Archive | Wag The Dog Newsletter

Anticipator, enabler, or observer: which one is your crisis team, really?

Aug 12, 2026

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8 min read

Anticipator, enabler, or observer: which one is your crisis team, really?

A five-role maturity model, built for investors and innovators, doubles as an uncomfortably accurate test of crisis readiness.

Philippe Borremans

AI didn't invent a new crisis. It just broke the clock.

Aug 5, 2026

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6 min read

AI didn't invent a new crisis. It just broke the clock.

ICM tracked a record year of US crisis coverage. International SOS surveyed 250 risk leaders across 53 countries. They're describing the same problem.

Philippe Borremans

Gray zone attacks: the crisis your comms plan was never built for.

Jul 29, 2026

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7 min read

Gray zone attacks: the crisis your comms plan was never built for.

A guide to the ambiguous, deniable attacks now hitting critical infrastructure, contractors and private citizens worldwide — and what that means for your comms plan.

Philippe Borremans

When AI hacks AI: inside the disclosure that turned a breach into a safety story

Jul 23, 2026

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9 min read

When AI hacks AI: inside the disclosure that turned a breach into a safety story

A case study in attribution timing, third-party validation, and the vocabulary gap crisis teams don't have yet for agentic AI incidents.

Philippe Borremans

Capacity Building

The best crisis guidance in existence can't actually certify you.

Jul 15, 2026

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7 min read

The best crisis guidance in existence can't actually certify you.

A clause-by-clause reading of ISO 22361, 22301 and 31000 finds the standard with the deepest crisis communication guidance is also the one nobody can be audited against — and none of the three has a plan for infodemics or AI.

Philippe Borremans

Polycrisis

Overturn This: what FIFA's Balogun mess teaches communicators.

Jul 8, 2026

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8 min read

Overturn This: what FIFA's Balogun mess teaches communicators.

A reversed red card, a presidential phone call, and Iran's viral Lego propaganda are all running the same geopolitical script—and every one of them is a lesson for anyone managing a technical or disciplinary process.

Philippe Borremans

Crisis Communication

Three ways AI starts a crisis — and only one of them involves AI failing

Jul 1, 2026

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7 min read

Three ways AI starts a crisis — and only one of them involves AI failing

IBM's Calculus of AI Sovereignty study puts numbers on a crisis type your response plans probably don't cover.

Philippe Borremans

How To

Polycrisis – You can't stop the shock. You can stop the spread.

Jun 24, 2026

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9 min read

Polycrisis – You can't stop the shock. You can stop the spread.

What power-grid engineers know about containing a crisis before it spreads.

Philippe Borremans

Capacity Building

22 crisis case studies, three frameworks, one wiki

Jun 18, 2026

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5 min read

22 crisis case studies, three frameworks, one wiki

I built a public wiki for crisis communication. Here's why, and how you can add to it.

Philippe Borremans

How To

The wall that runs your crisis response when no one else can.

Jun 11, 2026

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9 min read

The wall that runs your crisis response when no one else can.

How a Japanese city replaced a 100-page manual with 27 cards — and what I built next.

Philippe Borremans

How To

Jun 3, 2026

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9 min read

The SAFE AI framework

Your AI system fails tomorrow. What do you say? The humanitarian sector just published the governance framework the private sector should have built first.

Philippe Borremans

Research

The risks hurting organisations most aren't on their risk registers.

May 27, 2026

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8 min read

The risks hurting organisations most aren't on their risk registers.

What 12 global risk reports actually found and what it means for crisis communicators.

Philippe Borremans