On January 21, 2022, Helio Fred Garcia was featured in an article on Communication Intelligence about a recent webinar Garcia led for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

The webinar, titled “Maintaining and Restoring Trust in Times of Great Change,” focused on the drivers of trust and techniques to maintain and restore trust in times of crisis.

In this interview, Garcia shared some of the core ideas and key takeaways from his webinar on January 20.

“Trust is the natural consequence of three related but distinct factors,” Garcia explained. He then described each of these factors in detail: promises kept, expectations met, and values lived. When you take these drivers of trust seriously, you are more likely to ask the right questions and make smart decisions in a crisis.

Garcia also explained one of the key reasons why organizations and leaders struggle to respond to crises effectively.

“Most failed crises arise when leaders fail to think of the crisis from the perspective of stakeholder expectations, but rather start from their own personal preferences, fears, anxieties, etc. This is the case in celebrated failed crisis response, from Volkswagen to BP to United Airlines to Trump COVID,” Garcia explained. “Making decisions in a crisis from personal preference is a mark of poor leadership and nearly always makes the crisis worse.”

Click here to read the full article.

On Thursday, October 14, 2021, Logos president Helio Fred Garcia’s interview on the Pursuing Perfect Podcast was released. In this podcast, lifelong entrepreneur Marc Kashke interviews leaders on notions of perfection and how they discovered how to reach perfection in their work.

In this episode, Garcia and Kashke discuss the power of communication, both to affect powerful change and to inflict meaningful harm. In their exchange, Garcia describes the rigor required to communicate effectively at work and in positions of leadership, what communication is designed to do when used effectively, the ways in which rhetoric can (and has) been used to provoke violence, and more.

Watch the full interview below:

Click here to listen to this podcast episode on Spotify.

On September 30, 2021, Logos advisor Katie Garcia was quoted in Platform Magazine on crisis communication in the age of social media. Platform Magazine is a student-run online public relations magazine based at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Garcia was interviewed by the magazine after she participated in a panel discussion at the university about what a career in crisis communication looks like on September 20.

In the article, Garcia defines what a crisis is and what is at stake in a crisis: “A crisis is a turning point where you can no longer operate as usual, and depending on how you respond, you can either gain competitive advantage or suffer meaningful harm.”

She also noted that in the age of social media, the core principles of crisis communication remained the same, even as the execution of crisis communication has somewhat changed. “Now there is an expectation that we are going to engage on those platforms, engage quickly and at times engage in particular ways,” she explained. “The expectation always is that the organization [involved] in the crisis cares. The way you demonstrate that you care has changed, and that is where social media comes in. It means that you need to reach out further and demonstrate care on different platforms than before.”

Read the full article here.

On September 15, 2021, Logos president Helio Fred Garcia was interviewed by Michael Toebe at Communication Intelligence about what trustworthy leadership confidence looks like.

In their interview, Garcia outlines the ways in which some leaders use confidence to mask something else about the leader. “As with any leadership attribute, confidence is a double-edged sword,” he explained. “Confidence that masks incompetence or malice is often difficult to detect initially, but very often the signs are there.”

Garcia then advised on what to look out for when discerning whether or not a seemingly confident leader is worthy of trust. He noted that the differences between the genuinely confident and trustworthy leader and those leaders who are not trustworthy are self-awareness and humility. “Truly confident and competent people have enough self-awareness and humility to acknowledge when they’ve fallen short, and show how they will do better next time,” he explained.

Read the full interview here.

On September 3, 2021, Logos President Helio Fred Garcia was quoted in Loss Prevention Magazine on how 7-Eleven has invested in technology to better execute crisis communication.

 

7-Eleven has heavily invested in both crisis communication processes and software to ensure both company leadership and franchisees can share information with each other and report on specific needs and issues.

 

Garcia noted the importance of having multiple communication channels available for times of crisis to lessen any communication gaps in times of crisis. “You also need to plan for redundancy in the manner of delivering messages. If phone lines are down if the email is down, you still need to communicate,” he explained.

 

Read the full article here.

On August 10, 2021, Logos Advisor Maida K. Zheng, was quoted in Carol Roth’s Business Unplugged how small business can effectively deal with customer complains.

Zheng’s advice to small businesses: Remember that trust is key.

“One way you can think about customer complaints and negative feedback is through the lens of trust. Trust is the natural consequence of promises fulfilled, expectations met, and values lived,” she explained. “With that, CEOs/leaders should view any feedback they receive through that lens and if the complaint has to do with a broken promise, expectations not being met, or an experience that is contrary to the company’s values – the only solution is to do what is necessary to regain trust.”

Read the full article here.

On August 7, 2021, Logos President Helio Fred Garcia was quoted in Communication Intelligence Magazine about destructive communication and behaviors in leaders.

The article highlights the recent revelations about Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk in the book Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century by The Wall Street Journal’s Tim Higgins. Higgins’ research uncovered a toxic work culture wherein Elon Musk exploits his power to put fear in assembly-line workers and others in the C-suite.

In the article, Garcia explains how some founders believe that brilliance and energy are enough, and how faulty that assumption can be. “Brilliance and energy are not enough; they’re not sustainable in the long run if they lead to an unhealthy or toxic culture,” he explains.

“The tone of any company is set at the top. And toxicity flows downhill quickly,” Garcia continues. “Add that to the current level of incivility in public life and discourse, and it gets even worse. The mystique of the founder goes only so far. Abusive leaders risk losing the loyalty of their people.”

Read the full article here.

On August 5, 2021, Logos Fellow Yinnan Shen was quoted in Massage Magazine on how DE&I practices improve businesses.

The article outlines the ways that the killing of George Floyd and the social unrest and political events that followed the tragedy have changed expectations around companies’ DE&I efforts and commitment.

Shen, who teaches a course on Elevating Multicultural Competence at Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering, recommends that companies perform a “culture check” to check to see if their diversity and inclusion goals are being met.

“No matter what kind of diversity you want to promote, it is always worthy to do a culture check first,” she said. “When it comes to generational diversity [for example], ask whether the culture inherently only attracts people of a certain age range. If the answer is yes, then you have a culture problem. And you won’t be able to see any changes in diversity until you change the culture.”

Read the full article here.

On July 26, 2021, Logos President Helio Fred Garcia was quoted in an article on Ragan Wellness on what organizations should consider when planning their employees’ return to work post-COVID-19.

 

The article outlines the internal issues organizations are currently facing, noting that a recent survey found that 58% of remote workers would look for a new job if a hybrid work option is not on the table.

 

Garcia highlighted the importance of expectation management when communicating decisions on what a return to office looks like for organizations. “Expectation management is the key to a successful transition back to the office,” he explained. “Clear, frequent communication about what employees can expect—and what is expected of them.

 

Read the full article here.

On July 21, 2021, Logos President Helio Fred Garcia was mentioned in NeoMarketing Podcast on civility and decency in crisis communication.

In the podcast, hosts Pritch Pritchard and Kyle Golding of The Golding Group, discussed how communication professionals like Helio Fred Garcia and Jim Lukaszewski highlight the importance of civility and decency in crisis communication.

Click here to listen to the podcast here.