Shows / Communication Breakdown
Communication Breakdown
Communication Breakdown is a postgame show for PR pros. In each episode, hosts Craig Carroll (Founder of the Observatory on Corporate Reputation, Editor of the SAGE Encyclopedia of Corporate Reputation, Lecturer at Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business) and Steve Dowling (former head of communications at OpenAI and Apple) discuss the strategies and tactics companies are using in high-visibility crises and PR initiatives, giving listeners unique insight into how key…
Episodes
- Communication Breakdown
(Almost) Everything We Could See
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll react to You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary…
- Communication Breakdown
Bad Calls, Losing Bets and Non-Answers
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine what happens when companies ask the public to trust their explanations…
- Communication Breakdown
Mixed Messages and Second Takes
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine Microsoft’s response to a White House attack on its immigration…
- Communication Breakdown
Cornell’s Reckoning, Algorithmic ‘Gouging’
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different crises connected by a common question: what happens when…
- Communication Breakdown
Reorg, Reject, Retouch
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll start with Microsoft’s decision to move communications under its corporate…
- Communication Breakdown
All Apologies
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine three very different responses to public pressure. Converse apologizes for…
- Communication Breakdown
You Ought Not Be In Pictures
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine what happens when Hollywood turns corporate leaders into central…
- Communication Breakdown
Episode 100
In this 100th episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll revisit the major forces that have shaped corporate communications over the…
- Communication Breakdown
Long-time listeners, first-time callers
In this special listener-driven episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll answer questions from communications leaders and longtime…
- Communication Breakdown
Return on Mission
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll explore a different way to measure the value of corporate communications, public…
- Communication Breakdown
Fixing Flock’s Blind Spot
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine Flock Safety’s attempt to reset its reputation amid growing criticism…
- Communication Breakdown
Manifesto Mania!
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine what happens when powerful executives go direct in an effort to…
- Communication Breakdown
Full Court Press
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine how the WNBA has become the latest battleground in America's broader…
- Communication Breakdown
Off the Menu
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different corporate communications challenges. First, they explore…
- Communication Breakdown
A Midsummer Night’s Clip Show
In this special summer edition of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll revisit three of the season's most impactful conversations, each…
- Communication Breakdown
Defenestration
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine how Ryanair reduced a terrifying in-flight emergency to the language of a…
- Communication Breakdown
I Do / Undo
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different reputation plays: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s highly…
- Communication Breakdown
…and the home of the brave
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine why America’s 250th birthday feels smaller, flatter, and more complicated…
- Communication Breakdown
Comms on Three Continents
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll move across three communication flashpoints on three continents: the evolving…
- Communication Breakdown
Beast Mode
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine MrBeast’s 500 million YouTube subscriber milestone and the reputation…
- Communication Breakdown
Missives You Might’ve Missed
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll revisit recent essays from Craig and Steve on corporate communications, media…
- Communication Breakdown
bp’s Big Problem
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll return to BP’s boardroom battle with former chairman Albert Manifold. After…
- Communication Breakdown
“Lower-Value Human Capital”
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll unpack two corporate reputation problems where leadership, governance, and…
- Communication Breakdown
The AI Commencement
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine a string of AI-related commencement speech misfires and what they reveal…
- Communication Breakdown
Of Maersk and Men
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two high-stakes corporate communication moments with direct lessons for…
- Communication Breakdown
GameStop’s faceplant, Wells Fargo’s comeback
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different corporate reputation moments: GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen’s…
- Communication Breakdown
United plants a flag, IBM waves one
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll unpack two corporate reputation stories where the real action sits beneath the…
- Communication Breakdown
Chief Exposure Officer
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different versions of executive exposure: Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s…
- Communication Breakdown
Special Deliveries
Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different communication moments with the same core question underneath them: what happens when credibility…
- Communication Breakdown
Context is King
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different communications tests: Nestlé’s playful response to the…
- Communication Breakdown
Spring Break Bonanza
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll revisit key moments from the first quarter, focusing on how companies responded to…
- Communication Breakdown
Friendly skies vs. strong headwinds
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine how United and Delta communicated through a punishing week for the airline…
- Communication Breakdown
Chalamet’s Choke, Daryl’s Splash
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll unpack how Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar campaign unraveled despite strong box office…
- Communication Breakdown
McMisfire
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll analyze two very different communications moments playing out in public view…
- Communication Breakdown
Iran, Earnings, and … TACOs?
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll break down two parallel realities corporate communicators now have to manage at…
- Communication Breakdown
Tariff Turnabout, Milan Meltdown
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll unpack the Supreme Court’s 6–3 ruling that last year’s emergency tariffs were…
- Communication Breakdown
Silence & Subpoenas
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine a Bloomberg column arguing that America’s most powerful CEOs have gone…
- Communication Breakdown
The Outspoken Olympians
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine three threads that dominated the week: U.S. Olympic athletes speaking on…
- Communication Breakdown
The Reputation Super Bowl
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different reputation tests playing out on a global stage…
- Communication Breakdown
Minnesota CEOs miss the mark
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll return to the topic of Minnesota to examine how corporate leaders responded after…
- Communication Breakdown
Davos TACO, “Idiots” Feud
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different European stages where reputation, power, and…
- Communication Breakdown
ICE paints a target on Target
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two very different corporate communication challenges playing out in…
- Communication Breakdown
New Year, New Challenges
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two stories where companies get assigned roles before they choose…
- Communication Breakdown
Resisting Without Escalating: 2025 in Review
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll unpack how companies navigated a volatile year under Trump’s return to power —…
- Communication Breakdown
Susie Wiles’ star turn
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine the fallout from a rare, high-access Vanity Fair profile of White…
- Communication Breakdown
He’s Back...
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine Elon Musk’s return to the podcast circuit amid reports of a possible…
- Communication Breakdown
Costco targets tariffs, tech throws tantrum
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine two distinct communication strategies playing out in the same political…
- Communication Breakdown
Thanks for (saying) nothing
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll serve up their second annual Thanksgiving roundup of the year’s biggest corporate…
- Communication Breakdown
50 Ways to Botch Your Layoffs
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll break down two corporate communication failures shaping headlines this week. First…
- Communication Breakdown
Make Palantir Make Sense
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll examine Alex Karp’s high-volume media tour and the communications strategy behind…
- Communication Breakdown
PR in the Age of Rage
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll unpack the major themes from the 2025 PRovoke Global Summit in Chicago — from…
- Communication Breakdown
Toyota’s Truth-Telling, Shutdown Comms Playbook
When the President rewrites your press release, how fast do you fact-check him?In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll…
- Communication Breakdown
Salesforce Majeur
Last week’s misstep made headlines. This week’s silence made it worse. In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll revisit the…
- Communication Breakdown
Benioff's Unforced Error
When your CEO lands a New York Times profile to kick off your flagship conference, the headlines shouldn’t be about the National Guard. In this episode of…
- Communication Breakdown
Who Framed Bad Bunny
The headlines say outrage. The data says: not a thing. In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll break down two cases where…
- Communication Breakdown
Signals and Noise
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll dissect how companies are mistaking noise for signal—and paying the price. From the…
- Communication Breakdown
Kimmel’s back. Does Disney Have His Back?
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll mark the podcast’s one-year anniversary with a deep dive into two high-stakes…
- Communication Breakdown
The Sound of Silence
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, hosts Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll unpack the reputational risks of corporate silence in a post-Kimmel…
- Communication Breakdown
Narrative Contradiction
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll dig deep into the growing risk of narrative contradiction—when a company’s claims…
- Communication Breakdown
The Pepsi Challenge
In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll dissect activist investor Elliott Management’s $4 billion stake in PepsiCo — and…