Founder and principal of Look Left Marketing, an agency that delivers integrated content, media, influencer and marketing strategies.
Hinterhaus Productions 2016
In Pulp Fiction, gangster Marsellus Wallace calls upon Winston Wolf (“The Wolf”) to take care of the “Bonnie Situation.” For those not familiar with the film, the situation involves a rather messy dead body in the back seat of his henchmen’s Chevy Nova, stashed in the garage of a house where “Bonnie” will come home any minute after her late shift.
How Winston handles the crisis serves as a rather solid playbook for handling a crisis. And if you’re a fan of the movie, maybe you’ll remember classic crisis response tactics used by business professionals—and fictional criminals—when crap inevitably hits the fan.
After recently rewatching the film, here are some of the tactics I recognized from having helped brands with crisis communications in the past—and that all business leaders can learn from:
Immediately escalate the crisis to management and experts.
Probably the only thing Jules and Vincent, the henchmen, get right is immediate triage—getting the car and corpse off the road—and calling the boss. They screwed up. They know it. And no CYA. And of course, Marsellus gets the best help—The Wolf—as soon as he can.
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When a problem arises, what’s needed is a straightforward description of what happened and the help necessary to resolve the issue. Outside experts have experience in the situation, less attachment and often cut through all the politics, emotions and conflicts that ignite a crisis flare-up. They often have checklists and know small things you’d never see. (Ever notice that when The Wolf makes one phone call from the house, he has a handkerchief in his hands to hide the prints?)
Speed and prioritization are a must.
When informed, The Wolf declares: “It’s 30 minutes away. I’ll be there in 10.” Upon arrival (9 minutes and 37 seconds later), he gets “down to brass tacks,” summarizes the situation and asks very specific questions (quickly). He never even asks how it happened—he simply gets to work on the triage of immediate damage. Because his singular mission is to fix the problem. Adding commentary or assessing blame obscures the ultimate goal of cleaning up the mess before Bonnie opens the front door.
In the past, I’ve advocated for a simple framework for crisis action and decision-making. The framework simply provides what has to happen at the end of the day and then fixed time frames in days or weeks (depending on severity). You immediately decide tomorrow’s public message, and everything else goes into a parking lot. It’s all the extras, whataboutism and overthinking that in the first bloom of crisis (or one that needs immediate triage) slows you down too much and gets in the way of the best decisions with the best information you have.
Make sure authority and direction are clear.
The Wolf is the boss at the scene, empowered by Marsellus. And in a crisis, you need one individual—usually the CEO—to quickly set direction, make assignments and shut down endless debate or nonessentials. Also, petty pandering, politics, rank and defensiveness should be quickly dealt with.
When The Wolf quickly and coolly gives an order, Vincent, who created the mess in the first place, replies, “‘Please’ would be nice.” The Wolf replies: “If I’m curt with you it’s because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please. With sugar on top.”
Deliver resources and solve problems.
In a matter of minutes, The Wolf gives the team (the henchmen) the resources they need and solves immediate problems. A plan. Cleaning supplies. A place to bring the car. Removes objections from Bonnie’s husband quickly, efficiently and fairly. Leaders in a crisis need to use their domain authority and control to move obstacles and quickly free resources.
Pay special attention to the ‘messy’ parts.
After a quick look at the bloodied car, The Wolf declares, “What you need to take care of are the real messy parts.” (Sorry, gross.) In the early stages of a crisis, triage is the hardest part—the immediate fix of the problem, stabilization and prioritizing quickly enough to allow a return to normalcy to happen as fast as possible.
To quote another fictional character, Leona Lansing, in The Newsroom, “You have a PR problem because you actually have a problem.”
Fix the biggest problem (or problems) and stop the spinning until you do. Know what you can immediately control and act upon it. The rest is academic, and you can deal with it later.
Practice self-care during the calm moments.
When things go sideways, it’s easy to get exhausted, not eat and probably only pound coffee and Red Bulls. But you’re a team, and it’s good to rotate out—even for a little bit—to catch your breath and take care of yourself. It’s up to you to take care of each other.
Be authentic.
Of course, there’s one absolute lesson here: Don’t be part of a criminal enterprise. That’s bad, period. My goal is not to romanticize that or any common PR stereotypes of “cleaners,” made popular in television and movies. You don’t charm, spin or threaten your way out of a crisis. You act quickly and resolve problems.
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Author: Bryan Scanlon, Forbes Councils Member
