When Silence Costs More Than a Statement
- Silence only works when the issue is genuinely private and contained.
- Once a third party can tell the story, silence reads as an admission.
- Default to a short holding statement over saying nothing at all.
The instinct to stay silent in a crisis is understandable, and usually wrong. The right default is a short holding statement, not silence.
When silence works
Silence works only when the issue is genuinely private and contained, with no external party able to surface it. Those situations are rarer than teams assume.
When it backfires
The moment a third party can tell the story for you, silence becomes an admission. By then you are reacting to someone else’s framing instead of setting your own.
How to decide in the moment
Ask one question before you go quiet: can someone else tell this story before we do? If the answer is yes, speak first, even briefly.
The OneTeam desk. Phygital PR and communications for leading brands in Greece and beyond.
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