Crisis Leadership: Using Military Lessons, Organizational Experiences, and the Power of Influence to Lessen the Impact of Chaos on the People You Lead

by Gene Klann

Crisis Using Military Lessons, Organizational Experiences, and the Power of Influence to Lessen the Impact of Chaos on the People You Lead (CCL, 2003), by Gene Klann, Ph.D., a member of the Center for Creative Leadership’s training faculty. Crisis Leadership is designed to help leaders assess their strengths and weaknesses, learn new competencies and prepare for events that are as unpredictable as they are unavoidable. It draws not only on Klann’s experiences at CCL with executives from around the globe, but also on his U.S. Army career, where he advised a South Vietnamese infantry unit during the Vietnam War and commanded a battalion of 600 paratroopers during the first Gulf War. Klann contends that while the highly charged and often dramatic events surrounding a crisis can profoundly affect the people in an organization and even threaten its survival, there are actions a leader can take before, during and after to reduce the duration and impact of difficult situations. Crisis Leadership outlines those actions, concentrating on three important communication, clarity of vision and values, and caring relationships. "Leaders who develop and practice these qualities go a long way toward handling the human dimension of a crisis," Klann said. "And in the end, it’s all about the people." In fact, Klann sees the ability to handle people issues as a key separator between managers and leaders; crisis management relates mainly to operational issues, while crisis leadership deals principally with how leaders handle the human response to a crisis. Today’s political realities and the interconnectedness of our global economy can create a ripple effect and magnify the human dimensions of a crisis, Klann says, citing as an example the 2001 financial implosion at Enron that sparked a related crisis at Arthur Andersen. "Leaders must be prepared to manage a crisis not only within their own organization, but also within the greater orbit of their influence – clients and customers, the surrounding community, stockholders, suppliers, vendors, local government, concerned organizations, activist groups and the media," he said.

Genres: Leadership

85 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2000

Reviews

[Dave Beeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing tests a leader like a crisis. The highly charged, dramatic events surrounding a crisis profoundly affect the people in an organization and can even threaten the organization's survival. But there are actions a leader can take before, during, and after a crisis to effectively reduce the duration and impact of these extremely difficult situations. At its center, effective crisis leadership is comprised of three things--communication, clarity of vision and values, and caring relationships. Leaders who develop, pay attention to, and practice these qualities go a long way toward handling the human dimension of a crisis. In the end, it's all about the people.

If you know anything about leadership this book will test your patience. Not highly recommended by this reader.

[Alireza Hejazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book assists leaders in assessing their strengths and shortcomings, learning new abilities, and preparing for unforeseeable or unavoidable incidences. It is based on the author’s interactions with CEOs from all over the world, as well as his military service in the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War. It asserts that, while the highly heated and frequently spectacular events surrounding a crisis may have a significant influence on the people in an organization and even endanger its existence, there are steps a leader can take before, during, and after a tough circumstance to limit the duration and impact. The book might be valuable for leaders and managers who want to learn more about crisis management at the organizational level.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise read about the core tenets of crisis leadership. Dr. Klann breaks crisis leadership down into three principals: communication, clarity of vision/values, and caring. He further organizes his discussion according to three of the phases of incident management (preparedness, response, and recovery). Dr. Klann's efforts to distill the elements of crisis leadership to a small number of succinct elements are both effective and serve to make a complex phenomenon accessible. Further, the brief, direct style of the text is appropriate given the crisis context.

The title of this book suggests that successful crisis leadership in the military will be a strong theme, and it is via the U.S. Army. Dr. Klann does a nice job of using military lessons learned and translating those to the civilian context. The book focuses on corporate America (as opposed to crisis leadership in the community disaster context). I continue to look for more discussions set in a non-military context because I strongly feel that while the military is an excellent example of leading in crises, the community sector offers a number of excellent examples as well. Dr. Klann, however, does not hold the military over the reader's head. He skillfully includes examples from well-known military campaigns and quickly relates those the business world. From my perspective, that was much appreciated.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have been in the military you will get this...but you will still get it if you haven't been in. The way people react in a crisis can be critical to accomplishing your given objective; the layers between what is called span of control (SOC) can start to 'spin' in different directions. This book will help you address that 'spin' before it gets away from you.