Would a crisis by any other name make you click?
The term ‘crisis’ has almost doubled since the end of the Second World War. But does that mean we’re actually living through more catastrophic times? Probably not, writes crisis expert Peter Roberts.
Being someone who supports organisations in terms of their respective reputations, I’m acutely aware that I have a rather slavish relationship with crises.
To clarify, it’s in my professional interest to keep abreast of business mishaps, cynical misdeeds and product failings the world over.
I gauge the context and privately evaluate the response. I tell you this as I feel I’m moderately qualified to say that crisis is getting too big.
The world population in 1950 was estimated as 2.2bn. It is now 7.6bn, more than 3 fold increase. While I agree with your point that the term is overblown and overused, the data used to support this is sketchy at the most. The same search engine shows more than a doubling of the term “calm” for the same period. Is the word “calm” overused?