Crisis Communication Lessons From The Federal Government Shutdown
Read the full article in Forbes
The shutdown of the federal government that began on October 1 is providing important lessons for corporate executives on the best practices for communicating about crisis situations.
In the eyes of one observer, the new shutdown was avoidable and illustrates the costliest type of crisis—the one that can be predicted. “Business leaders should take note—when you know a collision is coming but fail to course-correct, you’re not managing a crisis, you’re manufacturing one. The lesson is clear: address foreseeable conflicts early, build consensus before deadlines hit, and never mistake procrastination for strategy,” Nicholas Creel an associate professor of business law at Georgia College and State University, told me in an email message.
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Sometimes the organizations whose members have the most to lose in a government shutdown can be faster to respond than others. Research!America, a non-profit medical and health research advocacy alliance, said on its website when the government suddenly closed down that “Among the many ways Americans are harmed by this shutdown, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) cannot move forward to fund research. As the clock ticks, patients—people in our families and communities—wait”
Research!America stayed true to its advocacy mission by urging the president and congressional leaders “to come back to the table immediately to end the shutdown and complete the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations process. Health threats are ruthless. Our nation needs to fight them full force, not take a pause. We need quick action by Congress and the administration to bring NIH and other federal research agencies back online. And we need an updated, full-year federal spending plan that propels American science forward.”
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