Who I Serve: Navigating the Waves of Crisis

Many leaders, when confronted with such a monumental challenge, hesitate. They become paralyzed by the gravity of the situation, the potential fallout, and the absence of clear, easy answers. This hesitation, akin to a surfer failing to commit, often leads to being overwhelmed and potentially undone by the crisis.

My work is about equipping you to get into the "right spot" on that wave. It's about empowering you to have the confidence to commit to the best decision you can make in that moment, even when the options available are not considered good. It's about giving you the ability to own that decision, knowing there won't be a perfect answer, but that you have chosen the least worst option with clarity and conviction.

This core challenge of confident decision-making when options are few is universal across all senior leadership roles. While the underlying dynamic remains the same, the specific pressures vary for each group I serve.

Higher Education Leaders: Surfing the Campus Tides

Higher education leaders navigate a unique and sensitive landscape. Your "giant waves" can come in many forms, often hitting on operational, financial, and reputational fronts simultaneously. You might face:

• Active Shooter Incidents: A dangerous scenario demanding immediate and decisive operational responses, with profound reputational and emotional consequences for the entire campus community.

• Mass-Casualty Events or Accidents: Situations where lives are at stake due to unforeseen circumstances, requiring swift and coordinated action under intense public scrutiny.

• Student Protests or Faculty Disruptions: Challenges to the institution's values or operations that can escalate quickly, impacting campus stability and public perception.

• Financial Crises: Budget shortfalls, endowment challenges, or unexpected costs that threaten the institution's long-term viability.

• PR Crises: When one of your senior leaders, faculty, or students becomes a reputational risk, casting a shadow over the entire institution.

In these moments, you know how serious the situation is, and the natural inclination might be to hesitate. My Executive Crisis Decision-Making Program directly addresses this.

I provide higher education leaders with the frameworks and real-time tools to understand the psychology of decision-making under stress, to define risk-informed priorities, and to make the crucial "least worst" decision with the confidence needed to protect your students, faculty, staff, and the institution's standing.

Higher Education Clients

Through scenario-based exercises and peer discussions, you'll sharpen your skills to act decisively, even when the community and public are watching.

Executive Leaders: Riding the Decision Maker  Currents

In the executive suite, the waves of crisis can threaten market position, shareholder value, and brand integrity. For corporate leaders, moments of crisis are often tied to:

• Product Recalls or Failures: Like the historical Tylenol crisis, where a compromised product leads to widespread fear and demands an immediate, transparent, and confident response to prevent existential threats to the company.

• Executive Misconduct: When a senior leader's actions become a significant reputational risk, forcing difficult decisions by the board that directly impact public trust and employee morale.

• Operational Disruptions: Supply chain breakdowns, cyberattacks, or unforeseen events that halt business, impact customers, and hit the bottom line.

• Financial Instability: Market downturns, unexpected losses, or liquidity issues that demand quick and strategic financial decisions.

Your board, often a "fiduciary financial oversight board," is performance-based and will demand decisive action to protect shareholder value. Hesitation or a lack of clear direction can lead to severe consequences.

Through Consulting & Coaching, I work with executive leaders and boards to develop shared mental fortitude and practical frameworks needed to navigate these high-stakes scenarios.

Private Sector & Government Clients

I help you understand how to make pragmatic, principle-based decisions that protect your company's operational viability, financial health, and most importantly, its hard-earned reputation.

Government Leaders: Navigating the Political Storms

Government leaders operate in an environment where crisis is a daily reality, often amplified by intense public scrutiny and political adversaries. Your "giant waves" are constant and can include:

• Operational Failures: Public service disruptions, infrastructure collapses, or emergency response shortcomings that directly impact citizens' lives.

• Financial Mismanagement: Budget crises, accusations of misuse of public funds, or economic downturns that demand difficult fiscal decisions with widespread public impact.

• Reputational Crises: From elected officials' misconduct to agency-level controversies, every decision is scrutinized, and every misstep can be exploited by political opponents.

• Highly Politicized Issues: Whether it's a policy decision, a public health crisis, or a security threat, government leaders often face a "raw politics" environment where every action is a power struggle, and the foundational values of stakeholders may be fundamentally misaligned.

In this constant storm, the temptation to get paralyzed by political ramifications or public backlash is immense.

My experience across multiple administrations, remaining apolitical while providing "best military advice," has honed my ability to help government leaders find the least worst option. Whether through Training Seminars like my Executive Crisis Decision-Making Program adapted for government contexts, or through direct Consulting, I equip leaders to:

• Make confident decisions in the face of intense public and political pressure.

• Navigate complex accountability systems and stakeholder demands.

• Understand the pragmatic consequences of their choices, especially when fundamental values are not shared across the political spectrum.

• Build the conviction to defend necessary, difficult decisions, even when facing relentless criticism.

Private Sector & Government Clients

Serving Leaders

No matter your leadership sphere, I am here to help you move beyond paralysis to decisive action, giving you the confidence and justification to ride the giant waves of crisis and emerge successfully on the other side.

Non-Profit Clients