:11:39] I think they had some managers that got a little bit off the rails and everything that I saw, they remedied it. They acknowledged it. They remedied it and they moved on. So all that is fits into this context of reputation. It’s it’s that it’s different than brand. That’s a different construct. And then it’s also it’s about the the next thing we expect to say or do and that impacts you and that impacts me. You’re building an expectation of me in this conversation. I have an expected view of listening to your podcast that it’s going to be good and smart and honest and insightful. Pretty good logic that you’re going to continue doing that as we continue a relationship together. And so those that that’s how we think about reputation. It’s not zero-Sum. Back to the point. Crisis cannibalizes that, in the moment, but hopefully there’s this reservoir of goodwill. So let’s use you and I, as an example, if you fail to perform in a relationship that we have, but we’ve got history. I’m like oh man, Allison must be having a bad day or that she, that must it… That’s not her. That’s not her. That’s not the Allison I know. Or BP. The next time they screw up, you and I both are going to say, yep, that’s the BP I know. They’re the ones that screw it up every time. Same for Starbucks. So it equates to all of that about the expectation of what we do next.

Allison Williams: [00:12:53] Yeah. So I think that’s absolutely brilliant. And I love the fact that you talk about the things that a company does that are then attributed to isolation, something a blip on the radar screen versus a characterological flaw. Right?

Bill Coletti: [00:13:07] Exactly.

Allison Williams: [00:13:07] So if you want to, since we’re talking about behavior, I want to go there to mindset. And one of the things that, of course, drives behavior is how we think. And so what types of mindset and behaviors would separate the leaders that perform best in a crisis?

Bill Coletti: [00:13:23] Yeah, it’s an awesome question. And this is really this phase of my career is really what I’m thinking about is that how leaders show up in a crisis and leaders could be inside counsel, outside counsel, the CEO, the head of communications, the head of H.R. So it just doesn’t really matter where they are and how they show up. Is the mindset is directly related to the type of risk that we’re talking about. Right. And so I think mindset first of all, you need to, hopefully the people at BP and the people at Starbucks know and believe what they are doing is right. I’m not sure the people at Enron thought what they were doing was right. All right. So mindset directly routes with what we are doing and what is what is our core value and core self. And so I think that’s critical in mindset. The way that it acts out is what are we actually in a crisis? What kind of crisis are we dealing with? There’s three primary types of risks that I talk about. Strategic risks, things you meant to do for superior economic benefit. Preventable risks, things that simply shouldn’t happen. You should have zero tolerance for an external, things completely outside of your outside of your control. Think about weather events, force majeure an active shooter, a crazy person. Pandemics outside, totally outside of our control. Not much we can do about it. So back to mindset. Understanding the risk that is embedded in the crisis is is important and that you come from a place of  goodness, I hope you come from a place that people come from a place of goodness.

Bill Coletti: [00:14:52] Strategic means. I’m meant to do this. So I meant to sue you or I meant to close this factory or I meant to change my pricing. The mindset needs to be I need to educate people in advance and explain what I’m doing. And when we get caught, if you will, and the newspaper writes about it, it’s not oops. Oh, my God, I screwed up. That’s mindset. It is. No, we have failed to educate people because we’re smart and we made a strategic decision for the benefit of our enterprise. So the mindset on strategic risks is we need to do in advance a great job explaining, convincing and cajoling. Or if we didn’t do that, we need to fix it really quickly. I recommended a strategic decision, strategic. You don’t apologize. I don’t think there is a necessity for apologizing for a strategic decision that’s well thought out. Preventable. There should not be metal shavings in hamburgers. That simply should not happen. All right. You’ve got lots of clients and lots of people that you serve that represent people and their clients. And they’re like, that should have never happened. That was ridiculous. So there is preventable risks. And so the mindset of a leader in preventable risks needs to be, we apologize, we’re going to fix it and we’re going to go back to normal as fast as we can. And we know that you are hurt, suffering, whatever, and we’re going to fix that and we’re going to do it quickly. And we’re not going to hem-haw and flim-flam around and we’re just going to answer it.

Bill Coletti: [00:16:21] External. The mindset is, I don’t have to take all this on myself because the pandemic, the active shooter, the hurricane is impacting everybody. I just need to do the best that I can. So the mindset for leaders in a crisis needs to be what and why I do it is right. Then think about the the situation that you’re in. Strategic, preventable and external and respond accordingly and think about that stuff in advance. One thing that I’ve, that we’ve really, the clients that we serve that have been particularly relevant is how do you respond to this new emerging fourth category of risk, which is social risk. So how do we respond to Black Lives Matter? How do we respond to the George Floyd incident? How to respond to the any number of these incidents that we’ve had across the country, abortion, LBGTQ, these social issues, things that impact populations. The toolkit that I’ve used for 20 years now sometimes doesn’t work in those social risks. So I’m pretty clear in my response about strategic, preventable and external. Social risk really messes with people’s mindset because it questions where I started. Am I a racist? Hmmm. Meaning proxy as a company. Am I that? Back to that where I begin in that notion of hopefully what you’re doing is you’re doing something for right. So that’s why there’s the social risk areas critically. It’s an emerging area that companies are struggling. And my clients fumbled, fumbled their way through the summer in the middle of a pandemic on this issue.

Allison Williams: [00:17:59] Yeah, well, you know, it’s interesting that you raised that because I think it’s a large company and small company, because as as the George Floyd incident was erupting, I had a lot of clients that either directly asked or messaged me or even prospective clients, people that just follow our platform, messaged me and said, you know, I want to say and do something, but I don’t want to say and do the wrong thing. So I’m not saying anything right now. And now people are criticizing me for not saying anything. So it’s like, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. And it’s not necessarily handled the way that traditional PR matters are handled.

Bill Coletti: [00:18:34] Amen. Amen. And it is so, so critical. And what we learned through George Floyd moment and it both had scale but at large enterprises and small companies, is that we learned different than anything else I’ve ever seen. There was an exact way that it needed to be said to meet the needs of the public and the key learning was use people’s names. Don’t talk about the unfortunate situation in Minnesota, which is pretty standard issue. If I had a toxic leak in Minnesota, I would say the unfortunate situation in Minnesota. Here’s what we’re doing about it. The man’s name, that human needed to be acknowledged. That is a very practical learning that I learned the hard way because I, too, had clients calling me in that same same summer. What do I say and how do I say it? And ah, we didn’t have that tool in our toolbox and we were making it up as we go.

Allison Williams: [00:19:29] Yeah, well, you know, it’s interesting you say that, that making it up as you go, because a lot of what my clients and small law firm owners have to do is they have to be scrappy and they have to figure it out. And that figure it out factor is oftentimes will differentiate a business that thrives and pivots and evolves as it needs to for the market, for the pandemic, for whatever is going on. And the company that kind of lays flat, hunkers down, holds on and hopes for the best. And sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. So if we’re talking about crisis and we’re talking about crisis management and how to communicate about it, you kind of you referenced it a little bit earlier. But I’m getting the sense that there are some keys to success in these circumstances that one could really turn to. What would you recommend?

Bill Coletti: [00:20:11] Yeah, awesome. So planning and preparation is key. You need to plan and prepare. And the simple tactic I give to big companies, small companies, is as you are and you’re the law firms that you work with can do this either for their companies or for themselves, for their clients, is pull out The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, your local paper, whatever. Pull out a major publication and say, what if this had happened to us? How would we respond if this was us? How what would we do? Do that at a staff meeting. So in a very practical nugget of take away, start doing that and start recommending that to your clients that you serve. If this had happened, what would we do? So basic. The thing that I’ve learned in crisis response and I did politics before this and so I’ve been in some facet of pugilism for a long time, is is speed is the key differentiator between good and great crisis response. OK, folks that fill the vacuum of information fast typically do better than those that don’t. And that all obviously is directly related to the risk that we’re talking about. But speed for the sake of speed doesn’t work because companies, some companies, most companies aren’t built for speed. They all brag about it, but they’re really not built for speed. The way you get to speed is it’s an equation that I’ve created. It’s your mission and values. Plus chain of command equals speed. And this is so relevant to the folks that you serve. In chain of command is tip is where. Subject matter experts live the legal team, internal, outside counsel, inside counsel. That’s where they live. The board of directors, all those folks are in chain of command. Mission and values is pretty clear. What do we stand for? What do we believe? But where I find that companies are slow or less speedy is when a situation happens at a company. A situation happens, and the CEO gathers everybody together, which typically includes the general counsel, typically includes the subject matter expert, whatever H.R., operations, whatever the topic is, and say, what do we do? And the general counsel typically says, whoa, time out. We’ve got to call outside counsel.

Bill Coletti: [00:22:21] And so now we have a whole new character that nobody probably has ever met that is sitting at the table giving really critical advice and scaring the crap out of people in a litigation context. So my desire as the CEO to be fast, I know what I stand for, but now my chain of command is all blown up because Mary decided to call outside counsel, which is a great decision. So the way you get good at crisis, is planning and preparation, thinking about the risks that can impact you, but really, honestly is getting crystal clear about your mission and values and who am I going to count on? Who am I going to ask questions to? Chain of command. That’s what equals speed and the litigation legal experience is the perfect example of where chain of command gets messed up. Not I’m not I’m not blaming lawyers. It’s they’re doing their job. But it’s slow. It is a slow process. And that sucks because the media and the public don’t have the same patience and they need answers. So that’s so to me, the answer is speed is the key differentiator between good and great crisis communications.

Allison Williams: [00:23:26] Ok, so since we’ve talked about this in the context of what companies do, we know that there are lots of different iterations of companies. We know that there are small companies, there are large companies, and there’s everything in between. And I am sure that there are some basic facets of crisis management that apply to all companies. But I want to ask you specifically, what can a small law firm learn from large companies about crisis management?

Bill Coletti: [00:23:51] Yeah, fill the vacuum. Say something. It is OK. Always be communicating. All right. So ABC always be communicating. You have the ability and the necessity to say something, because if you don’t say something, Twitter, Facebook, social media, the newspaper or whatever or other people that follow you, that care about your neighbors. They’re going to say something. So say something. All right. There’s a saying that I love is is that perfect is the enemy of the good. And so many attorneys are trained to polish that brief and review and edit and tighten it up and make it perfect and argue, counter argue everything in advance. And that you’re ready. All right. Because if someone may come attack you and that is a slow process. And most press statements, the things that I do in working with lawyers is that they are very uncomfortable with the unknown. All right. But we have to fill a vacuum. So even if you’re the smallest, your solopreneur. Keep being conscious of two things. One, speed in its own right. But two is you get a second and third bite at the apple. This is not the only time you’re going to talk about this. You’re going to be able to talk about it. Now, people may be paying less attention in subsequent days, but so the key to your to very specifically to your question is be fast, say something, and recognizing you can go back and and re-do your homework if you have to. And then that is a different mindset than the way you’ve been trained. You you are punished if I have to go back and re-do your homework as a lawyer. That’s up. You are punished for that. The public is not as punishing. And so there is an opportunity. You don’t get it wrong. Don’t lie. Don’t screw it up. Obviously, I’m saying. But if we need to add new information, if we learn something, don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.

Allison Williams: [00:25:43] Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. That is a brilliant point that we’re going to end on today. I want to thank our special guest, Bill Coletti, for his beautiful, eloquent statements about reputation. And I say they’re beautiful because one of the things that I am very committed to here at Law Firm Mentor is making sure that our audience is armed with the tools that are necessary in order to not just think about today’s survival strategy. Right. We’re thinking about all the things that could happen, that may happen in the future, that will ultimately have to be managed in some effective way. And when we get experts like Bill on our show and they can bring us such great resources, I think it’s a beautiful thing for business and for the legal community. So I want to give you guys a special nod to some great reading. Bill has a book, The New Mind Set of Reputation Management, Critical Moments, and he talks about action, authority, assessment and awareness. And Bill, please let everyone know if they have an interest in what you do, how you help people and the various different resources that you have available. How can they get a hold of you?

Bill Coletti: [00:26:44] Awesome. Thanks for that, Allison. Our website is Kith, K-I-T-H dot C-O  is our corporate website. We’re going to have a special page and I’m sure you’ll be able to find it in your show notes in the links that you have. But we’ll do kith dot co backslash Crushing Chaos so that your folks can find it a great way to get in touch with me there, download some resources, we really just want to be helpful and generous. So the website’s the best place to get a hold of me. Like you, I try to publish a lot on LinkedIn and you do some great stuff there, by the way. And so try to try to be active on LinkedIn. We fumble around with Twitter a little bit, but really our website… There’s nothing wrong with picking up the phone and calling or email. It’s all on our website. That’s the easiest and best way to get a hold of us. But Bill Coletti, a relatively unique name. And so I kind of show up in lots of different places.

Allison Williams: [00:27:31] Yeah, absolutely. And as as you indicated, everything will be in the show notes. Again, I want to thank our special guest today, Bill Coletti. And for everyone, thank you for again tuning in for the Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor podcast. I am Allison Williams, your Law Firm Mentor. Everyone have a wonderful day.

Allison Williams: [00:27:59] Thank you for tuning in to the Crushing Chaos with Law Firm Mentor podcast. To learn more about today’s guest and take advantage of the resources mentioned, check out our show notes. And if you own a solo or small law firm and are looking for guidance, advice or simply support on your journey to create a law firm that runs without you, join us in the Law Firm Mentor Movement free Facebook group. There you can access our free trainings on improving collections in law firms, meeting billable hours, enjoying the movement of thousands of law firm owners across the country who want to crush chaos in their law firms and make more money. I’m Allison Williams, your Law Firm Mentor. Have a great day!