By Mike DuBose
It was Sept. 11, 2001, and I was lecturing in front of 150 professionals who had traveled by plane to Austin, Texas to hear me speak. Members of my staff and I had just conducted the same class in New York City in a building near the World Trade Center towers. The lecture was going well until my vice president alerted me to the disaster that was unraveling in New York due to multiple terrorist attacks. My first words to everyone were, “Don’t panic!”
As a leader within any organization, sooner or later, you will be faced with a crisis or disaster that could make or break your company. I was not prepared for the 9/11 attacks, but I became a therapist, comforter, humorist, and guide to those 150 people in Austin who spent five days with me in a class I will never forget. I have trained more than 25,000 individuals over 22 years, but that class was a memorable one because we all cried, loved on each other, prayed for others, and survived a crisis together. Like it or not, I was their leader during this time, and though I wanted to cancel the class and hit the road, all flights, rental cars, and other forms of transportation were cancelled due to the fear of more terrorism. We were all stuck in Austin during one of the greatest crises our country has ever faced!
I stared a crisis in the face and survived! But how do you prepare to lead during a crisis? Since that time, I have learned to “expect the unexpected and anticipate the unanticipated.” Hope for the best and prepare for the worst—great companies must be prepared for the unimaginable. Whether in your personal or professional life, at some point you will certainly face a nightmare that you thought could never happen. Everyone in your organization will look to you to lead them out of the crisis, and your job as a leader is to remain strong, calm, logical, and decisive. I have sometimes gone home with a burdened heart because of very difficult decisions I have made that negatively impacted real human beings. But in front of my employees, I had to be a strong leader who could and would make difficult corrections to problems I saw ahead. It also meant I would have to stand in front of them and apologize for the hard, painful, and unpopular decisions I had made to serve the employees who remained after layoffs, changes in company direction, dissolution of divisions, or actions that went against what the majority of employees wanted.
Potential disasters are like the hundreds of thunderstorms that form each year off the coast of Africa: some will become tropical storms, some of which will make their way toward America but suddenly turn back out to sea. And then there are the few that will build into Category 4 or 5 hurricanes and slam into the coast, killing people, destroying buildings, and wreaking havoc on the environment. One thing is for certain: crises will come and you never know when that big one is going to hit you! A good leader must be prepared to weather the storms.
Leading during a crisis means that you must “put your president’s hat on.” This can be one of the toughest journeys you will travel because it means you will have to become an unfeeling robot that methodically looks at the facts, solicits opinions from as many sectors as possible, analyzes the data, and makes the best decision (without emotion) for the company’s security and prosperity. While you want to consider and care about your employees as much as possible, the bottom line is that as the leader, you must face “the brutal facts of reality” when making decisions for your company, then provide direction to steer the business out of a crisis. Case in point: In 2006, I realized that we had to cut expenses in order for one of my companies to survive. After a careful analysis, we determined that four non-essential employees would be impacted. We studied all of our options, but senior management was forced to lay off the employees in order to balance the budget. There had been warning signs for the budget problems, but I had prepared for the future based on our past successes and did not truly recognize them. We did everything we could to save those four employees, but in the end, they had to go. Every day for a month, I stared them in their faces, knowing I would soon have to tell them of their departures. Then, at an employee social held one week before I had to tell them, one of the employees announced that she was pregnant! Now, I had to tell a very competent pregnant employee who I really cared about that she would be laid off. I think it was the worst moment in my professional career when she announced (with a big smile), “Everyone, I want to let you know about my exciting news—I’m going to have a baby!” But that is what crisis leadership is all about—it is leading, making the tough decisions, and being the rock-solid foundation that your employees will learn to depend on and hopefully respect. In a crisis, they need to immediately think, “This is awful, but I know Mike will make the right, fair, and ethical decision that will be in the best interest of the company—and me.”
I know what you’re thinking right now: “This is one cold-hearted human being.” But after leading, succeeding in, and failing at business for 22 years, I know that my job as CEO is to:
That last one requires having tough skin, making difficult decisions, thinking logically, soliciting a lot of input, leading, and yes, a good dose of paranoia! Crisis management expert Ian Mitroff notes that “a major crisis results when there is a serious breakdown, or malfunction, between people, organizations, and technologies.” Mitroff also shares my belief that “the need to prepare for the unthinkable has never been greater;” defining “unthinkable” as “that which humans are unable to consider or imagine.”
I think of myself, the leader of our companies, as a submarine commander. When you are several hundred feet under the sea, your chances of survival in the event of a crisis are limited. Effective submarine commanders constantly test their crews for all types of crises, known and unknown, predictable and unpredictable. They quietly prepare them for the unexpected (even a fire, the worst kind of crisis to happen underwater). Crews drill, drill, and drill, preparing for that dreaded day when a catastrophe could happen.
I am the same to my businesses (some of which have been in business since 1986) as that submarine commander is to his ship. I think of every possible disaster, conflict, and problem my companies could encounter. And take my word for it: some will come out of left field. I will never forget sitting in a hotel in Maui, Hawaii the day before I was scheduled to speak to 100 professionals. I was watching the television and asked the clerk, “What is that spinning thing out there in the ocean?” It was a hurricane that was approaching the islands and would hit the next day! Of course, I reacted immediately, calling everyone to cancel the class. I could go on and on about similar emergencies, tragedies, and crises my businesses have encountered since 1986. Great companies prepare for, predict, manage, and learn from crises. But even the best crisis planners will miss some because “no crisis ever happens as one plans for it!” But as an old Eagle Scout, the words “Be Prepared” were pounded into my memory at an early age, for anything can (and will) happen!
The most successful strategy in dealing with a crisis is to “think what can happen, then prevent it.” I think of every possible crisis and institute processes to prevent those problems from occurring. Thus, it is important for every leader of any type to encourage everyone in the organization to “think about the unthinkable.” One example is that I “plan to die tomorrow.” While I have set a personal goal to live to 100, I stare the possibility of dying before then in the face. I think “What if I die tomorrow? What would happen to the companies and everyone I care about in my businesses?” Because of these thoughts, I have spent hundreds of hours implementing detailed strategies to ensure that my companies will keep right on marching forward without me. And because I think like this and have developed plans to prepare for crises (like my death or disability), when I go to that wonderful heaven that God has planned for me, those left behind will not face a crisis. I hope they will say, “He really planned for his departure! We are good to go because of his planning!”
It is my opinion that crises go through different stages and the leader must be prepared to spring into action in every phase. Predicting Disasters: It is important to try to predict bad things that could happen to your business. Let’s examine one of my businesses, Columbia Conference Center, which provides meeting spaces, catering, and venues for receptions and socials. I think, “Ok, we have 600 customers and staff in a facility, what could happen to them?” We have created drills for many situations, like:
The list goes on and on! As a leader, what would you do in any of these situations? Of course, the best answer is to predict the problems ahead of time and plan accordingly.
Assemble your staff and discuss possible problems, crises, and disasters that could occur. Encourage everyone to “think outside the box” and focus on the worst-case scenarios. Go through every phase of product development, sales, delivery, and post-sales to think, “What could possibly go wrong?” Make a list of every threat that your group can identify. (Of course, we know this as part of a SWOT—strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats—Analysis). In fact, it would be interesting to record steps for identifying all the threats to your organization. Action Strategies: After you and your team have identified threats, think about solutions to address the problems. At Columbia Conference Center:
A crisis can be a very painful event that you would never want to repeat. However, it can also be the push needed to take employees, companies, and you to the next level. A crisis can be a great learning opportunity where everyone involved grows from the experience. Of course, the best crisis is that which is predicted and prevented. The bottom line: hope for the best and prepare for the worst!
Suggested Reading:
Crisis Leadership: Planning for the Unthinkable by Ian I. Mitroff
Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable by Steven Fink
Harvard Business Review on Crisis Management