TCIP #016 – Malaysia Airlines Crisis Management with Jonathan Hemus

Welcome to episode #016 of The Crisis Intelligence Podcast, with Melissa Agnes and Jonathan Hemus

Malaysia Airlines has suffered through two devastating and traumatic crises this year. The first was flight MH370 that disappeared without a trace while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The second, flight MH17, was shot down by a missile while flying over the Ukraine–Russia border, on its journey from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

These are two major crises, ultimate nightmares for any airline, and Malaysia Airlines faced both within months from one another. Faced with this utmost and devastating challenge, how did the airline fare in their crisis management and what lessons can you take away to strengthen your own organization’s crisis plan? These are the questions Jonathan Hemus and I discuss and answer in this episode of The Crisis Intelligence Podcast.

Interestingly, Jonathan gave a crisis management training in Malaysia the week prior to recording this episode with me, so he brought with him some very interesting insider insight on how Malaysian professionals are dealing with the aftermath of these crises, as well as 5 key learnings they took away from the incidents and implemented into their own organizations’ crisis management plan.

This episode of The Crisis Intelligence Podcast discusses:

• How Malaysia, as a country and society, is faring after these two major crises.
• How culture, both organizational and national, impacted Malaysia Airlines’s crisis communication.
• The importance of getting the first 24 hours right in a crisis.
• How to plan for a global, viral crisis.
• How to incorporate collaborations from government agencies, emergency responders and other third-parties within your crisis communication plan.
• How the lack of closure impacted these two crises (making them even more difficult to manage) and how you can plan for this type of crisis scenario.

Side note: After this episode was recorded, Malaysia Airlines made the gaffe of launching a campaign that asked people what destinations were on their bucket list. If you’re a regular reader/listener of mine, I don’t have to tell you what I think of this and the lack of risk analysis (or common sense) that went into this “campaign”, but that aside, as this incident happened after this podcast was recorded, we do not discuss its foolishness in this episode.

It’s an interesting and insightful listen. Enjoy!

Running time: 56:25

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Learn more about Agnes + Day, The Crisis Intelligence Firm.

Check out Jonathan Hemus’s company website: www.insigniacomms.com
Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @jhemusinsignia
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Take a look at Malaysia Airlines’s YouTube strategy

Additional articles we’ve published on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370:

• A Look at Malaysia Airlines’s Crisis Communications During the Crisis of Flight MH370
• What You Don’t Know About Malaysia Airlines and How They’ve Handled the Crisis of Flight MH370

Thanks to Jonathan for taking the time to discuss these two crises with me and to analyze the important takeaways for our listeners!