Logos Consulting Group president Helio Fred Garcia was featured on the cover of Korean business magazine ChosunBiz, part of the Chosunilbo newspaper group. Cosunilbo is the largest newspaper in Korea.
The story, by ChosunBiz reporter JaeEun Lee, was based on Garcia’s keynote speech at September’s Chosun Issue Forum: Crisis Management in a Post-MERS Korea in Seoul, plus an interview given during that forum, plus the reporter’s reading of Garcia’s most recent book, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively (FT Press, 2012).
The story, which referred to Garcia as “an international crisis guru,” began with Garcia’s analysis of Volkswagon’s emission crisis, and also included such crises as the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, and crises involving Samsung, Netflix, Facebook, and American politics.
The story also addressed two major crises that have shaken Koreans’ confidence in their political leaders and government institutions:
An outbreak of Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) from May to July, 2015, that was mishandled in a number of Korean hospitals, resulting in 136 cases of the disease and 36 fatalities. The government’s failure, similar to the U.S. government’s slow and bungling response to the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, caused significant criticism of Korean president Park Geun-hye.
A capsized ferry and bungled rescue effort in April, 2014 led to the deaths of 304 people. Several bodies have not yet been recovered.
The two crises have elevated public and policy-maker appreciation of the need to have structures and capabilities in place to prepare, respond to, and recover from crises that affect public safety and security. The September Issue Forum was a part of this effort; the ChosunBiz profile of Garcia is another.
The story also focused on foundational principles of effective crisis response.
The complete story, in Korean, can be found here.
Garcia will be returning to Korea in early 2016 for the launch of the Korean language edition of his second book, co-authored with NYU colleague John Doorley, Reputation Management: The Key to Successful Public Relations and Corporate Communication (Routledge, third edition, 2015).
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