Crisis Management

The Pathology of Leadership Error in Crisis

January 8, 2019 By p r

Self-Inflicted Leadership Crisis Response Failure Behaviors

1. Surprise: Stems from the U.S. management culture developed over the last 40 years which stresses the invincibility of managers and leaders based on extensive monitoring and data collection to the exclusion of many traditional (historic?) management beliefs, actions, concerns and functions. Today’s prevailing attitude is that smart managers are unlikely to suffer a crisis.

The unintended consequence of this delusion is that much necessary readiness activity never takes place.

Part of the surprise crisis always brings is related to the almost immediate realization by these smart leaders that readiness has suffered in an environment of management omnipotence and over optimism about inherent response capabilities.

The lesson: The smarter they are the harder and faster they fall.

The outcome is: The refusal to believe that things are serious, i.e. not wanting to look too concerned in the eyes and gossip of peers.

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Crisis Leadership: Purposeful De-escalation Guide

December 28, 2018 By p r

With the heavy scrutiny that crises bring, even the terms you use can have an impact. When the time comes to phase down the crisis response, avoid using the terms disengagement or deactivation. De-escalation implies that the team is phasing down to “watchful waiting.” This means that the team will remain vigilant for any developments that might rekindle the crisis response. To disengage or deactivate implies that the team is no longer monitoring the aftermath of the crisis. You don’t want to appear negligent due to premature disengagement when a monitored de-escalation of the crisis aftermath would be more defensible and sensible.

Click HERE to download your FREE guide to Purposeful Crisis De-escalation

CLICK HERE to learn more or to purchase BLINDSIDED: A Manager’s Guide to Crisis Leadership

Five Guiding Crisis Leadership Principles

October 12, 2018 By p r

Bruce T. Blythe counsels these Five Guiding Crisis Leadership Principles in his landmark book, BLINDSIDED: A Manager’s Guide to Crisis Leadership.

Your organization may want to add to this list. For example, if you are in an industry that can cause environmental damage, protection of the environment may also be one of your guiding principles during crisis response. In a pharmaceutical company that conducts testing on laboratory animals, your guiding principle may be to endorse animal rights laws.

In any case, guiding principles for crisis response that are established prior to your next critical incident can be a crisis leadership roadmap throughout the organization for strategic crisis decision-making. Following these five principles can help crisis managers overcome unrecognized character flaws that can emerge when blame, chaos, high-consequence threat, and other stress-inducing situations are involved.

Don’t Get Blindsided! Get Your Guide to Crisis Leadership

September 20, 2017 By p r

A crisis strikes out of the blue, at the time and place least expected. In a word, you’re Blindsided! According to Bruce T. Blythe, managing a crisis is an ultimate test of leadership, requiring leaders who inspire loyalty and trust as they rise to the occasion to meet the needs of people. Blythe shows you what it takes to be an effective and humane strategic crisis leader, a “crisis whisperer.”

While other books talk about crisis leadership, this one lands you in the middle of a fast-breaking crisis and demonstrates what a top-notch leader, a “crisis whisperer,” would say and do at every twist and turn. Blythe pulls up a chair and coaches you with real-world examples of what has worked — and not worked — in 30 years of experience with hundreds of companies just like yours. Some books tell you how to create a crisis response plan. Others tell you how to cope with the crisis as it takes place. Blythe does both.

Get THE industry-defining book on Crisis Management and Leadership Recovery

July 24, 2017 By p r

Get crisis-ready NOW! Learn from a master exactly what to do, what to say, when to say it, and when to do it while the whole world is watching: stop creating victims; communicate effectively with all stakeholders; prevent lawsuits; and reduce the negative impact of media hounds and activists. All supported by case studies and real-life examples, by trusted advisor to CEOs and practitioner/trainer named among the 100 Top Thought Leaders of 2013 by Trust Across America; profiled in Living Legends of American Public Relations; listed in Corporate Legal Times as one of “28 Experts to Call When All Hell Breaks Loose.”

Your CEO’s in handcuffs! Things are going downhill, fast! Your whole word is watching to see what you do next.

MIT’s Crisis Management & Business Continuity Course

June 7, 2017 By p r

Attend MIT Professional Education’s Crisis Management and Business Continuity course and prepare your organization for the inevitable. Offered since 2010, hundreds of participants have gained valuable insights and take-aways on business continuity, crisis management, disaster recovery, and crisis communications. Learn from MIT faculty and industry experts on MIT’s campus in Cambridge, MA July 24 – 28, 2017. Plus earn 3.3 Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

Don’t Get Blindsided! Get Your Guide to Crisis Leadership

June 1, 2017 By p r

The Cost of a Bad Reputation

February 1, 2015 By admin

Corporate Responsibility (CR) Magazine, in conjunction with Alexander Mann Solutions, announced the findings of the publication’s annual corporate reputation survey, which found that when making decisions about their future employment, the majority of Americans (71 percent) want to work for a company whose CEO is actively involved in corporate responsibility and/or environmental issues.