The old communications adage that most crises are mis-labelled as issues still holds some truth today.

It’s not so black and white, but what remains accurate in this description is that most crises you do see coming. Today, you could claim that incidents like cyber can come out of nowhere, but increasingly the threat landscape and mass media coverage of cybersecurity incidents, data breaches and attacks show that this is a risk you should be planning for.

Many stories are labelled as crisis to generate views and engagement. Everyone has their hot take on the latest cultural crisis involving the Beckhams. Arguably, this issue could have been seen coming for a long time. The combination of the media narrative on the family itself, the coming of age of celebrity children, plus the increasingly relevant issue of trademarking of personal brands/names make this an identifiable risk.

Another ‘new’ issue that should make anyone’s risk register is deepfake content. The pace at which AI can generate increasingly realistic content means that whilst the specifics may be less predictable, the issue should already be on your radar.

Ultimately, as with all issues and crises, the unplanned element is human behaviour and emotion. All crises come back to people and people are inherently unpredictable. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t be aware of risks and start the thinking process before issues turn into live crises.

Unsure of how to assess and map your risks?

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