Damage Control by Eric Dezenhall and John Weber is an excellent book if for no other reason than it tells the whole story of the 1982 Tylenol recall case and why it is not the only way to handle a corporate crisis.
Dezenhall is the CEO of Dezenhall Resources in Washington DC. One of the areas that they specialize in is crisis communications.
This book has many lessons for those that are involved in politics about the way to handle a problem.
The one thing that stood out is something that has always baffled me about the California business community. Why do they continue to give campaign money to the people that attack them? It can’t be because they support what the person stands for.
Dezenhall mentions a client that wondered how this attack group was able to afford to challenge the client. The truth was that the client was trying to buy peace. This is something that rarely works.
This is a great book that is a quick read. Most of the principles involve business but much of it has a direct correlation to politics.