More Hesselbein on Leadership

Crisis Management: A Leadership Imperative

Crisis management is not a discipline to be learned on the job, in the midst of the storm. It must be learned and practiced when there’s not a cloud in the organizational sky. Now, more than ever, examples of crises badly managed in all three sectors underscore the imperative of preparing for a crisis that may lie ahead, that may never happen, that even so must be anticipated by responsible, effective leaders.

There are too few outstanding examples of leaders who understood the imperative, who prepared the organization for an emergency, who instilled values that would support a powerful and ethical response, and who—when the crisis hit—led from the front and communicated in an open and powerful way. ...