Negative publicity is akin to touching a hot stove. Once you experience it, and sustain damaging “burns”, you will surely find the means to avoid the risk.

American International Group Inc. (AIG) should know, considering that their “burn” – a damaged company reputation, resulting from their role in the financial crisis of ’09 and compounded by their acceptance of $130 billion government bailout to survive, almost left them in ruins.

So how does one insure against getting “burned” again? That depends. If it’s the stove, just don’t touch again. If it’s your company reputation, insurance, of course, a new kind…

Based on AIG’s damaging experience, and under the mantra of wanting to help others manage a similar “storm” that the company had undergone, AIG launched a new type of insurance coverage called “ReputationGuard,” created after discussions with insurance clients and brokers indicated that a potential market for the product existed. AIG says it launched it to help companies offset the cost of bringing in outside experts when a public relations crisis hits. The new insurance will pay for policyholders to seek the counsel of two particular crisis-communications firms, Burson-Marsteller and Porter Novelli –even before a possible crisis becomes public.

This insurance is, of course, a new profit center for the property-casualty unit of AIG – Chartis. Not such an altruistic move after all. But its very presence in the marketplace speaks mounds for the recognition that company reputation risk is a top concern in the C-Suite.

And with that, PR counselors seem to have inched their way, finally, into that C-Suite, alongside with legal and financial counsel.

Still, the Chartis policy is not all encompassing. For one thing, it is primarily a crisis communication policy, to be tapped for just that. For another, the policy doesn’t specify what sort of crisis would trigger the coverage and it is rather loosely designed to cover a broad range of potential public-relations problems. And for another, as all public relations professionals know, it is far better for a public relations firm to be on board with a company to ward off a potential crisis, than to jump in after one happens.

Cost? Well that’s also not clear. According to Tracie Grella, president of Chartis’ Professional Liability unit, some small companies with a crisis-communication preparedness plan could see premiums of about $10,000 annually. Ouch. Just premiums, no counsel…

But I welcome its presence, anyway. PR folks are now closer to warming up their seat at the boardroom table and staying there.

UPDATE

It takes a village, in this case tens of millions inside the village, to pitch in and help.  It is, and has always been, the American Way – you know, helping to “pull someone up by their bootstraps” type of thing.  We have a history of that.  When disasters, as in hurricanes, foreclosures, terrorist threats, or others strike, it is the people in our big USA “village” that come to the rescue in whatever personal way they can — with blankets, food, money, simple ingenuity or maybe just an extra shoulder on which to lean.

But the present joblessness calamity in our country has triggered no such response to date.  It has left both Washington and Corporate America divided, dumbfounded, frozen and bent on playing the “blame game.”

But then — along comes Howard Schultz, Starbucks Corp.’s CEO who said, “Right now we can’t wait for Washington… Businesses and business leaders have to recognize that we have a shared responsibility in trying to make a difference.”

And there you have it.  Starbucks, with its “Create Jobs USA program” initiative, just jumpstarted the “American Way” and is roping in masses of people to support it…

Starbucks is pinning its hopes on customers who may be willing to part with $5 or more, when they stop in for their morning cup of “Joe.”  Maybe it sounds like not much, but just do the math — $5 times millions of people who visit its nearly 7,000 company-owned U.S. stores each day!  And the reward — a red, white and blue wristband that says “Indivisible.”

Smart… part of that ‘ole spirit.

The facts: Seattle-based coffee chain is collaborating with the Opportunity Finance Network, a nonprofit that works with nearly 200-community development financial institutions to provide loans to small businesses and community groups. Starbucks says 100 percent of the donations will go toward loans for firms and organizations that can add jobs or stem job losses.

It’s not the first time that Schultz has addressed the nation’s economic woes. In August, he sent more than 200,000 Starbucks employees a memo urging them to do what they can to help business through hard times. After that, he hosted a national telephone forum, bought full-page ads in two major newspapers and started a website, Upwardspiral2011.org.

Schultz says he feels personal responsibility to do something to stimulate the U.S. economy.  Are you listening now, Corporate America?

Sure, Starbucks is growing and will gain by hiring about 200 people a day in the U.S. as it remodels thousands of stores and adds another 200 locations next year. But the key word is hiring, when others take the cautionary road and stay the course.

It may take a village to make a final difference, but it takes a leader to carve out the path. Let’s face it. We need more Schultzes!  I know where I will drink my coffee tomorrow morning, and happily part with $5.  Want to join me for coffee?