Shame on Penn State for lack of leadership on multiple levels

I don't even pretend to understand what the children involved in the allegations against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky are going through.

I don't understand the thinking (or lack thereof) that took place with university management either.

But one thing I do know for a fact, the current administration that is dealing with the fallout of what happened had to scramble to find a PR firm to assist with crisis management.

Now, I know that a university with a large enrollment has to have internal marketing personnel that maintain the school's brand. They work on newsletters and brochures, Twitter feeds and social media outlets, websites and other collateral that is used to recruit alumni dollars and new students. They should, at a prestigious university like Penn State, have a coordinated effort in maintaining branding rules, language usage and marketing strategy.

The School of Business Administration teaches marketing as an area of study at the university. I even found a job posting for a new Assistant Professor of Marketing. So, you would think, that a Big Ten school would be able to look internally for thought leadership, strategy and institutional knowledge developed in a Branding 101 course.

Nope.

What dumbfounds me is that Penn State isn't alone in this category. Often large organizations lack the leadership and they fail to have a flexible crisis plan on stand-by. It doesn't take much to put together an outline to have at the ready should any situation arise – for good or for bad. If there isn't a way to have a plan done internally, at least have someone tapped to go to when the need arises.

Did the Packers have a PR plan ready when they won the Super Bowl? Yep. Did they trash the plan that was in place in case the Steelers won in Dallas last season? Yep. The Brewers front office was at the ready after every playoff game, no matter the outcome.

After Sept. 11 and the tragic devastation and loss of life in the terror attack, many industries took it as a wake-up call to update policies, have backup plans in place, and have a working knowledge of every system and employee task in the operation. Insurance companies stepped up and offered their services to assist in crafting readiness and business continuation plans. I helped craft these BCPs for small and large operations, and while time intensive in the research, it's time well spent. There is a ton of work I did that I pray will never have to be used.

It is my hope that institutions of higher learning and other large organizations are looking at the Penn State missteps to take a long look at moral obligations as well as putting plans in place to deal with branding and public perception situations. And I'm not even talking about the hell those children endured because of a lack of action here. That was – is – simply deplorable.

Crisis management is never fun, ask a soldier who has seen combat or a medical professional in an emergency room if you don't believe me. But the better prepared you are, the better chance there isn't as heavy as a price to pay.