Reputation Recovery
Build a phased reputation recovery plan after a crisis — from damage assessment through stakeholder communication, trust-rebuilding actions, and sentiment tracking.
When to Use This Skill
- Post-crisis reputation rebuilding (product recall, data breach, PR incident)
- Trust restoration with customers, employees, investors, or public
- Designing accountability communications (CEO apology, incident reports)
- Stakeholder-specific recovery planning with prioritized outreach
- Tracking recovery metrics against pre-crisis baselines
Methodology Foundation
| Aspect |
Details |
| Source |
Edelman Trust Barometer, Burson reputation recovery frameworks |
| Core Principle |
Trust rebuilds through actions, not words — transparency, accountability, competence, then character, in that order |
| Recovery Phases |
Stabilize → Acknowledge → Act → Communicate → Measure |
What Claude Does vs What You Decide
| Claude Does |
You Decide |
| Designs phased recovery roadmap with timelines |
Investment level and resource allocation |
| Drafts stakeholder communications and apology frameworks |
Spokesperson selection and timing |
| Creates measurement dashboards and recovery criteria |
Acceptable recovery timeline |
| Prioritizes stakeholder groups and actions |
Which initiatives to fund |
Instructions
Step 1: Assess Reputation Damage
Build a damage baseline across key dimensions:
| Dimension |
Pre-Crisis |
Post-Crisis |
Gap |
| Trust score |
— |
— |
— |
| NPS |
— |
— |
— |
| Brand sentiment (% positive) |
— |
— |
— |
| Media tone |
— |
— |
— |
| Customer retention |
— |
— |
— |
Validation checkpoint: If you lack pre-crisis baselines, estimate from industry benchmarks before proceeding.
Step 2: Map Recovery Phases
| Phase |
Duration |
Focus |
Exit Criteria |
| Stabilize |
Weeks 1-2 |
Stop the bleeding, full accountability |
Crisis chapter closed, compensation launched |
| Rebuild |
Months 1-3 |
Demonstrate concrete structural changes |
New processes in place, advisory board active |
| Demonstrate |
Months 3-6 |
Build track record, earn positive coverage |
3 months positive media, trust at 80% baseline |
| Sustain |
Month 6+ |
Long-term reputation building |
Meet all recovery completion criteria |
Step 3: Prioritize Stakeholders
| Stakeholder |
Priority |
Key Concern |
Approach |
| Customers |
P1 |
Trust, safety |
Transparency + compensation |
| Employees |
P1 |
Job security, pride |
Internal comms + involvement |
| Investors |
P2 |
Financial impact |
Recovery plan + milestones |
| Partners |
P2 |
Association risk |
Assurance + collaboration |
| Regulators |
P2 |
Compliance |
Cooperation + prevention |
| Public |
P3 |
Values alignment |
Actions over words |
Step 4: Execute Trust-Rebuilding Actions
Apply the trust-rebuilding sequence (order matters):
| Action Type |
Examples |
Timeline |
| Transparency |
Full incident report, public updates, data access |
Immediate |
| Accountability |
CEO apology, personnel changes, compensation |
Week 1-2 |
| Competence |
New processes, third-party audits, team expansion |
Month 1-3 |
| Character |
Values-aligned initiatives, sustained behavior change |
Ongoing |
CEO apology framework: Direct acknowledgment → What went wrong → What we've done → What we're doing → Personal accountability → How to reach us.
Step 5: Track Recovery
| Metric |
Frequency |
Target |
| Brand sentiment |
Weekly |
Return to baseline |
| Trust score |
Monthly |
80% of pre-crisis |
| NPS |
Monthly |
Return to positive |
| Media tone |
Weekly |
Neutral → positive |
| Customer retention |
Monthly |
Pre-crisis rate |
Recovery completion criteria:
- Trust score at 90% of pre-crisis level
- Customer retention at pre-crisis rate
- 3 consecutive months of positive media tone
- NPS back to positive
Examples
Example: Product Safety Incident Recovery
Input: Product safety incident, 3 weeks in crisis mode, 30% trust drop, 15% churn, issue resolved.
Recovery roadmap:
| Month |
Phase |
Key Actions |
| 1 |
Stabilize |
CEO video apology, full incident report, compensation program, employee town hall |
| 1-3 |
Rebuild |
Safety team +3 hires, external advisory board, quarterly third-party audits |
| 3-6 |
Demonstrate |
Public safety reports, customer testimonials, thought leadership content |
| 6+ |
Sustain |
Ongoing transparency reports, industry standards participation |
Projected timeline: 6-9 months to full recovery with aggressive action.
See TEMPLATES.md for communication templates (CEO apology script, milestone update emails, stakeholder briefing outlines).
Skill Boundaries
What This Skill Does Well
- Creating phased recovery roadmaps with concrete timelines
- Designing stakeholder-specific communication strategies
- Defining measurable recovery criteria and dashboards
- Prioritizing trust-rebuilding actions in effective order
What This Skill Cannot Do
- Access real-time sentiment data or social listening feeds
- Know the specific details of your crisis without input
- Predict exact recovery timelines (every crisis is unique)
- Replace legal counsel or professional crisis management firms
References
- Edelman Trust Barometer — annual trust research
- Burson Reputation Recovery — crisis framework
- Weber Shandwick Crisis Recovery — communications methodology
- Harvard Business Review — trust research
Related Skills
crisis-detector — Prevention and early warningresponse-coordinator — During active crisissocial-listening — Monitoring recovery sentiment
1---
2name: reputation-recovery
3description: "Build a phased reputation recovery plan after a crisis — from damage assessment through stakeholder communication, trust-rebuilding actions, and sentiment tracking. Use when: rebuilding brand reputation post-crisis, designing a public apology and accountability strategy, creating stakeholder-specific recovery communications, tracking sentiment recovery metrics, planning a PR damage-control roadmap, or recovering from a data breach, product recall, or public backlash."
4license: MIT
5metadata:
6 author: ClawFu
7 version: 1.1.0
8 mcp-server: "@clawfu/mcp-skills"
9---
10
11# Reputation Recovery
12
13> Build a phased reputation recovery plan after a crisis — from damage assessment through stakeholder communication, trust-rebuilding actions, and sentiment tracking.
14
15## When to Use This Skill
16
17- **Post-crisis reputation rebuilding** (product recall, data breach, PR incident)
18- **Trust restoration** with customers, employees, investors, or public
19- **Designing accountability communications** (CEO apology, incident reports)
20- **Stakeholder-specific recovery planning** with prioritized outreach
21- **Tracking recovery metrics** against pre-crisis baselines
22
23## Methodology Foundation
24
25| Aspect | Details |
26|--------|---------|
27| **Source** | Edelman Trust Barometer, Burson reputation recovery frameworks |
28| **Core Principle** | Trust rebuilds through actions, not words — transparency, accountability, competence, then character, in that order |
29| **Recovery Phases** | Stabilize → Acknowledge → Act → Communicate → Measure |
30
31## What Claude Does vs What You Decide
32
33| Claude Does | You Decide |
34|-------------|------------|
35| Designs phased recovery roadmap with timelines | Investment level and resource allocation |
36| Drafts stakeholder communications and apology frameworks | Spokesperson selection and timing |
37| Creates measurement dashboards and recovery criteria | Acceptable recovery timeline |
38| Prioritizes stakeholder groups and actions | Which initiatives to fund |
39
40## Instructions
41
42### Step 1: Assess Reputation Damage
43
44Build a damage baseline across key dimensions:
45
46| Dimension | Pre-Crisis | Post-Crisis | Gap |
47|-----------|------------|-------------|-----|
48| Trust score | — | — | — |
49| NPS | — | — | — |
50| Brand sentiment (% positive) | — | — | — |
51| Media tone | — | — | — |
52| Customer retention | — | — | — |
53
54**Validation checkpoint:** If you lack pre-crisis baselines, estimate from industry benchmarks before proceeding.
55
56### Step 2: Map Recovery Phases
57
58| Phase | Duration | Focus | Exit Criteria |
59|-------|----------|-------|---------------|
60| **Stabilize** | Weeks 1-2 | Stop the bleeding, full accountability | Crisis chapter closed, compensation launched |
61| **Rebuild** | Months 1-3 | Demonstrate concrete structural changes | New processes in place, advisory board active |
62| **Demonstrate** | Months 3-6 | Build track record, earn positive coverage | 3 months positive media, trust at 80% baseline |
63| **Sustain** | Month 6+ | Long-term reputation building | Meet all recovery completion criteria |
64
65### Step 3: Prioritize Stakeholders
66
67| Stakeholder | Priority | Key Concern | Approach |
68|-------------|----------|-------------|----------|
69| Customers | P1 | Trust, safety | Transparency + compensation |
70| Employees | P1 | Job security, pride | Internal comms + involvement |
71| Investors | P2 | Financial impact | Recovery plan + milestones |
72| Partners | P2 | Association risk | Assurance + collaboration |
73| Regulators | P2 | Compliance | Cooperation + prevention |
74| Public | P3 | Values alignment | Actions over words |
75
76### Step 4: Execute Trust-Rebuilding Actions
77
78Apply the trust-rebuilding sequence (order matters):
79
80| Action Type | Examples | Timeline |
81|-------------|----------|----------|
82| **Transparency** | Full incident report, public updates, data access | Immediate |
83| **Accountability** | CEO apology, personnel changes, compensation | Week 1-2 |
84| **Competence** | New processes, third-party audits, team expansion | Month 1-3 |
85| **Character** | Values-aligned initiatives, sustained behavior change | Ongoing |
86
87**CEO apology framework:** Direct acknowledgment → What went wrong → What we've done → What we're doing → Personal accountability → How to reach us.
88
89### Step 5: Track Recovery
90
91| Metric | Frequency | Target |
92|--------|-----------|--------|
93| Brand sentiment | Weekly | Return to baseline |
94| Trust score | Monthly | 80% of pre-crisis |
95| NPS | Monthly | Return to positive |
96| Media tone | Weekly | Neutral → positive |
97| Customer retention | Monthly | Pre-crisis rate |
98
99**Recovery completion criteria:**
100- Trust score at 90% of pre-crisis level
101- Customer retention at pre-crisis rate
102- 3 consecutive months of positive media tone
103- NPS back to positive
104
105## Examples
106
107### Example: Product Safety Incident Recovery
108
109**Input:** Product safety incident, 3 weeks in crisis mode, 30% trust drop, 15% churn, issue resolved.
110
111**Recovery roadmap:**
112
113| Month | Phase | Key Actions |
114|-------|-------|-------------|
115| 1 | Stabilize | CEO video apology, full incident report, compensation program, employee town hall |
116| 1-3 | Rebuild | Safety team +3 hires, external advisory board, quarterly third-party audits |
117| 3-6 | Demonstrate | Public safety reports, customer testimonials, thought leadership content |
118| 6+ | Sustain | Ongoing transparency reports, industry standards participation |
119
120**Projected timeline:** 6-9 months to full recovery with aggressive action.
121
122See [TEMPLATES.md](TEMPLATES.md) for communication templates (CEO apology script, milestone update emails, stakeholder briefing outlines).
123
124## Skill Boundaries
125
126### What This Skill Does Well
127- Creating phased recovery roadmaps with concrete timelines
128- Designing stakeholder-specific communication strategies
129- Defining measurable recovery criteria and dashboards
130- Prioritizing trust-rebuilding actions in effective order
131
132### What This Skill Cannot Do
133- Access real-time sentiment data or social listening feeds
134- Know the specific details of your crisis without input
135- Predict exact recovery timelines (every crisis is unique)
136- Replace legal counsel or professional crisis management firms
137
138## References
139
140- Edelman Trust Barometer — annual trust research
141- Burson Reputation Recovery — crisis framework
142- Weber Shandwick Crisis Recovery — communications methodology
143- Harvard Business Review — trust research
144
145## Related Skills
146
147- `crisis-detector` — Prevention and early warning
148- `response-coordinator` — During active crisis
149- `social-listening` — Monitoring recovery sentiment
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