Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Crisis Whisperer


I am occasionally called in to assist organizations with what some would call "sensitive matters." It is important to adopt the right frame of mind in such circumstances. That usually involves slowing things down.

My preference is for "effective" over "bold" and I start with that bias. I didn't always use that method and instead joined others in rushing here and there and acting the way people are expected to act when barbarians or lawyers are at the gates or - good God! - inside the walls.

There is, however, enough emotion in the air without an outsider adding to it. I've found that a Alfred Hitchcock on sleeping pills style tends to do the trick. I certainly look the part.

Dwight Eisenhower used to tell his Cabinet, "Let's not be in a hurry to make our mistakes." The bias in favor of action, any action, can generate artificial deadlines which in turn produce brain freeze.

Obviously, there are crises that require swift action but an action that has to be revised or retracted 30 minutes later may not be wise action. Multiply that several times and watch morale plummet. The most precious commodity in a crisis is control. By slowing things down, we may win a war and not just a battle.

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