A Framework for Crisis Management
Photo by Garreth Paul on Unsplash
Today's second topic is "The De-evolution of News Media."
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I recently came across this article on crisis management - End Game First: A Leadership Strategy for Navigating a Crisis (LeadershipNow). The authors of End Game First, Vice Admiral Mike LeFever and Roderick Jones, state, "In a crisis, you have to consider your end game first. At some point in the future, you will be out of danger and back in the day-to-day. Where do you want to be when that happens?" (Full disclosure – I have not read the book.
I agree with the idea but disagree that you can make decisions about the future at the beginning of a crisis. In my book, The Leader With A Thousand Faces, I present a different crisis leadership framework.
Immediate Response
Leaders must quickly evaluate the situation and take action to contain the crisis and prevent its spread to other areas. When arriving on the scene, Fire Chiefs deploy equipment and personnel to establish a perimeter. Then, they assess the situation and begin to fight the fire. This only takes the chief a few minutes.
Stabilization
Once the response is underway, leaders take action to stabilize the situation. They decide on what emergency repairs need to be made. This is when the first root cause analysis is performed. What happened? What was supposed to happen? What needs to be different?
The answers to these questions drive outcomes. The initial response is revisited to determine if additional emergency responses are needed to contain and fully end the crisis. The answers are also the starting point for the remediation phase.
Remediation
Leaders begin the permanent repairs. They introduce new strategies to build a stronger, more resilient organization. This is when changes are made to create a better future. As LeFever and Jones put it, this is when you decide where you want to be.
Prevention
Once the remediations are underway, it is time to revisit the after-action report. Expand on and dig deeper into the questions asked during Stabilization. Build your longer-term responses. This is the time to understand, based on what you learn, how to be stronger and better than you were before the crisis.
By definition, a crisis arises quickly and is fast-moving. Immediate Response, Stabilization, and Remediation happen over hours or days. These are also iterative; as you learn, you adjust and adapt. When you consider the elapsed time of a crisis, I do not believe my point of view is very different from the authors'.
The De-evolution of News Media (This post falls into three parts.)
Part 1 – The Implications of the 24-hour News Cycle
In my early career, I worked for over a decade at The Dallas Morning News. It was a conservative newspaper. They endorsed far more Republican than Democratic candidates for office. Not because they were Republicans but because they were conservative, pragmatic, and respectful of differing opinions. The editorial process was rigorous. Every story that appeared was reviewed at least three times before publication. The goal was best described by the words of its founder, G.B. Dealey – "…acknowledge the right of the people from the newspaper both sides of every important question."
With the advent of 24-hour news cycles, there has been a shift to being the fastest to publish. The result is more errors and less context. During this time, several news outlets have moved from being even-handed to partisan, leading to a general mistrust of news reporting.
Photo: Mimi Perez for CandysDirt.com
Part 2 – Hiring The Right People
NBC News executive misread everything about how the organization would accept the hiring of Ronna McDaniel. The response from the most influential of their organization was swift, public, outspoken, and unsurprising. It is crucial for all organizations, especially new outlets, to ensure their teams have a diversity of thought. Differing opinions lead to better outcomes. However, the individuals have to be able to work together. In the linked articles, all of the reasons this was never going to work are clear and should have been obvious to leadership.
Related Articles
Inside NBC's McDaniel meltdown (Politico)
How American news lost its nerve (Semafor)
Shards of glass: Inside media's 12 splintering realities (Axios)
NBC's McDaniel mess threatens to explode (Politico)
Ronna McDaniel outrage renews scrutiny of politics-to-pundit pipeline (Axios)
NBC offered Ronna McDaniel a better contract to appear on MSNBC (Washington Post)
What the Uprising Against Ronna McDaniel Really Means (Politico)
Photography Is No Longer Evidence of Anything (Wired)
Part 3 – The Disingenuous Ronna McDaniel
WARNING – Some may find this section too political or objectionable. All I ask is that you consider the issue and the broader point I am trying to make.
The moral dilemma is one of the most difficult situations we can encounter in business. At EDS, we call these 'ethical moments'.
Let's explore the second paragraph from this article: Ronna McDaniel said the quiet part out loud on NBC (Politico).
Freed from former President Donald Trump's gravitational pull, McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee chair, could now express beliefs that included such bromides as "people who violently attacked Capitol Hill police officers and — and attacked the Capitol" should be held accountable and that in the 2020 presidential election, President Joe Biden won "fair and square."
My faith teaches that we can be responsible for sins committed by others when one cooperates in them by 1) participating directly and voluntarily in them, 2) ordering, advising, praising or approving them, 3) ordering, advising, praising, or approving them, or 4) protecting evil-doers.
In her interview with Kristen Welker, McDaniel said, "When you're the RNC chair, you — you kind of take one for the whole team, right? Now I get to be a little bit more myself."
I agree that we all have to work at the direction of our employers, but only to a point. If our employers ask us to lie, cheat, or steal, we must stand up, say no, and speak the truth. I know this is difficult. I faced this once in my career, and doing the right thing cost me my job.
In her ethical moment, Ronna McDaniel failed the test. Some will argue that politics is different. I disagree. If people fail to stand up to the unethical behavior of powerful people, disaster follows, just as it did at Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco.
What I'm Up To
In my last newsletter, I mentioned that I was in Atlanta helping my daughter post-surgery. Everything was successful, and her recovery is ahead of schedule. Thanks to those of you who reached out.
One of my volunteering efforts is supporting the National Medal of Honor Museum. It is scheduled to open on March 25, 2025 – National Medal of Honor Day.
$270M National Medal of Honor Museum sets official opening date in Arlington (Ft. Worth Report)
More exciting local news from Arlington, Texas.
It's opening weekend for the Texas Rangers. Last year was great, and I am looking forward to the 2024 season. My niece and I attended game three. World Series rings were given to the team. I am always amazed at the thought and details that go into championship rings.
Chips and Salsa: Snack-sized news and posts
When people were "Keeping up with the Joneses," at least they knew who their neighbors were. Social media invites you to compare yourself to a world of false impressions and fake personalities.
Nearly half of young adults have 'money dysmorphia,' survey finds. (CNBC)
Great design is a wonder to behold. Each of these is worth reflecting on to inspire us for our next design.
The 25 Designs That Shape Our World (Architectural Digest)
Recessions often represent the natural drop in efficiency and productivity as economies restructure in response to fundamental change. Some are seeing other indirect benefits.
The upside of recessions (Business Insider)
Stories about the impending scourge of 'drone pollution.'
Drone delivery's biggest problem isn't in the air (Axios)
DoorDash adds drone delivery to its menu (Axios)
Scoop: Walmart, 7-11, Chick-fil-A pilot new drone delivery tech (Axios)
An invention that I am not sure we needed.
We tried it: A $5 airport glasses-cleaning machine (Axios)
I do not like articles that follow the formula that Celebrity X says something that Author Y decides is a master class in leadership, emotional intelligence, etc. In this case, if Swift and Kelce really had emotional intelligence, they would not have put their wants ahead of those of the other gym members.
Netflix's 3 Body Problem is great science fiction.
Netflix's 3 Body Problem Adapts the Unadaptable (Wired)
I wish the United States would pay the right wages and end the need for tipping. I have experienced this in many other countries.
What is the new etiquette for tipping? (NPR)
Global economics and geopolitical realities affect strategic planning. Here are two articles on China and Asia.
China's Economic Collision Course (Foreign Affairs)
Quotes – Baseball Edition
"I've got my faults, but living in the past isn't one of them. There's no future in it."
- Sparky Anderson
" If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up somewhere else."
- Yogi Berra
"A hot dog at the game beats roast beef at the Ritz."
- Humphrey Bogart
"You don't save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain."
- Leo Durocher
"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?"
- Satchel Paige
"Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games."
- Babe Ruth
"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime."
- Babe Ruth
You can order The Leader With A Thousand Faces on the Recommended Reading Page of my website.
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