Tony Jaques

Dr Tony Jaques is Managing Director of Melbourne-based consultancy Issue Outcomes P/L and author of “Crisis Counsel: Navigating Legal and Communication Conflict”.

Tony's recent articles

Is AstraZeneca the Britney Spears of COVID vaccines?

In the UK the AstraZeneca vaccine is hailed as a public health success story. Professor Sarah Gilbert, the Oxford University scientist who led its development, was created a Dame in the Queens Birthday Honours list and received a spontaneous standing ovation from the crowd at Wimbledon.But not in Australia.

Does the "pub test" have a legitimate role in issue management?

What really is the pub test and does it have any proper or legitimate role in issue management or government policy? Or is it simply a lazy substitute for reasoned argument?

What do European football and Australia Post have in common?

Stakeholders are the essential foundation of any communication strategy especially issue and crisis management and two recent public debacles show how you ignore those stakeholders at your peril.

Rio Tinto needs more than Gorilla glue to repair its reputation

One of the challenges of issue management is the perception by some critics that it might be more about looking good rather than doing good.That's certainly the test facing Rio Tinto attempting to piece together its reputation, shattered by the high-explosive used to destroy 46,000-year-old aboriginal caves in Western Australia's Juukan Gorge.

Eddie Maguire stumbled badly, but it was an organisational failure

The Collingwood CEO's response was a textbook case of what not to do. Here are some pointers for what an organisation faced with having to report bad news should do.

Corporate activism: CEO silence on public issues can be deafening

Taking a stand on an issue needs to be thoughtful, meaningful and strategic, not opportunistic. CEO activism is most effective when there is a strong connection between the issue and the brand. Authenticity is critical.

Pandemic deaths have numbed our humanity and perception of risk

On one terrible day in December, Covid-19 deaths in the US for the first time exceeded the death toll from the World Trade Centre terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. To make people care we need to personalise the issue.

How to respond in the US when your brand comes under political attack

While the American election is finally over, one company is still monitoring for potential damage after being caught up in false allegations of voting fraud.

Why values matter in a crisis

A crisis is a test of leadership. A test of systems. And a test of relationships. But it is also a test of values.

Is this the least meaningful crisis defence?-This is not who we are!

When a crisis strikes its very natural to try and hide behind some sort of a defensive statement. Yet that statement needs to be meaningful and not just a fashionable clich posing as a moral fig-leaf.

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