Collaborative Crisis Management

Two experienced corporate crisis advisors offer a thorough and approachable guide to successful crisis management from anticipation to resolution.

All organizations face crises from time to time, and at a time when news, information (or misinformation), and rumors can spread quickly, a timely and thoughtful response to a crisis, is critical. In this book, two industry insiders offer a primer on how organizational leadership should prepare for and handle crises. The steps, plans, and cautions they offer show how organizations can deal openly and honestly with challenges while continuing to survive and prosper.

Thomas A. Cole and Paul Verbinnen show how successful crisis management requires a multi-disciplined approach enacted collaboratively under strong leadership. Drawing on many real-world examples, they speak to not only what to do during a crisis, but also the need for preparedness and post-crisis follow-up. The book is organized around a broad range of discrete issues that need to be addressed in managing any crisis and provides the steps required to successfully address each of those issues. The authors urge crisis managers to focus attention equally on four phases of management: prepare, execute, recover, and then repeat (after reflecting on the results of the last crisis) with the next one. The emphasis is on preparation and planning, setting up the procedures, and organizing the teams that will respond to each crisis.

Unlike other crisis books that focus solely on communication, Collaborative Crisis Management goes further and in addition to communication, it discusses both the legal obligations and organizational challenges that accompany a crisis. The result is an indispensable guide for leaders, board members, and business students.

Thomas A. Cole is chair emeritus of the executive committee of Sidley Austin LLP, a global law firm. He is the author of CEO Leadership: Navigating the New Era in Corporate Governance, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Paul Verbinnen is co-chair, North America of FGS Global, a preeminent strategic communications firm. He is actively involved with many of the firm’s clients, including public corporations, high-profile executives, and educational institutions.