In the laundry list of mistakes and missteps from Norfolk Southern in the wake of the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, what stands out the most is that the company seems to be making it all about them and not the people suffering the fallout of the crisis. (At a town hall meeting, a company representative kept repeating how awful everyone at Norfolk Southern felt about the incident. Nobody in East Palestine cares how anybody at Norfolk Southern feels.) You have to wonder if they’re getting and ignoring good crisis counsel, if the counsel they’re getting is bad, or if they’re not getting any professional input at all.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, March 20.

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Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s Asides blog is also available.

Links from this report:

• More Crisis Lessons In The Aftermath Of Norfolk Southern’s Train Accident
• Norfolk Southern CEO defends railroad’s response to Ohio derailment | CNN Business
• Norfolk Southern Fumbles Its Crisis Response
• Norfolk Southern blames misinformation for its derailed response

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