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7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis
One of the country's most trusted leaders offers time-tested and real world advice for leading in economic hard times From business giant Bill George, the acclaimed author of Wall Street Journal 's bestseller True North , comes the just-in-time guide for anyone in a leadership position facing today's unprecedented economic challenges. The former CEO of Medtronic draws from his own in-the-trenches experience and lessons from leaders (representing an array of companies) who have weathered tough economic storms. With straight talk and clear directions, George shows leaders specifically what they must do to become strong leaders and survive any crisis. His seven lessons include: Face Reality, Starting with Yourself; Never Waste a Good Crisis; and Be Aggressive: This is Your Best Chance to Win in the Market. Seven Lesson for Leading in Crisis is a survival kit for anyone in a leadership position. Seven Lesson for Leading in Crisis gives leaders a solid strategy for staying the course.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
23 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
About the author
Bill George
21 books55 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Bill George is an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, where he has been a Professor of Management Practice and Senior Fellow teaching leadership since 2004. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic. He joined Medtronic in 1989 as president and chief operating officer, was chief executive officer from 1991-2001, and board chair from 1996-2002. Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive with Honeywell and Litton Industries and served in the U.S. Department of Defense.
Bill is the author of: Emerging Leader Edition of True North, Discover Your True North and The Discover Your True North Fieldbook, Authentic Leadership, True North, Finding Your True North, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis and True North Groups.
He has served on the boards of Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, Novartis, Target,and the Mayo Clinic. He is a life director of the Guthrie Theater, and is an executive committee and board member of YMCA of the North. He has served on the board ofWorld Economic Forum USA, and board chair for Allina Health System, Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, United Way of the Greater Twin Cities, and Advamed.
In 2014, the Franklin Institute awarded him the Bower Award for Business Leadership and he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2012. He was named one of the "Top 25 Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years" by PBS; "Executive of the Year-2001" by the Academy of Management; and "Director of the Year-2001-02" by the National Association of Corporate Directors. Bill is a frequent contributor to CNBC, Fortune Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal and makes frequent appearances on television and radio.
He received his BSIE with high honors from Georgia Tech, his MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar, and honorary PhDs from Georgia Tech, Mayo Medical School, University of St. Thomas, Augsburg College and Bryant University. During 2002-03 he was professor at IMD International and Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, Switzerland, and executive-in-residence at Yale School of Management.
He and his wife Penny reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Bill George is an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, where he has been a Professor of Management Practice and Senior Fellow teaching leadership since 2004. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic. He joined Medtronic in 1989 as president and chief operating officer, was chief executive officer from 1991-2001, and board chair from 1996-2002. Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive with Honeywell and Litton Industries and served in the U.S. Department of Defense.
Bill is the author of: Emerging Leader Edition of True North, Discover Your True North and The Discover Your True North Fieldbook, Authentic Leadership, True North, Finding Your True North, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis and True North Groups.
He has served on the boards of Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, Novartis, Target,and the Mayo Clinic. He is a life director of the Guthrie Theater, and is an executive committee and board member of YMCA of the North. He has served on the board ofWorld Economic Forum USA, and board chair for Allina Health System, Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, United Way of the Greater Twin Cities, and Advamed.
In 2014, the Franklin Institute awarded him the Bower Award for Business Leadership and he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2012. He was named one of the "Top 25 Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years" by PBS; "Executive of the Year-2001" by the Academy of Management; and "Director of the Year-2001-02" by the National Association of Corporate Directors. Bill is a frequent contributor to CNBC, Fortune Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal and makes frequent appearances on television and radio.
He received his BSIE with high honors from Georgia Tech, his MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar, and honorary PhDs from Georgia Tech, Mayo Medical School, University of St. Thomas, Augsburg College and Bryant University. During 2002-03 he was professor at IMD International and Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, Switzerland, and executive-in-residence at Yale School of Management.
He and his wife Penny reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 10, 2025
Excellent book that puts span of control (SOC) issues into perspective when a crisis happens. SOC expansion/contraction (E/C) is often a critical failure point that cannot be corrected (e.g. Uvalde school shooting). This book is illustrative of the 'accordion' concept needed to plan for and manage a crisis. Should be on the reading shelf of all C-suite executives, police, fire and military leaders.
June 22, 2019
Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic, writes a short book of dealing with crisis and setbacks. In the book he outlines seven principles:
1) Face reality. Jim Collins says that before a leaders makes any critical decision, it's necessary to confront the brutal facts. George concurs. "Until you acknowledge that you are facing a serious problem, including your role in creating it, you cannot move forward to solve it."
"It is important to publicly express appreciation to the truth tellers so others in your organization will follow suit. Only with a culture of candor and openness can organizations cope with crisis and act in unison to get on top of them."
2) Don't be Atlas; get the world off your shoulders. Reach out and ask for help from trusted advisors and others on the team. "the strongest bonds are built in crisis."
When in crisis, there's a temptation to hunker down, to go silent. Some leaders isolate themselves in an office in order to focus on a solution. Other individuals go AWOL. Neither approach is healthy. Better: engage the facts, gather a team of safe advisors, go public asap with what you know. And be clear about what you don't know.
"If you embrace your fears instead of running from them, they will gradually dissolve."
"On our own, we are vulnerable to misjudging the problem . . ."
John Hope Bryant in Love Leadership: "Admitting weakness and owning up to mistakes have counterintuite benefits. When you are honest, people are more likely to forgive any weakness and mistakes. You are also able to make a stronger connection with others. That ultimately gives you ability to persuade and influence people, which in turn strengthens your ability to lead."
"To perform at your best throughout a crisis, you need a high level of resilience: a combination of hardiness, toughness, and buoyancy of spirit. These are challenging qualities to maintain during the rigors of a crisis, but they will sustain you through difficult times. That's why you need to build your resilience before the crisis starts."
The author shares his three resilience-building practices: 1) Keep your body in shape. 2) Keep your mind sharp and spirits high. 3) Don't take yourself too seriously.
3) Dig for the root cause. There's a temptation to jump to quick-fix solutions. It's key--even if it takes a little longer--to research the real issues so that the proposed solutions don't leave the organization vulnerable to a repeat.
"It is human nature to attempt to fix the symptoms before the root cause is determined."
Trust by verify . . . insist that people give you the whole story. Maintain close contact with people throughout your organization, not just your direct reports.
Leaders who stay in their offices holding meetings and reading reports instead of gathering firsthand information never have the benefit of using all their senses--touch, smell, sound, sight, and hearing--that trigger their emotions and there intuition to recognize far more than their intellect does.
"In retrospect, here's what I should have said . . ." [This kind of reflection and humble self-critique is refreshing. It's a great line, tool.:]
Win Wallin, CEO of Medtronic when pacemaker leads began to fail. He gathered kep people together and insisted on two things: "1) an in-depth analysis of the root cause to ensure that these problems could never happen again and 2) complete transparency, inside and outside the organization, as a vehicle to force insiders to deal with the problems."
"Leaders don't need to solve the problems themselves. Instead, they need to ask probing questions to ensure the real problem in identified and corrected."
Gather all your experts to analyze the problem . . . give them time to reach definitive conclusions.
An organization cannot deal with a crisis until it determines its root cause, but people are often mentally blocked from recognizing it because the implications are so frightening. The leader must bring people together to confront their worst fears and address the risks.
4) Get ready for the long haul.
"When facing a crisis, it is prudent for you to assume that the crisis will last a long time."
Andy Grove, CEO of Intel and author of Only the Paranoid Survive: "People who have no emotional stakein a decision can see what needs to be done sooner. CEOs from the outside are no better managers or leaders than the people they are replacing. They have only one advantage, but it may be crucial: the new managers come unencumbered by such emotional involvement and therefore are capable of applying an impersonal logic to the situation. They can see things much more objectively than their predecessors did."
Paraphrasing the famous Intel anecdote . . . "Are you prepared to walk out of your office, come back as 'the new CEO,' and make the most painful decision of your career, unemcumbered by your emotional involvement but guided by an impersonal logic? If you are, you may become a great leader."
In a crisis, cash in king. Ask yourself, do we have sufficient cash reserves to get through the worst crisis imaginable? If the answer is no, you should take immediate action to shore up your cash reserves.
5) Never waste a good crisis. "The challenges you are facing represent your best opportunity to make major changes in your organization because they lessen the resistance that exists in good times. You should move aggressively to take actions necessary to strengthen your organization as you emerge from it."
"When business is booming, staffing and spending levels inevitably expand too rapidly, and wasteful habits creep in. People become highly resistant to reductions in infrastructure and employment, arguing that cutbacks will hurt the company's growth and market position. In my years in business, I cannot think of a time when we cut too deeply or too soon. The greater danger lies not in recognizing the crisis early enough to take aggressive action. When that happens, revenues decline faster than expenses, and you never catch up."
Medtronic faces a looming crisis in 1993, so George triggered preemptive and aggressive cuts in product costs, overheads, infrastructure expenses, meetings, perquisites. Execs even agreed to take pay cuts. And the much-feared price cuts never came to pass. The increased profit margins enabled Medtronic to go on the offensive, gain market share, finance increased R&D and cut product development lead times from 48 to 18 months.
6) You're in the spotlight: Follow True North
"When you are open, you are in a better position to ask people for their support. If things get worse, as they often do, people are more sympathetic to your point of view if you have kept them fully informed. During this time, you should be highly accessible . . ."
"Whatever is said [nowadays:] inside the company is quickly transmitted to outsiders, and whatever is written or said outside is also read or heard inside. Therefore, communicating the same messages internally and externally is essential."
In their book, Transparency, Bennis, Goleman and O'Toole write about the importance of creating "a culture of candor." The only way to create such a culture is for leaders to be candid themselves. The greater your openness, the more people will rely on you to provide them with the inside view, and the less they will rely on the rumor mill.
"You are better off seizing the initiative and telling people what you know and what you don't, while assuring them that others are working to get the facts as quickly as possible."
Narayana Murthy of Infosys, "We always believed the softest pillow is a clear conscience."
7) Go on offense; focus on winning now. Reshape the market to play to your strengths. "While others are licking their wounds, you should focus on winning now."
"During a crisis there's a risk that your entire organization gets so focused on keeping the ship afloat that no one is planning ahead. Therefore, you should assign a small team of highly talented people to devise the postcrisis strategy. It may seem risky to pull key people out of crisis management to plan for the future, but this is required to win."
Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt the power of a small group of people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
1) Face reality. Jim Collins says that before a leaders makes any critical decision, it's necessary to confront the brutal facts. George concurs. "Until you acknowledge that you are facing a serious problem, including your role in creating it, you cannot move forward to solve it."
"It is important to publicly express appreciation to the truth tellers so others in your organization will follow suit. Only with a culture of candor and openness can organizations cope with crisis and act in unison to get on top of them."
2) Don't be Atlas; get the world off your shoulders. Reach out and ask for help from trusted advisors and others on the team. "the strongest bonds are built in crisis."
When in crisis, there's a temptation to hunker down, to go silent. Some leaders isolate themselves in an office in order to focus on a solution. Other individuals go AWOL. Neither approach is healthy. Better: engage the facts, gather a team of safe advisors, go public asap with what you know. And be clear about what you don't know.
"If you embrace your fears instead of running from them, they will gradually dissolve."
"On our own, we are vulnerable to misjudging the problem . . ."
John Hope Bryant in Love Leadership: "Admitting weakness and owning up to mistakes have counterintuite benefits. When you are honest, people are more likely to forgive any weakness and mistakes. You are also able to make a stronger connection with others. That ultimately gives you ability to persuade and influence people, which in turn strengthens your ability to lead."
"To perform at your best throughout a crisis, you need a high level of resilience: a combination of hardiness, toughness, and buoyancy of spirit. These are challenging qualities to maintain during the rigors of a crisis, but they will sustain you through difficult times. That's why you need to build your resilience before the crisis starts."
The author shares his three resilience-building practices: 1) Keep your body in shape. 2) Keep your mind sharp and spirits high. 3) Don't take yourself too seriously.
3) Dig for the root cause. There's a temptation to jump to quick-fix solutions. It's key--even if it takes a little longer--to research the real issues so that the proposed solutions don't leave the organization vulnerable to a repeat.
"It is human nature to attempt to fix the symptoms before the root cause is determined."
Trust by verify . . . insist that people give you the whole story. Maintain close contact with people throughout your organization, not just your direct reports.
Leaders who stay in their offices holding meetings and reading reports instead of gathering firsthand information never have the benefit of using all their senses--touch, smell, sound, sight, and hearing--that trigger their emotions and there intuition to recognize far more than their intellect does.
"In retrospect, here's what I should have said . . ." [This kind of reflection and humble self-critique is refreshing. It's a great line, tool.:]
Win Wallin, CEO of Medtronic when pacemaker leads began to fail. He gathered kep people together and insisted on two things: "1) an in-depth analysis of the root cause to ensure that these problems could never happen again and 2) complete transparency, inside and outside the organization, as a vehicle to force insiders to deal with the problems."
"Leaders don't need to solve the problems themselves. Instead, they need to ask probing questions to ensure the real problem in identified and corrected."
Gather all your experts to analyze the problem . . . give them time to reach definitive conclusions.
An organization cannot deal with a crisis until it determines its root cause, but people are often mentally blocked from recognizing it because the implications are so frightening. The leader must bring people together to confront their worst fears and address the risks.
4) Get ready for the long haul.
"When facing a crisis, it is prudent for you to assume that the crisis will last a long time."
Andy Grove, CEO of Intel and author of Only the Paranoid Survive: "People who have no emotional stakein a decision can see what needs to be done sooner. CEOs from the outside are no better managers or leaders than the people they are replacing. They have only one advantage, but it may be crucial: the new managers come unencumbered by such emotional involvement and therefore are capable of applying an impersonal logic to the situation. They can see things much more objectively than their predecessors did."
Paraphrasing the famous Intel anecdote . . . "Are you prepared to walk out of your office, come back as 'the new CEO,' and make the most painful decision of your career, unemcumbered by your emotional involvement but guided by an impersonal logic? If you are, you may become a great leader."
In a crisis, cash in king. Ask yourself, do we have sufficient cash reserves to get through the worst crisis imaginable? If the answer is no, you should take immediate action to shore up your cash reserves.
5) Never waste a good crisis. "The challenges you are facing represent your best opportunity to make major changes in your organization because they lessen the resistance that exists in good times. You should move aggressively to take actions necessary to strengthen your organization as you emerge from it."
"When business is booming, staffing and spending levels inevitably expand too rapidly, and wasteful habits creep in. People become highly resistant to reductions in infrastructure and employment, arguing that cutbacks will hurt the company's growth and market position. In my years in business, I cannot think of a time when we cut too deeply or too soon. The greater danger lies not in recognizing the crisis early enough to take aggressive action. When that happens, revenues decline faster than expenses, and you never catch up."
Medtronic faces a looming crisis in 1993, so George triggered preemptive and aggressive cuts in product costs, overheads, infrastructure expenses, meetings, perquisites. Execs even agreed to take pay cuts. And the much-feared price cuts never came to pass. The increased profit margins enabled Medtronic to go on the offensive, gain market share, finance increased R&D and cut product development lead times from 48 to 18 months.
6) You're in the spotlight: Follow True North
"When you are open, you are in a better position to ask people for their support. If things get worse, as they often do, people are more sympathetic to your point of view if you have kept them fully informed. During this time, you should be highly accessible . . ."
"Whatever is said [nowadays:] inside the company is quickly transmitted to outsiders, and whatever is written or said outside is also read or heard inside. Therefore, communicating the same messages internally and externally is essential."
In their book, Transparency, Bennis, Goleman and O'Toole write about the importance of creating "a culture of candor." The only way to create such a culture is for leaders to be candid themselves. The greater your openness, the more people will rely on you to provide them with the inside view, and the less they will rely on the rumor mill.
"You are better off seizing the initiative and telling people what you know and what you don't, while assuring them that others are working to get the facts as quickly as possible."
Narayana Murthy of Infosys, "We always believed the softest pillow is a clear conscience."
7) Go on offense; focus on winning now. Reshape the market to play to your strengths. "While others are licking their wounds, you should focus on winning now."
"During a crisis there's a risk that your entire organization gets so focused on keeping the ship afloat that no one is planning ahead. Therefore, you should assign a small team of highly talented people to devise the postcrisis strategy. It may seem risky to pull key people out of crisis management to plan for the future, but this is required to win."
Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt the power of a small group of people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
April 2, 2010
Bill George shares some good advice in this book that not only focuses on leadership, but leading in times of crisis. Many times when people face a crisis they go into survival mode. This book offers great advice on surviving a crisis, but more importantly how to come out of a crisis with lessons learned, poised to achieve more than ever before.
August 25, 2022
Crisis is the defining moment for a leader. Veteran business executive and educator, Bill George, presents a seven-step plan for leading in a crisis. This book is an easy read with a clear message.
Leaders of organizations facing crisis are given the opportunity to reinvent themselves, and their organizations, for the long haul. If you are a CEO-in-waiting, this book provides valuable guidance because "a smooth sea never made a skilled mariner."
Leadership is not about position, it's about moving in a direction. If you are an aspiring leader, focus on guiding others through a major problem; this is your best opportunity to develop leadership skills.
Here are the seven lessons to master:
1. Face reality, starting with yourself.
2. Don't be Atlas; get the world off your shoulders.
3. Dig deep for the root cause.
4. Get ready for the long haul.
5. Never waste a good crisis.
6. You're in the spotlight: Follow True North.
7. Go on the offense; focus on winning now.
Start with yourself, then help others. People seek out leaders. So do organizations. Bill George can help show you how to navigate during these tough times.
Access Gene Babon's reviews of books on Business Leadership and Business Strategy at Pinterest.
Leaders of organizations facing crisis are given the opportunity to reinvent themselves, and their organizations, for the long haul. If you are a CEO-in-waiting, this book provides valuable guidance because "a smooth sea never made a skilled mariner."
Leadership is not about position, it's about moving in a direction. If you are an aspiring leader, focus on guiding others through a major problem; this is your best opportunity to develop leadership skills.
Here are the seven lessons to master:
1. Face reality, starting with yourself.
2. Don't be Atlas; get the world off your shoulders.
3. Dig deep for the root cause.
4. Get ready for the long haul.
5. Never waste a good crisis.
6. You're in the spotlight: Follow True North.
7. Go on the offense; focus on winning now.
Start with yourself, then help others. People seek out leaders. So do organizations. Bill George can help show you how to navigate during these tough times.
Access Gene Babon's reviews of books on Business Leadership and Business Strategy at Pinterest.
January 25, 2010
Guidebook on what to do when crisis hits
Business legend Bill George learned about corporate crisis firsthand as a novice manager in his 20s. His timing was impeccable: The day before he began a new job as Litton Industries’ assistant general manager for microwave ovens, the U.S. surgeon general announced that microwave ovens posed a potential health risk. When George arrived at Litton’s Minneapolis office for his first day on the job, the place was in bedlam. If the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had ordered Litton to take its only product off the market, the company would have gone under – and George would have been out of a job. For nine months, he worked around the clock with Litton’s engineers to make sure its microwave ovens could meet tough new FDA standards. What a welcome to the business big leagues! In his book on corporate crises, George says calamities either make or break executives. Litton’s microwave crisis did not break George. He went on to a storied career as a respected CEO and a professor at Harvard’s School of Business. getAbstract recommends his wise, savvy book to CEOs and other senior executives who will derive valuable lessons from its strategies and its many fascinating case studies.
To learn more about this title, check out the following Web page: http://www.getabstract.com/summary/12...
Business legend Bill George learned about corporate crisis firsthand as a novice manager in his 20s. His timing was impeccable: The day before he began a new job as Litton Industries’ assistant general manager for microwave ovens, the U.S. surgeon general announced that microwave ovens posed a potential health risk. When George arrived at Litton’s Minneapolis office for his first day on the job, the place was in bedlam. If the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had ordered Litton to take its only product off the market, the company would have gone under – and George would have been out of a job. For nine months, he worked around the clock with Litton’s engineers to make sure its microwave ovens could meet tough new FDA standards. What a welcome to the business big leagues! In his book on corporate crises, George says calamities either make or break executives. Litton’s microwave crisis did not break George. He went on to a storied career as a respected CEO and a professor at Harvard’s School of Business. getAbstract recommends his wise, savvy book to CEOs and other senior executives who will derive valuable lessons from its strategies and its many fascinating case studies.
To learn more about this title, check out the following Web page: http://www.getabstract.com/summary/12...
October 17, 2013
The most important lesson in this book is what to look for in the leadership of the company you join. It is a rare person indeed who is a "Bill George" quality leader. In terms of implementing his advice, Mr. George's peers are CEOs and the stories in the book draw on that group to bring the 7 lessons to life. I think the book would have been stronger if he had included examples of crisis at work and leadership by people other than CEOs--after all, that is everyone who is likely to read this book.
September 22, 2018
It is an amazing book that offers you great seven lessons to lead in crisis. All the seven lessons have been beautifully explained with the help of suitable illustrations and case studies. The book is quite inspiring.
February 20, 2021
I have thought since the new coronavirus arrived, that nonprofit and other business leaders would benefit from Bill George's recommended path through crisis for teams.
I read it when an organization I served was going through major change and found it very helpful.
I read it when an organization I served was going through major change and found it very helpful.
April 11, 2011
I'm currently reading this book and so far, it looks really good!
September 23, 2011
Concise, sensible, well-illustated with personal examples from this Harvard professor and former Medtronic CEO.
June 6, 2020
A concise book with great lessons
October 9, 2023
Basic concepts with useful (now) historical vignettes to illustrate his points. Interesting to consider what examples from current events could be plugged into these lessons on dealing with crisis in our modern era.
November 6, 2021
This book takes you to the board meetings of high profile companies.
June 12, 2012
I was inspired to read this book after hearing the author speak at a recent professional event. Not my normal genre and a bit dry, but certainly interesting. I think his lessons are applicable to any type of crisis - professional, personal, or otherwise.
May 14, 2013
This was a quick book (I read it in less than an afternoon) and the lessons presented are useful ones. The anecdotes about leaders who've led their organizations through crises were interesting but not detailed enough to provide useful guidance.
January 11, 2010
It was a quick and interesting read.
Application:
Be a humble leader and who listens well.
Application:
Be a humble leader and who listens well.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews