Judy Smith - Good Self, Bad Self: Transforming Your Worst Qualities into Your Biggest Assets

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THEY FOUND OUT. ITS NOT WORKING. THEY WONT LISTEN. ITS ALL OVER. NOW WHAT?

Whether the problem is debt, infidelity, indiscretion, or merely an embarrassing email sent to the wrong reader, we have all found ourselves in bad situations of our own making. And whether that puts you in a delicate position or a fullblown crisis, it can sometimes feel as if there is no way out. Enter Judy Smith. Americas number one crisis management expert, Judy Smith is on speed dial for some of the highest-profile celebrities, politicians, and corporations in the world. But though her business is helping her clients recover from widely publicized personal and professional setbacks, her expertise is applicable to us all. In Good Self, Bad Self , Smith shares her methods, gleaned from years of professional experience, for smoothing over a bad situation while providing the tools to prevent similar incidents from ever happening again.

The way to get through a personal or professional rough spot is by understanding the traits that can lead to our wildest successes and most painful failures. Smith has learned to identify high-risk situations that often lead to marital, financial, professional, or personal imprudence; her ability to anticipate potential personal disasters has allowed her to coach people prior to, as well as in the wake of, crisis.

She has identified seven traits that are often found at the root of a crisis. These traits can be positive and extremely useful but can cause problems when they fall out of balance. Drawing on more than twenty years of professional experience, Smith explains how to prevent these characteristics from interfering with your life. They are:

EGO

DENIAL

FEAR

AMBITION

ACCOMMODATION

PATIENCE

INDULGENCE

Smith uses examples from high-profile cases to illustrate how celebrities, businesses, and individuals have become victims of their own bad behavior when they let one of these traits fall out of balance. Exploring the underlying factors of some very public and often unpleasant scandals, Smith shows how different situations could have been prevented by recalibrating one (or more) of those seven vital characteristics. As she shares her method of repairing the damage that these situations can cause, Smith also explains what we can all be doing in our own lives to prevent a crisis from getting started.

Nobodys perfect, and the same character traits that bring us success can lead to our downfall. It is the way each of us deals with personal character flaws that dictates whether were going to succeed or fail. In Good Self, Bad Self , Judy Smith distills years of experience to share the tools we all need to face our mistakes and ultimately overcome them.

I have known Judy Smith for many years and she is one of the best crisis managers out there. Good Self, Bad Self is a really important book and offers a unique way of looking at crisis.

LARRY KING

It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation and only one thoughtless act to damage it. Good Self, Bad Self is a book you want to read before you need it. Smith provides a blueprint for how to act with authenticity in building, maintaining, and, when necessary, repairing your personal brand.

LOIS P. FRANKEL, PH.D., author of Nice Girls Dont Get the Corner Office and Stop Sabotaging Your Career

Judy Smith has a profound understanding of human nature, and were fortunate that shes sharing what she knows about the importance of balance in our lives. Good Self, Bad Self isnt just about getting out of a crisis once youre in oneits a powerful, inspiring book that will help you better understand yourself in every situation.

MARCI SHIMOFF, New York Times bestselling author of Happy for No Reason and Love for No Reason

Judy Smith is a very savvy problem solver, and shes incredibly tough. Ive seen her handle headstrong clients and also senior producers of major television shows, and in each case, she was in command and relentless in working to implement her strategies. I hope to continue to watch her work her magic from afar, and never to need her services as a client.

WAYNE PACELLE, president and CEO, The humane Society of the United States

This book is for everyone. Every person, at some point in his or her life, has desperately wished for sound, experienced guidance while trying to navigate the treacherous waters of a personal or professional crisis, be it large or small. With Good Self, Bad Self , crisis manager extraordinaire Judy Smith provides clear and concise instructions for how to recognize our individual strengths and weaknesses and how to handle those dire situations. Those of us lucky enough to know Judy Smith wish we could take her and her wit, wisdom, and expertise everywhere with us. With Good Self, Bad Self now we finally can!

BETSY BEERS, executive producer, Greys Anatomy, Private Practice , and Scandal

In a career spanning nearly twenty-five years, JUDY SMITH has served as a crisis adviser to a host of famous clients. Her unique combination of communication skills, media savvy, and legal and political acumen has put her in high demand during some of the most high-profile events in recent history: the President Clinton scandal, the Iran Contra investigation, the prosecution of former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Justice Clarence Thomas, the Chandra Levy investigation, and the Enron Congressional inquiry, to name a few. Smith has also provided strategic advice to Fortune 500 corporations on a variety of corporate communication issues as well as to leaders in nations including Haiti, Jamaica, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Her expertise as a crisis manager serves as the basis and inspiration for the upcoming ABC television series Scandal.

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NOTE TO READERS

The stories about nonpublic figures in this book are intended to be illustrative. They are composites based on the authors extensive experience as a crisis manager, and they do not depict the experiences of any particular person. In addition, the identifying and other details in some of the authors anecdotes about corporations or individuals are stories that are illustrative and do not represent an actual incident or particular corporation.

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