Eric Dezenhall
Eric Dezenhall is the founder and President of Dezenhall Resources which prides itself on designing aggressive public relations campaigns to counter activist groups.
Contents
History
The promotional material for one of his fictional books, Jackie Disaster, states that "as an investigative writer, Eric won acclaim when he uncovered the diaries of the late mobster, Meyer Lansky, which were featured in an article he wrote for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and the Baltimore Sun. A documentary he co-produced on organized crime will air on the Discovery Channel in Fall 2001". [1]
According to his brief biographical statement on the company website, Dezenhall "served in the White House Office of Communications and the Office of Presidential Personnel during the Reagan Presidency". [2]
He subsequently worked as an account executive at Doremus Porter Novelli (DPN) from 1984 to 1987 before founding Nichols-Dezenhall.
According to the company website, "his areas of focus include hard news media relations, crises, and marketplace assaults. Eric manages issues for clients in a wide range of industries, including consumer products, cosmetics, environmental services, food and beverage, law enforcement, medical devices, petroleum and pharmaceuticals."
He is also a director of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition.
In an interview with the Washington Times Dezenhall explained that the first challenge of a crisis manager is to set realistic goals. "You have to look at the origins of the term 'damage control," he said. "In the Navy, when your ship got hit by a torpedo, your objective was to live, not to get the ship back to where it was pre-torpedo. That's the great myth of crisis management." [3]
"The American public is far more offended by inconsistency than by naughty behavior," he said.[4]
The success of environmental groups with campaigns that bypass government and directly lobby corporations instead bemuses Dezenhall."The desire of corporations to be accepted by the marketplace and to be personally liked has spawned an entire industry of activism and corporate capitulation that I've never seen before - it's unprecedented ... I've seen situations where companies are simply being harassed so badly that it pays to get out of a certain endeavor just to make the harassment stop," he said. [5]
Books by Dezenhall
Non-fiction
- "Nail 'Em! Confronting High-Profile Attacks On Celebrities & Businesses" was published in 1999 by Prometheus Books. This book gained endorsements from Peter Barton Hull at Covington & Burling, Frank Luntz of Luntz Research, Richard Wirthlin at Wirthlin Worldwide, Michael Fumento from the Hudson Institute, Michael Cherkasky the President of Kroll and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. [6]
Fiction
- Money Wanders, St. Martin's Press (Hardcover edition, January 2002; Paperback edition, February 2003) is described in the promotional material as taking readers "on a gonzo tour through the alleys of damage control at the millennium". [7]
- Jackie Disaster, Thomas Dunne Books, (1st edition June 2003) is about Jackie De Sesto who runs a crisis management PR company Allegation Sciences.
- Shakedown Beach : A Mystery, St. Martin's Minotaur, (June 1, 2004) ISBN: 0312307721.
Other SourceWatch resources
External links
- Dezenhall Resources, "Executives: Partners", accessed October 2004.
- Biography, accessed October 2004.
- Eric Dezenhall, "It Is Not Immoral to Defend Yourself:A Brief Manifesto on Crisis Management", undated, accessed October 2004.
- Eric Dezenhall, "Wishful Thinking vs. Real-World Effectiveness in High-Stakes Communications", Legal Backgrounder, Volume 19 Number 25, Washington Legal Foundation, August 20, 2004.
- "Damage Control Consultant on CBS' Situation", Special Report With Brit Hume, Fox News, September 16, 2004.
- Scott Galupo, "Reputation repairmen", Washington Times, March 25, 2005.
- Joan Lowy, "Environmentalists bypass Washington to pressure corporations", Scripps Howard News Service, May 25, 2005.