Whey protein concentrate (‘WPC 80’) may not be the best known or sexiest product, but it is certainly big business. Deriving from cow’s milk, and a by-product of cheese production, it is used in baby formula, beverages, and a host of food supplements, including for bodybuilders.

Like other dairy products, WPC 80 is susceptible to contamination, the result of which can be deadly when digested. So when Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest company and the world’s largest dairy products producer discovered in July 2013 that 38 tonnes of concentrate had tested positive for botulism, a recall was quickly announced.

The trouble was, later tests by the government found no evidence of botulism and that the recall had been a false alarm. However, considerable damage had already been done to Fonterra, with several countries announcing milk product import bans and the company’s reputation for product quality in severe jeopardy.

The company’s independent inquiry (summary – pdf) into the incident concluded that, among other things, Fonterra was ‘not ready for a crisis of this magnitude’, that there had been a ‘failure to join the dots’ between botulism, infant food products, consumer sensitivities and the firm’s reputation, and that the company’s risk and crisis processes needed overhauling.

Fonterra’s top brass would have done well to have read Crisis Proofing, Tony Jaques’ book on how organisations should reduce the chances of a crisis happening and minimise the damage that may arise should a crisis occur.

While he gives many useful tips on crisis response, including how to navigate legal advice on apologies, Jaques’ background in issues management means his insights and practical tips on the leadership mindset, strategic approach and planning processes that enable companies to avoid train wrecks in the first place are particularly valuable.

In my experience, many companies place undue emphasis on identifying risks (especially, given their slippery nature, reputational risks), at the expense of ensuring their issues management processes work properly – an area Jaques excels in. For example, he lambasts the probability/impact and significance/influence issue prioritisation models as crude and over-simplified and instead sets out a more comprehensive and nuanced proprietary model based on an issue’s Impact, Salience, Visibility, Affectability, Proximity and Profile.

Jaques also takes aim at the reactive and ad hoc approach taken by many organisations to managing issues. Too often, he says, companies are overly focused on recording and tracking risks, and tweaking the identification, tracking and decision-making processes for the benefit of management and risk committees, as opposed to actively working to resolve them in a clear and strategic way. By contrast, his Do-it issue management model (chapter 8) is a model of clarity, practicality and focus.

At the heart of Crisis Proofing is a call for mindful leadership of the top-down variety that can seem contrary to the open and horizontal forms of organisational decision-making pushed by some contemporary management thinkers. Yet, as Jaques argues, effective crisis management demands hands-on, decisive and swift decision-making at the very top of the organisation, and a willingness to learn from mistakes and make changes.

As such, while many of the tips in Crisis Proofing are useful in day-to-day risk, issues and crisis management, the book is especially relevant to those leaders and senior decision-makers directly responsible for their organisation’s strategy, culture and reputation.

It is a book I recommend wholeheartedly.

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Disclosure: I was asked by the author to review the chapter of Crisis Proofing on social media, and was subsequently provided with a review copy of the book by Oxford University Press. I also discuss Fonterra’s WPC 80 botulism scare in my book Managing Online Reputation

• Buy the book
• My Goodreads rating – 5 stars