Designed for CEOs, boards, and senior executives in HR, risk management, and emergency response management. Jim Lukaszewski was listed in Corporate Legal Times as one of 28 Experts to Call When All Hell Breaks Loose and in PR Week as one of 22 crunch-time counselors who should be on the speed dial in a crisis. THE book on crisis communication, aggregating Jim s four decades of crisis communication wisdom in a format easy to commit to memory - ready to use when, and hopefully before, you face a crisis. Jim's common-sense, field-tested approach helps guide executives in how to behave, what to say and do, and how to lead their organizations through a crisis situation especially during those first critical minutes. His book fills the holes left by most crises texts: it explains how to manage victims, manage management, energize attorneys to cooperate and participate in the crises response process, and understand, and therefore reduce, the influence of the media (both traditional and social), activists, and antagonists. He focuses on a key element rarely dealt with in crisis management how NOT to create victims (who may publicly complain and sue), by managing people with compassion, fairness and honesty. In a crisis, Jim recommends 5 approaches: be positive; be compassionate; be transparent; apologize sincerely and with meaning; and settle quickly. These simple tenets are the most complex to execute because they run counter to many management cultures. He shares a bounty of practical tools, tips, charts, checklists, forms, and templates, e.g., since he advises you to make all your statements positive, Jim lists scores of positive words and phrases; categorizes numerous crises by risk; lists the causes of victimization; and describes media behavior/attitudes and details the social and digital media tactics to manage them. And, since a recent study shows that only 60% of the companies surveyed had a crisis management plan, Jim offers ammunition to motivate management to prepare for crises.

A crisis strikes out of the blue, at the time and place least expected. In a word, you're blindsided. According to Bruce Blythe, managing a crisis is an ultimate test of leadership, requiring leaders who inspire loyalty and trust as they rise to the occasion to meet the needs of people. In his new expanded edition of Blindsided, Blythe shows you what it takes to be an effective and humane strategic crisis leader, a "crisis whisperer." Blythe has divided Blindsided into two operational sections - giving you two books in one. Much of his emphasis is on the often-neglected human side of crisis management. He goes beyond protecting tangible assets to instilling principled concern for human well-being into every decision. Part 1. Crisis Response: - Using the technique of focused imagery, Blythe places you in a dramatic and realistic scenario. You're now an unprepared manager blindsided by the reality of an active shooter loose in your building. Some workers may already be injured or dead. - What's your next move? How do you make sure everybody is safe? How do you set up teams, command centers, crisis containment, and effective communication? How do you protect your corporate reputation throughout this life-changing event? Can you rebuild the spirit, cohesion, and productivity of employees in the post-crisis "new normal"? - At the start of the book - before you lived the sudden crisis in this simulation, a crisis response plan may have been "someday" project - now it's a priority. Part 2. Crisis Preparedness: - Now you embark on building a crisis response plan - or enhancing the one you have. - Without losing the urgency and probable fear of the specific event, Blythe guides you and your teams to analyze foreseeable risks, evaluate existing controls, add new ones, test and re-evaluate the plan. - Analyzing the behavior of national and world leaders, you distinguish clearly the two kinds of leaders who emerge in a crisis: the "crisis whisperer" who becomes a calm center in the storm, and the one in the "crisis red zone," worsening the situation with every word and every decision. - You learn to employ the Be-Know-Do leadership model (adapted from military) that has been implemented by senior management teams throughout the world. If there is ever a time that training and informed quick response action matter most, it's in a crisis. Blindsided includes practical forms, checklists, case studies, real-life examples, glossary, index, discussion questions, and other take-and-use tools, including: - Quick Use Response Guide: Each of the 15 chapters end with a summary checklist - together they form a ready-reference pocket guide. - Incident Checklists for 9 Major Crises: Practical checklists for accidental deaths, aircraft crash, chemical/toxic exposure, civil unrest, earthquake, explosion/fire, flood, kidnap ransom, shooting, plus 20 other foreseeable risks. - 20-Page Guide for Addressing Families of the Injured: What to say/do to help families of fatalities or seriously injured with medical/financial assistance, emotional support - and training teams assigned to work with them.

First ever, all-in-one, practical resource for evacuating people of all ages and health conditions from all kinds of workplaces, including small offices, skyscrapers, business and college campuses, industrial plants, stores, hospitals, and schools. Based on the Business Continuity Institute's proven 6-Phase Business Continuity Lifecycle Model that encompasses development, delivery, and maintenance of organization-wide plans -- to ensure that your methodology aligns with best practices, relevant regulations, sound governance, and corporate responsibility. Comprehensive package of 600+ pages of book and downloads containing tools, templates, case studies, sample plans, forms, checklists, articles, and practical tips. Authored by an internationally acclaimed consultant in Business Continuity Management, with 35+ years' experience in 24 countries and recipient of the Business Continuity Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. Thought-provoking discussion questions requiring application of principles to solve problems, numerous real-life case studies and examples, comprehensive index and detailed glossary facilitate both college and professional instruction. This comprehensive package of 600+ pages of book and downloads offers the first ever, all-in-one resource -- packed with globally researched, innovative, and field-tested plans, tips, and tools for workplace evacuation, including: - Comprehensive approach covering all kinds of personal conditions and facilities. Provides full details on how to deliver an effective evacuation solution for people of varying ages, health conditions, and special needs, including how to develop Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) for employees who need them. Shows how to develop plans for evacuating a variety of facilities ranging from small offices, skyscrapers, business campuses and industrial plants to stores, hospitals, schools and colleges. - Practical and compassionate insights for dealing with emotional reactions and physical difficulties, both pre- and post-event. Includes planning for and managing both the immediate reactions and, very importantly, any long term care for employees that may be required in the wake of major trauma. - Tools, templates, case studies, sample plans, forms, checklists, articles, and practical tips that will spare you pitfalls and costly mistakes in designing your own evacuation plan. Burtles has literally "been there, done that" over many years, so take advantage of his hard-won expertise and field-tested tools to enhance the plan you have or create one from scratch. You are responsible for your people's safety. Put emergency evacuation on the top of your priority list. Use Burtles as a guide to practice (and practice and practice and practice) realistic evacuation drills and procedures, create strong policies, and get management buy-in with clearly understood and agreed-upon methods to increase the chance of survival for those at risk. With this book and accompanying EEP Toolkit, you now have the tools to develop and implement a comprehensive Emergency Evacuation Plan. "You MUST have a plan. You MUST practice it, "says Burtles. "But most importantly, at that critical moment, your people MUST be able to get out "

"Emotional Tornados in Your Workplace
Can Be Just as Destructive as the Natural Kind"
If your company employs human beings, there are emotions at work. Emotions are part your company's culture and need to be as astutely managed as any other potential disruption to your business.
The old paradigm of separating humans from humanity during work hours is not only antiquated thinking, it's high risk behavior. Emotional management should not be the sole domain of a few employees. Everyone can be awake and aware of the concepts and tools in this new book to effectively manage and channel workplace emotions. Of course, just as there are gamblers in "tornado alley" who ignore the warning sirens, you get to decide how much risk your company can absorb.
Dr. Vali Hawkins-Mitchell, a leading authority in the growing field of Emotional Continuity Management, makes a compelling business case that the human emotion factor has a calculable, direct impact on the fiscal bottom line. She describes an event involving two rowdy employees who became violent over a work-related decision and how its effects led to her provocative new insights into the cost of mismanaged emotions in the workplace:
Walking the halls, I saw, felt, and heard the disruptive effect of these two workers on 600 people. It was like experiencing the rubble of any other disaster. There was no physical wreckage, but the full range of emotions was exactly like that of any natural disaster. Everything was exposed and raw as if a common energy had stripped away the veneer of civilized behaviors. No infrastructure kept people safe in the presence of these out of control employees. People took sides, hid, ran, quit, overworked, underworked, ate too much, drank more, complained more, went silent, changed jobs, exited. They reacted as if all their system had been tossed into the air and was never going to land again. From that experience, I became sensitized to the differences between small gusts of emotions with no power and those with catastrophic force.
Small variations in behavior can be early warning signs of trouble. "Dr. Vali" explains her own "Emotional Tornado V Chart" based on the Fujita scale, a method to observe, predict, prepare, plan, and write policy to manage workplace the full range of workplace emotions. She details how to control the employee "spinning" after emotionally-charged events, such as the effects of an abusive manager, layoffs, employee illnesses or stressful family situations, suicides, and headlined homicides. She gives special emphasis to managing office bullies and "workplace emotions before, during and after an emergency or disaster."
Dr. Vali offers these critical steps to all levels of management:

Designed for CEOs, boards, and senior executives in HR, risk management, and emergency response management. Jim Lukaszewski was listed in Corporate Legal Times as one of 28 Experts to Call When All Hell Breaks Loose and in PR Week as one of 22 crunch-time counselors who should be on the speed dial in a crisis. THE book on crisis communication, aggregating Jim s four decades of crisis communication wisdom in a format easy to commit to memory - ready to use when, and hopefully before, you face a crisis. Jim's common-sense, field-tested approach helps guide executives in how to behave, what to say and do, and how to lead their organizations through a crisis situation especially during those first critical minutes. His book fills the holes left by most crises texts: it explains how to manage victims, manage management, energize attorneys to cooperate and participate in the crises response process, and understand, and therefore reduce, the influence of the media (both traditional and social), activists, and antagonists. He focuses on a key element rarely dealt with in crisis management how NOT to create victims (who may publicly complain and sue), by managing people with compassion, fairness and honesty. In a crisis, Jim recommends 5 approaches: be positive; be compassionate; be transparent; apologize sincerely and with meaning; and settle quickly. These simple tenets are the most complex to execute because they run counter to many management cultures. He shares a bounty of practical tools, tips, charts, checklists, forms, and templates, e.g., since he advises you to make all your statements positive, Jim lists scores of positive words and phrases; categorizes numerous crises by risk; lists the causes of victimization; and describes media behavior/attitudes and details the social and digital media tactics to manage them. And, since a recent study shows that only 60% of the companies surveyed had a crisis management plan, Jim offers ammunition to motivate management to prepare for crises.