South Africa, July 6 -- The one thing that's very clear about the impact of the crisis we're in is that it will no longer be business as usual. The status quo is up for grabs and to be tone-deaf to the times carries huge consequences. Just ask the CEO of Crossfit, Dischem or even Facebook. Their reputations are under fire and one hopes that they, like any responsible business leader, have the counsel of their senior public relations professionals.

The costs of not taking counsel are high and yet too often public relations is buried in marketing, sitting on the business margins, viewed as a cost centre versus revenue generator. But I reckon the shareholders of Crossfit can very clearly count the cost of their CEO's tweets regarding #black...