If you don’t tell your story, someone else will tell it for you. Even the richest and most famous people and the largest corporate behemoths, however impervious to attack they may seem, can be crushed. The controversy and conversation will rage on with or without you. Today the bigger risk usually lies in responding inadequately or failing to respond at all. Most times, you must engage.

Rule 1: First, get the facts: First, I had to find out whether what was being said about my new client was true. If not, then what were the facts? How do we go about correcting the record so the wrong story doesn’t keep getting repeated, and then how do we get a compelling, fact-based counter-narrative that tells the correct facts? And where do we place that story?

Rule 2: Identify your objective: In training my people to figure out the real problem they are trying to solve, I have them ask four key questions: 1) What is the client’s objective? 2) How can we use our skills to contribute to achieving that objective? 3) What is the best strategy to bring to this situation? 4) So what? Why should anyone care?

Rule 3: Act preemptively: Act preemptively to get your story out there first. Rather than wait for the Disney Company to throw Roy Disney off the board, we preempted it, having Roy quit and state his reason for doing so.

Rule 4: Use a Lead Steer: Quite simply, I believe the media have a herd mentality. And like any herd, they follow a lead steer. We know that if we pick an outlet with enough clout—a “Lead Steer,” as I like to call it—the story will get even more coverage after the exclusive break, because the herd of reporters will follow in those first tracks.

Rule 5: Focus on the fix: Stories on your client should explore where a company is headed next, not rehash the mistakes it made in the past.