About the Crisis Leadership Forum

To better understand the leadership dimensions of crisis situations, the Center for Creative Leadership convened a forum with formal and emergent leaders who played a role in Hurricane Katrina. We overlaid this conversation between crisis leaders with the perspectives of discussants with expertise in disaster, terrorism, public health, and leadership. This blog site is intended to continue this conversation.

To read the report on the Crisis Leadership Forum, please click here.

To read CCL's Leading Effectively newsletter on the Forum, please click here.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Crisis Leadership Advice from GE's Immelt

I recently ran across this piece from GE's CEO on leading in tough times. Immelt speaks to the personal aspects of leadership . Leadership, he says, is "an intense journey into yourself. It's about how much you want to learn. It's about how much you want to give. It's about personal change and just being ready to renew yourself every day."

Immelt offers crisis leaders this advice:


  • Be decisive: Make decisions, including some occasions when you don't have perfect information.

  • Be accountable: Stand by your decisions, admit when you've made a mistake, and make sure you and your team are accountable.

  • Be transparent: Don't just tell the truth, share the intent behind your decisions.

  • Be a unifier: Make people feel like they're part of something that will last.

  • Be willing to change yourself: Embrace personal growth.