Crisis in Organizations: Managing and Communicating in the Heat of Chaos

I read this book because I was appointed to our company's crisis management team. It prepared me to think about the variety of crises that could impact us, including natural disasters, workplace violence and IT threats. The case studies are fascinating and are from a variety of industries, and the sample crisis plan was easy to follow and adapt to our specific needs. I especially liked the interviews with people who have experienced crisis at their company, as well as reporters and trauma specialists. It's an interdisciplinary approach to a subject most people don't want to think about, and yet if a crisis occurs at your plant, no one wants to be surprised. In the process of preparing our employees, we reviewed about a dozen publications on the subject. Far and away, Barton did the best job of capturing the dynamics of what happens during a crisis, how to prepare and minimize damage, and how to recover. I'd recommend the book to those both experienced with risk management, crisis communication and environmental/legal aspects of incident management.