Hour 1: Contain
The first damage in any crisis is self-inflicted: contradictory statements, leaked fragments, employees improvising answers. Lock down the facts — who knows what, which documents exist, what is still unknown — and issue a holding line that says you are investigating and will update at a stated time. Then stop talking until that time comes.
Hour 24: Clarify
By day two you need a verified account, however incomplete. Brief stakeholders directly before they read it elsewhere: regulators, partners, staff, customers — in that order of consequence. Every statement must be legally vetted; in our firm the response desk sits inside the legal team precisely so speed never creates liability.
Hour 48: Lead
Now go proactive. Prepared interviews, published updates, visible corrective steps — coverage shifts from speculation to your response the moment journalists have something real to report. Silence at this stage is read as concealment, whatever its actual cause.
Hour 72: Resolve
Announce what you found and what changes because of it — with evidence, not adjectives. The story then becomes the fix rather than the failure, and the recovery plan begins: monitoring, stakeholder repair, and the controls that prevent a repeat.
In an active crisis, do not wait for a form response — call us directly. Our response unit briefs within the hour, and the first conversation is always confidential.