Montieth & Company's President, Montieth M. Illingworth, featured in New York Daily News, discusses the number one rule in crisis management.

Weiner’s less-than-artful dodge — which included nervous laughter in one interview — left an impression he might be hiding something, the crisis managers said, adding they were surprised he did not have a better game plan for answering obvious and inevitable questions about the scandal.

“One of the No.1 rules of crisis management is, ‘Do you have all of the correct information, and is more coming out that is going to make it worse?’” said Montieth Illingworth, of Montieth & Company.

In one of his interviews on Wednesday, with RNN, a regional cable news channel, Weiner said, “If reporters want to go try to find more, I can’t say that they’re not going to be able to find another picture or find another … person.”

Illingworth said, "Clearly there is a remaining messiness to the story.” Read more

Montieth & Company's President, Montieth M. Illingworth, feautured in Crain's New York.

Montieth Illingworth has advised clients caught up in news scandals including the Bernie Madoff affair, the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case and the suit filed against photographer Annie Leibovitz when she defaulted on a restructuring loan. Acting as a combination of spin doctor, psychologist, management consultant and litigation adviser, Mr. Illingworth and his four employees at Montieth & Co., a boutique "special situations" consultancy in Manhattan, have done their job well if no one is aware they have done it at all. Read More

Montieth & Company's President, Montieth M. Illingworth, feautured in Fundfire, discusses his opnion about sending consultants emails and RFP responses.

Brevity may be the soul of wit, but the asset management industry has mixed feelings about sending consultants emails and RFP responses consisting of only one word, according to a recent FundFire poll in which more than 40% of respondents said they are wary of sending emails of such length.

“Short responses lend themselves very readily to being interpreted negatively,” says Montieth Illingworth, president of strategic consultancy Montieth & Co. However, it all depends on the context, he notes.

"When writing an email, it’s important to play close attention to the need one is addressing and devote the words and length of the response to addressing that need. However, one must also “be mindful that the medium is most effective when used economically,” he explains. “Given the choice, I would rather use more words and address the needs head-on than [use] fewer words and risk being perceived as not service-minded.” Read More

Montieth & Company's President, Montieth M. Illingworth, feautured in PR News, discusses how the thought leadership landscape is shifting.

If you work at an agency and got a call from your client recently about your thought leadership capabilities, consider yourself right in step with an important new trend. The thought leadership landscape is shifting. Organizations today need more from their PR firmsin this critically important area of strategic communications. We, as an industry, need to refresh our thinking about how we can do it faster, smarter and more cost-effectively. Read more

Global Strategic Communications Inc. President, Peter Firestein, discusses the fundamental qualities behind a strong corporate reputation.

A company with a strong reputation is one for whom investors and the public have high expectations. If it produces superior products, as Apple and GE have done, the public sees those products as arising from a bedrock of excellence. Over the long run, the company’s shares trade at a premium compared to its peer group, based on expectations of higher future value. When things go wrong, it receives the benefit of the doubt. Read More

Foredestine's CEO, Robert Schulman, discusses in his forthcoming book, Be the Rooster, on how to survive in today's corporate enviornment.  

Business is war. Let me be clear: there are real winners and real losers. The winners get rich and famous, and the losers die. In a bad business environment with stagnant wages and high unemployment like the current mess in this country, if you run with the herd, you end up a lamb chop. John P. Getty once said, "The meek shall inherit the earth, but not the mineral rights." He meant it! Read More