Crisis Leadership: Using Military Lessons, Organizational Experiences, and the Power of Influence3 to Lessen the Impact of Chaos on the People You Lead

Crisis Leadership: Using Military Lessons, Organizational Experiences, and the Power of Influence to Lessen the Impact of Chaos on the People You Lead (CCL, 2003), by Gene Klann, Ph.D., a member of the Center for Creative Leadership’s training faculty.

Crisis Leadership is designed to help leaders assess their strengths and weaknesses, learn new competencies and prepare for events that are as unpredictable as they are unavoidable. It draws not only on Klann’s experiences at CCL with executives from around the globe, but also on his U.S. Army career, where he advised a South Vietnamese infantry unit during the Vietnam War and commanded a battalion of 600 paratroopers during the first Gulf War.

Klann contends that while the highly charged and often dramatic events surrounding a crisis can profoundly affect the people in an organization and even threaten its survival, there are actions a leader can take before, during and after to reduce the duration and impact of difficult situations. Crisis Leadership outlines those actions, concentrating on three important areas: communication, clarity of vision and values, and caring relationships.

"Leaders who develop and practice these qualities go a long way toward handling the human dimension of a crisis," Klann said. "And in the end, it’s all about the people."

In fact, Klann sees the ability to handle people issues as a key separator between managers and leaders; crisis management relates mainly to operational issues, while crisis leadership deals principally with how leaders handle the human response to a crisis.

Today’s political realities and the interconnectedness of our global economy can create a ripple effect and magnify the human dimensions of a crisis, Klann says, citing as an example the 2001 financial implosion at Enron that sparked a related crisis at Arthur Andersen.

"Leaders must be prepared to manage a crisis not only within their own organization, but also within the greater orbit of their influence – clients and customers, the surrounding community, stockholders, suppliers, vendors, local government, concerned organizations, activist groups and the media," he said.

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Gene Klann brings a rich and varied background to the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC. As a senior member of the Center’s training faculty, he trains the Center’s flagship offering, the Leadership Development Program (LDP)®, Looking Glass Experience, Coaching for Development, and Foundations of Leadership. His other responsibilities include feedback coaching, executive coaching, research and writing, and the design and delivery of custom programs.

Prior to joining the Center in the fall of 1999, Gene was founder and president of Leadership International, an organization specializing in human relations, training, coaching, and management consulting. During that same period, he was an adjunct instructor at the Michigan Leadership Development Institute at Saginaw Valley State University, where he designed and delivered a leadership training series targeted to key business and community leaders.

Gene retired from the U.S. Army in 1994. His distinguished career included service in Vietnam, Germany (twice), Panama, the Gulf War, and Italy, and culminated with service at the U. S. military delegation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. He successfully completed four tours of duty as a battalion or brigade-level operations officer as well as five command tours that included his tour as a battalion commander during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Gene was awarded 17 personal military decorations during his 25-year career, including three for valor and 14 for specific acts of achievement or meritorious service.

Gene received his Ph.D., which proposed an original integrated systems approach to leadership development, from the Free University of Brussels. He earned a M.A. in International Relations from the University of Arkansas, European Campus, and a B.A. in History from Ripon College. He has also been awarded a diploma as a U. S. Army War College fellow from the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy.

His book entitled Crisis Leadership was released in April 2003. His second book entitled Building Your Team’s Morale, Pride, and Spirit was released in August 2004.

Contact information: Phone: 336-288-7210