Daniel Laufer on LinkedIn: Making a List, Then Ditching It (Published 2006) (2025)

In January 2025 I will be starting a new role as Professor and Head of the School of Communication Studies at AUT (Auckland University of Technology), one of New Zealand’s leading universities. I will also be moving from Wellington to Auckland.The School of Communication Studies is an established and industry-focused school with world-class researchers and teachers across multiple disciplines including advertising, critical media studies, journalism, public relations, radio, screen production and more.AUT has more than 27,000 students and over 4,000 staff. AUT is ranked among New Zealand’s top universities, and globally AUT is ranked among the top 1% of universities worldwide.I look forward to my new role at AUT. I am also grateful to Victoria University of Wellington. I’ve had many exciting opportunities since I joined the university over 12 years ago, including Head of the School of Marketing and International Business, and I will miss both the university and the city of Wellington.https://www.aut.ac.nz#NewPosition #HeadofSchool #Professor #CommunicationStudies #AUT #Auckland #NewZealand #Universities #HigherEducation

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The crisis involving Crowdstrike also highlights the importance of understanding issues around using the CEO as a spokesperson during a crisis (https://lnkd.in/gArphB_Z) #ceo #spokesperson #crisismanagement #crowdstrike #microsofthttps://lnkd.in/g4v2N-wH

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An important article has just been published about industry crises in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, a leading journal in the field of Marketing. This article will be of great interest to both scholars and practitioners. As the authors point out, there are relatively few articles that examine industry crises, and this article provides valuable insights. Also, whereas my research with Yijing Wang on Crisis Contagion (https://lnkd.in/g3A-W3T) and Spillover Crises (https://lnkd.in/gPQnyawY) focuses on situations where companies in an industry are innocent, and are guilty by association, this article focuses on situations where the companies in an industry are all involved in the crisis.This article is open access, so you can read it for free.#crisismanagement #industrycrisishttps://lnkd.in/evtgrqrh

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I’d like to thank the business school at my university, Victoria University of Wellington, for highlighting my research on Crisis Contagion in their Spotlight feature for this month. It has been great working with my co-author Yijing Wang from Erasmus University on the topic, and it’s amazing the impact the article we published in Business Horizons back in 2018 has had beyond academia around the world, including industry interest and media coverage. https://lnkd.in/gkEFc8eG#crisiscommunication #researchimpact

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This article in today’s New York Times about Elon Musk’s statements adversely impacting Tesla, highlights the consequences of CEO statements on their companies. I have commented on this issue in the past in the Wall Street Journal in the USA (https://lnkd.in/f-32Sda), as well as in my previous column on Crisis Management in the New Zealand Herald (https://lnkd.in/gSjnF2g6). It is very important for companies to be aware of the potential fallout that can result from controversial statements made by their CEOs. #ceo #spokesperson #crisiscommunication #crisismanagementhttps://lnkd.in/gfZXVYXS

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A very interesting article was published in Strategic Management Journal, one of the most prestigious journals in the field of business (https://lnkd.in/ga7Puaan). The article looks at lobbying activity, and product recall crises. The authors mention that “Managers should be mindful that even if lobbying may help limit the costs of recalls, it could also cause potential reputational harm. Thus, it is vitally important that managers pay attention to the reputational cues from the media, which can help them determine when lobbying may be problematic and allow them to preemptively refrain from such lobbying”The article also cites an article of mine from back in 2005 that examined the connection between the severity of a crisis and blame attributions (https://lnkd.in/gp-aervd). At the time my research focused on the psychology of blame, and it is great to see that the research still has relevance today. It also brings back fond memories of conducting research in Mexico, a beautiful country!#lobbying #productrecall #severity #crisismanagement #reputation #defensiveattributionhypothesis #mexicohttps://lnkd.in/gvB-UQkg

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I am very honoured to be featured by EUPRERA in their Highlights section this month. EUPRERA has approximately 500 members from 40 countries interested in advancing academic research and knowledge in strategic communication. It is the leading academic organisation in this area in Europe.

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I just found out that the editor of AACSB Insights featured my article “Teaching Communication in an Age of Disruption” (https://lnkd.in/gW5T2Sx6) in the article “The Value of Timeless Leadership Skills” published earlier this year. It is great to see that the publication of the AACSB, the leading global accreditation organisation of Business Schools at Universities, recognises the value in offering Crisis Communication courses in Business Schools:“In “Teaching Communication in an Age of Disruption,” Dan Laufer shares the best strategies CEOs can use when they have to speak publicly about situations that have gone awry. “Effective communications can reduce the chances a crisis will occur, minimize the harm if it does occur, and facilitate learning that will prevent a similar situation in the future,” he says.“When schools offer crisis communication courses, Laufer recommends that they take four steps: Collaborate with practitioners, incorporate current events into classroom activities, use multimedia simulations, and create assignments that are related to students’ work environments. In these ways, instructors can engage students more deeply in the topics under discussion”https://lnkd.in/gPxN389U#crisiscommunication #businessschools #universities #teaching #mba #undergraduate #emba

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Yesterday my university published my article “Media Commentary on Topics of Interest to the Public: Professional Standards and Ethical Behaviour” on its website in a special section on Viewpoints on Academic Freedom and Free Speech. Below are excerpts from the article:“Between 2019-2023 I wrote a monthly column on Crisis Management for leading newspapers in New Zealand, including the Herald, The Post/Stuff and NBR, and my column appeared over 25 times. In terms of my background, I have conducted research on Crisis Management for over 20 years, and I’ve also taught courses on the topic at the university on both undergraduate and MBA levels. I felt that writing a newspaper column would be an excellent way to engage with the public on topics related to my area of expertise.The topics that I covered in my column on Crisis Management over the years were inspired by high profile crises that occurred in New Zealand and overseas, and one in particular was related to a topic of great interest to the Public: Professional standards of the Public Relations Industry in New Zealand and the ethical behaviour of its members.Back in May 2021 I wrote an article in the Post titled “When PR firms become the news, it's a different kind of crisis” (https://lnkd.in/gNkCWs_N).Writing my newspaper column was an excellent experience, and I encourage other scholars to write newspaper columns as well. It is an excellent way to engage with the public, and it also can play an important role in participating in a Public Debate on topics related to one’s area of expertise. (https://lnkd.in/gVYPAK5A#AcademicFreedom #PublicDebate #CrisisCommunication #NewspaperColumn

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