At Culloton + Bauer Luce, our team of advisors represent some of the country’s most prominent business, political and civic leaders who seek us out to defend their credibility, solve problems and create new opportunities in tough times. In our “Meet the Crisis Expert” blog series, we’ll meet the individuals who make up CBL’s team of expert counselors. Next up, Vice President Patrick Skarr.
With a knack for analysis, research and creative positioning of issues, Patrick has executed some of Culloton + Bauer Luce’s most successful long-term strategic campaigns. Keep reading to learn more about his experience working in crisis and public policy.
How do you define crisis communications?
Patrick Skarr: Our industry is about bringing a team together to rapidly solve a problem or issue that poses an existential threat to a client’s business objectives or reputation. Given the numerous mediums for news and the speed that information spreads today, identifying and taking strategic action to mitigate or prevent a full-fledged crisis is what this professional service and field are all about.
What skills do you think are most important for crisis managers to possess in order to succeed in this field?
Patrick Skarr: Being a very engaged and active listener is essential. You’ll never know your client’s business as well as they do, so whether it’s the first hour of an engagement or you’ve been with them for a decade, you need to intently listen to understand their business goals, perspectives and concerns about the issue they’re confronting.
Additionally, a crucial part of active listening is to engage in the conversation without offering judgment or advice, which is essential during the fact-gathering phase of a crisis or issue campaign. As a crisis communications professional, you need to get the facts, assess the situation and devise a comprehensive strategy as you set aside your emotions or personal perspective.
What do you like most about working in crisis communications?
Patrick Skarr: When you are out in the community and someone starts discussing your client’s issue or campaign in a way that lets you know you’ve been successful. It’s rewarding to hear unbiased opinions or affirmations of your work.
On a related front (but a little different), is when your client needed a public body to vote a certain way, and in the last few seconds during the roll call when you get the final vote you required, the simultaneous rush and relief you feel is hard to replicate.
Do you have a particular industry or topic you’re focused on within the crisis communications field?
Patrick Skarr: I’ve had the fortune to work across various industries, and it’s hard to select one that stands out from the others. Though my mother never misses an opportunity to point out that I work for various clients involved in highly-regulated, sometimes controversial “vice-economies,” including the gaming and cannabis industries.
While each sector or industry is unique, bringing a disciplined and strategic communications and public affairs approach to all my clients is really what I enjoy most.
What’s a recent campaign you worked on that you’re proud of?
Patrick Skarr: Two recent campaigns stand out and were both substantially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but we found creative ways to overcome that adversity and help our clients achieve success.
I helped run the opt-in campaign for the advisory referendum regarding adult-use cannabis in Naperville. The issue had tied city hall up for months and could have substantially impacted the maturing of the industry in numerous suburbs across Illinois. Despite all of the challenges of running a local issue referendum during a presidential primary and pandemic, the opt-in referendum passed by a healthy margin of seven percent.
Right on the heels of the Naperville referendum, we launched a public affairs campaign, “Save Tulsa Jobs,” for one of our firm’s longest-tenured manufacturing clients. Unfortunately, the pandemic precluded us from even getting to meet with key executives down or media in Oklahoma, but we didn’t let our physical distance stand in the way.
Within a week, we had sent 75,000 messages of support to local officials and helped forge a path for success for all involved. The campaign was named an Issues Management campaign finalist for the North American SABRE Awards 2021, which is one of the highest honors to attain in our field.
How has social media and the expanding digital space impacted your job as a crisis communicator?
Patrick Skarr: As society retrenches to their corners and only obtains information they want to see or that validates their existing opinion, it’s getting harder to identify, target and persuade individuals to agree with your client’s position.
Social media and organizing apps like Nextdoor incubate false or misleading information from foes or opponents. If you’re not thinking about how you’re influencing the digital perception of your client’s issue, then you’re not thinking as a crisis communicator in 2021.
What is one thing that’s oftentimes overlooked by your clients during a crisis that shouldn’t be?
Patrick Skarr: Time and truth.
Time is the most valuable asset in crisis management, and you can never get it back. Executives and managers grapple with identifying what’s a problem or customer service issue and something that can become a reputational crisis, but that’s something we can help triage.
Whether it rises to a crisis or not, it’s not good business to leave problems lingering, so our forward thinking clients know the value of communicating early about issues and asking for our help to resolve them.
In the public relations field, there is an inherent license to be creative when seeking ways to best position your client, but you and your client must abide by the underlying truth. In a crisis, candor is essential because the truth will inevitably come to light. We do our best to earn clients’ trust to be truthful with sensitive issues so that we can offer the best strategic advice.