One of the biggest reasons to have a strong communications leader in a company that has a public face is in times of crisis. Keeping everyone on track, following the flow of information, working with public authorities and media who may not be familiar with your situation or practices, and having the organization speak with one voice are critical when problems arise. For better or worse, one of the best groups at dealing with crisis, more because of habit than anything else, are the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Angels, led by their long-time head of Communications Tim Mead, were dealt such a difficult situation this week with the sudden, tragic loss of pitcher Nick Adenhardt, but they handled the public positioning very well. No one spoke to media until all the facts were in and the authorities confirmed all the details. There was careful thought put into what memorial plans were put in place, the team worked hand and glove with MLB to communicate all details to national media, former teammates were reached out to and the family and the situation were given the proper respect. The Angels, and baseball, seem to have more of these types of tragedy over the years but the situation never becomes old hat, it is always a fresh emotional wound for everyone. But by acting professionally, speaking with one voice and making sure all the details were handled correctly, the Angels again showed their true professionalism in a time when emotions run very high. Without going into all the details of stories, perhaps the best look at the situation was by si,com's Jeff Pearlman, it is worth a read.
Some other good reads…the site collegehoopsjournal.com had a worthy q and a with Mike Lupica… the site rated colleges has a good list of the 100 best twitter feeds for college sports groups…and the Washington Post's Andrew Beyer has a good look at how horse racing can turn itself around…
