Crisis Leadership

Corporate crisis a career-killer?

October 28, 2011
A corporate crisis could kill your career or it could position you for future success. Tips for handling a corporate crisis in a way that benefits your career: Do extensive homework before joining an employer. Resist the desire to quit. Keep meticulous records about your crisis management.

Be ready for any eventuality

October 6, 2011
One way to hang onto your optimism is to have a plan in the event of a worst-case scenario. As Winston Churchill did, have a backup plan in place because you might just need it.

Flying high in the face of disaster

September 23, 2011
As the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted and spewed ash across the North Atlantic, all of Europe’s air space was forced to close, grounding hundreds of flights. Heathrow Airport was a mass of confusion and anger, but British Airways swung quickly into action.

Hackers give CEO a quick lesson in security

August 30, 2011
CEOs don’t often busy themselves with IT considerations, until a crisis threatens. So it was for Ted Chung, CEO of South Korea’s largest consumer-finance company, who was told by hackers that if he didn’t pay them $500,000, they’d release confidential information. The experience taught him several key lessons:

3 signs you’re facing a tough call

August 12, 2011
About 95% of the decisions a CEO makes could be made by an intelligent high school graduate, says speaker and author John C. Maxwell. It’s the remaining 5% that they get paid for. Those are the tough calls, and the way a leader handles them is what separates him from everyone else.

3 behaviors it takes to lead in a crisis

July 21, 2011

These days, crisis is the new normal. “The people who are going to thrive in the future are those who can use this pressure to excel, as oxygen. People who have translated very difficult circumstances into opportunity,” says Justin Menkes, author of Better Under Pressure. What characteristics do such leaders share?

Leadership Tips: Vol. 511

April 29, 2011
Lay yourself off? That’s what the owner of Accurate Background Check in Florida did when business slowed down. She took another job and retained her nine longtime employees.

Crisis leadership? Google it

April 19, 2011

In the aftermath of Japan’s tsunami and earthquake, many companies scrambled to help. And no company did a better job in the midst of the crisis than Google. Why?

Nix the ‘rah-rah’ and tell it like it is

March 29, 2011

When your company is in dire straits, what should you say to employees? Some leaders respond by laying out their company’s strengths and weaknesses, then confidently assuring employees that their company will overcome its obstacles and rise again. Nokia’s new CEO Stephane Elop has taken a different approach. Call it “shock treatment.”

Leading the transformation

February 21, 2011
In 2008, Imperial Sugar Company experienced an explosion at its refinery in Port Wentworth, Ga., that killed 14 workers and injured dozens of others. Three years later, the company has transformed itself, largely due to the leadership of CEO John Sheptor. “A crisis is not a time to lead from the front office,” he says.