From ringside seats, I saw three decades' worth of crises as they unfolded, damaging organisations, their leaders, their reputations and their shareholders. But this lawyerly work left important questions unanswered: Why didn't insiders see what was coming? And were these crises 'predictable' only with hindsight?

It took time to uncover why predictable crises kept on happening but answers emerged from research spanning dozens of dissections as we dug in fields that included behavioural economics, anthropology and luck.

The result was 'Rethinking Reputational Risk', co-written with my colleague Derek Atkins, a leading risk professional who gained decades of experience of crises from other perspectives.

We explain what we learned, why it matters to you and what you can do about it. Through our case studies, you can learn, painlessly, from the excruciating experiences of others. Our aim is to save you from becoming our next case study. I hope we succeed; but we need your help.