In this week's episode of his "Crisis Ahead" podcast, crisis management expert, consultant, and author  Edward Segal discusses the best practices business executives should follow when they have to fire or furlough employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the coronavirus has changed the way companies and organizations are delivering bad news to workers. More than 40 million people have filed unemployment claims since the start of the national public health emergency.

The video version of the podcast can be viewed https://youtu.be/83_OmYrC2ls. The audio version can be accessed at the Apple, Google, Stitcher, and Listennotes podcast sites.  The link to the new episode on the Apple podcast site is https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-crisis-ahead-podcast/id1514212596#episodeGuid=thecrisisaheadpodcast.podbean.com%2Fc5f2464c-867c-565d-9a6e-ef6bc82b272b. The "Crisis Ahead" podcast is produced by Heartcastmedia.com

Each weekly episode of "Crisis Ahead" looks at how  companies can respond to, manage, and recover from a crisis, or what people can learn from how organizations and individuals in the news are dealing with crisis situations. The podcast is based on Segal's new book on crisis management — "Crisis Ahead:  101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies" (Nicholas Brealey). It is now available from Amazon as an ebook at this link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0827JK83Q/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=  "Crisis Ahead" will be released as a paperback on June 16.

The book features a discussion about the early crisis management lessons that can be learned from the pandemic and includes a template for a crisis management and communication plan that can be customized for the needs of any company or organization. "If a business did not have a crisis management plan in place before the pandemic, they certainly need one now," Segal said.

"Crisis Ahead" is based on the premise that it is not a matter of if a crisis will hit, it's a matter of when. It features dozens of anecdotes, stories, and lessons about how companies, organizations, and individuals — ranging from Amazon, Apple, and the European Union, to Disney, Starbucks, and entrepreneur Elon Musk— have prepared for, created, managed, and communicated about crisis situations.

Segal has more than 30 years' experience as a crisis management expert. He managed crisis situations as the CEO of two trade associations; advised and helped organizations survive disasters, scandals, and emergencies including the arrest and firing of corporate officers, hate crimes, and sexual harassment; and conducted crisis management and communication training for hundreds of executives and their staffs.

Segal is the former marketing strategies columnist for The Wall Street Journal's StartUpJournal.com and senior media relations consultant for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. He has provided expert PR advice and counsel to more than 500 corporations and organizations.

For more information about the book, go to http://www.publicrelations.com.

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