In 2014, many of the most venerable organizations in the world challenged our trust down to the core. The Institute for Crisis Management counted more than 223,000 crisis news stories in nearly 10,000 news outlets last year.
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Data breaches at some of the largest retailers in the U.S., including Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Michael’s and Walgreen’s impacted millions of customers and forced banks to start converting debit and credit cards to the safer micro-chip technology that they have resisted for years. In the U.S. alone, data breaches increased by more than 30% over 2013 as we learned that no organization is immune from attack.
Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and other large banks captured headlines with billions in government settlements related to the mortgage crisis that began in 2008. White-collar crimes—from Ponzi scheming former ministers to a global bank paying nearly $9 billion in fines for exploiting the U.S. financial system—continue to challenge law enforcement as criminals get more tech savvy and creative.
Although natural disasters were fewer than in recent years, typhoons, earthquakes and epic floods still caused billions in damages, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and cost 4,700 their lives. At 761, airline deaths were more than double the 2013 figure, but still comparatively low despite two tragedies suffered by the same airline. In the U.S., more than 2,200 train collisions cost another 270 lives.
Oil spills in Russia, Israel and the U.S. caused millions in damage. Spills from train cars increased significantly, prompting stricter regulations for tanker-car safety. Automakers recalled more than 52 million vehicles during the year, smashing the previous record of 30 million.
Labor disputes slowed the movement of billions in goods from U.S. west coast ports. At least 50 executives were fired, including Yahoo’s second-in-command, who walked away with more than $100 million after just 15 months on the job. More than 414,000 jobs were lost to downsizings and layoffs.
From the NFL to global entertainment behemoth Sony Entertainment, the entertainment industry reeled from scandals ranging from domestic violence to alleged hacking by North Korea. Sexual violence on college campuses grabbed headlines, as did Rolling Stone Magazine for publishing a false story (later retracted) accusing seven unnamed undergraduates of gang rape.
Social media’s influence on business crisis communication continued to expand, with the news of many issues breaking first on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms. Management is increasingly challenged with trying to juggle the demands of vocal online critics with the information needs of traditional media, employees, investors and other stakeholders.
Deb Hileman is president and CEO of the Institute for Crisis Management, a crisis management planning, training and consulting firm based in Denver, Colo. She has more than 20 years’ experience managing business issues and a variety of crises, from natural disasters to criminal investigations and humans behaving badly. Her work spans public and privately held companies and non-profit organizations in a variety of industries. Contact Deb at DHileman@crisisconsultant.com, or visit the ICM website at www.crisisconsultant.com.
