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“The measure of who we are is how we react to something that doesn’t go our way.”
— Gregg Popovich
The Red Thread This Week
When Everything Breaks
Tuesday morning: my phone died mid‑call with a label executive.
Not the battery — the entire network
Hit the same moment my wife (a realtor) was actively finalizing a purchase with her buyer.
For six hours, we were invisible.
No calls
No texts
No way to control the narrative while clients and partners wondered where we were
And… I’m still a Verizon customer.
Not because they fixed it quickly (they didn’t.)
But because of what happened in between:
A clear acknowledgment
A human response
A follow‑up once service returned
They couldn’t control the outage.
But they owned the experience.
I’ve watched this pattern repeat for two decades across music, media, and tech:
The artists and brands who survive scandals aren’t the ones who never mess up
They’re the ones who’ve built trust before things go wrong
And over-index in consistent, honest communication
Small businesses face this dynamic too — just at a different scale.
Most owners treat crisis management as damage control.
The best treat it as brand building.
The difference isn’t talent or luck.
It’s accountability infrastructure built before anything breaks.
So the Red Thread this week is about building that infrastructure, so inevitable problems become proof of your values, not evidence against them.
~ Jaime
🔑 The Unlock
The Crisis Accountability Framework
Across industries, the businesses that endure are the ones with clear accountability when things go sideways.
Here’s the framework—whether you’re Verizon or a solo operator.
1️⃣ Before the Crisis: Decide in Advance
Strong responses aren’t improvised. They’re pre‑determined.
Think about a small business who delivers incorrect or damaged products to their biggest client.
What matters next isn’t the mistake.
It’s whether they own it clearly, quickly, and humanly.
The team who handles it well already knows:
Who communicates
How fast they respond
What tone they use
What responsibility they’re willing to take
The team who struggles figures this out in real time—and usually too late.
Your move:
Ask yourself now: “If my most important client called unhappy tomorrow, what would I do in the first 30 minutes?”
If you can’t answer clearly, you don’t have infrastructure yet.
2️⃣ During the Crisis: Own It Fast
When Verizon’s network failed, they didn’t wait for perfect information.
They said: “We know. We’re on it. We’ll update you.”
Three sentences. No excuses.
Contrast that with the freelancer who misses a critical deadline and sends a long explanation about circumstances.
Clients don’t want a defense.
They want ownership.
What works:
Acknowledge quickly (speed beats polish)
Use I or we—never passive language
Name the problem clearly
Say what happens next
Example:
❌ “Due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts…”
✅ “I missed the deadline. That’s on me. I’m delivering a revised version by tomorrow and crediting this week’s invoice.”
One builds trust. The other erodes it.
3️⃣ After the Crisis: Make the Invisible Visible
This is where most businesses stop—and miss the real opportunity.
Handled well, a problem becomes proof.
I worked with a small SaaS founder whose product went down for several hours during an important client demo, to real customers.
Brutal moment.
Instead of hiding it, she did 3 things:
Sent a clear explanation to customers the same day
Published a short post outlining what failed and what changed
Shared the new monitoring systems they implemented
That post outperformed every launch announcement they’d ever shared.
Not because of the outage, but because of the accountability.
Your move:
When something goes wrong and you handle it well, document the response, not the drama.
“Here’s what we do when things break.”
That’s trust‑building content.
4️⃣ The Accountability Principle
You can’t control outcomes. You can control your response.
Delayed shipment. Missed deadline. Platform outage. Client frustration.
The businesses that grow aren’t problem‑free.
They’re accountable enough that problems become evidence of character instead of proof of incompetence.
📌 Remember: Crisis management isn’t separate from operations. It’s your values, under pressure.
🎲 Prompt Playground
The Accountability Audit
Use this to force yourself to articulate your instincts and blind spots, which is where the real strategic value lives.
Prompt:
You are a strategic operator helping a business owner build accountability infrastructure before something breaks. Your job is to help me see risks clearly, respond decisively, and turn problems into trust.
Context:
What I do: [Describe your business, service, or creative work.]
Where trust matters most: [Clients, customers, audience, partners, or team—and why.]
Most likely failure: [Be realistic: a missed deadline, outage, client dissatisfaction, public mistake, etc.]
My instinct under pressure: [Do you hide, over-explain, defend, freeze, or own it?]
Deliverables:
Primary Trust Risk
Identify the single point of failure that would most damage trust
Explain why it’s risky in plain language
Accountable First Response
Draft a short response that acknowledges the issue
Uses clear ownership (no passive voice)
States next steps and timing
Pre-Crisis Infrastructure
List the systems I should have before this happens
Include communication channels, decision authority, and response timing
Public Trust Signal
Suggest one way to make accountability visible after it’s handled
This could be content, process changes, or a customer-facing signal
CEO-Level Reflection
Name the mindset shift required to respond this way under pressure
Identify what I need to let go of to lead clearly in a crisis
Formatting Instructions: Use clear headers, concise bullet points, and short paragraphs. Be direct and practical.
✅ Bonus Prompt: "If I knew this failure was inevitable in the next 12 months, what accountability muscle should I start building now—and why?"
Not ready to build the full playbook yet?
Start here:
🃏 Action Card
Your Move This Week
Question
Where is the soft tissue in your business right now? What's the one thing that, if it broke tomorrow, would expose you as unprepared?
Test
If your biggest client called right now saying they're unhappy, what would you do in the next 30 minutes? If you don't have an answer, you don't have crisis infrastructure.
Shift
Crisis management isn't damage control—it's brand building. The businesses that win aren't the ones that never mess up. They're the ones who decided how they'd show up before anything broke.
Move (15 minutes)
Open a doc and write: "If [most likely problem] happens tomorrow, I will [specific response] within [timeframe]." Save it somewhere you can access quickly. You're now more prepared than 90% of businesses.
A Gift for You
My personal library of 12 high-impact AI prompts designed to help leaders, builders, and creators use AI as a strategic thinking partner (not just a productivity tool.)
If you’re planning for 2026, this will help you clarify direction, surface opportunities, and make better decisions faster.
No strings attached. Just a thank-you for being here, and a resource to help you do your best work.
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Thanks for spending time with Red Threads this week, I’m glad you’re here :)
~ Jaime