Managing Crises Before They Happen: What Every Executive Needs to Know About Crisis Management (Hardcover)

~ Ian I. Mitroff (Author), Gus Anagnos (Author) "Since 1900, twenty-eight "major" industrial accidents have occurred worldwide, with "major" meaning fifty or more deaths..." (more)
Key Phrases: signal detection mechanisms, crisis portfolio, people signals, Barron's Bank, President Clinton, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Any professional or company with a reputation worth preserving should read Managing Crises Before They Happen." -- The Futurist

Product Description

From tragic accidents to public relations fiascos, we live in an increasingly crisis-ridden society. In fact, half of the major industrial accidents of the past century occurred in the last 20 years.

Incidents such as Bhopal and the Exxon Valdez have become embedded in our consciousness, cultural icons of the worst sort. Other crises, less devastating but with serious impact on their businesses, occur almost daily. Why is this-- and what can be done to reverse this disturbing trend?

According to Ian Mitroff, one of the world's leading experts on crisis management, the rise in the crisis rate is due to an ingrained "it-can't happen- to-us" mentality--which, in turn, leads to a total lack of preparedness for crises. His solution? Find out in MANAGING CRISES BEFORE THEY HAPPEN. This fascinating book provides readers with a powerful framework that will help them:

* Recognize the early warning signals that almost always precede a crisis * Focus on the big picture, not just the details * Avoid becoming either the victim or the villain in a crisis situation * Understand the importance of personal character, corporate culture, and thinking outside the box to effective crisis management * Learn from one crisis things that can prevent or ameliorate the next.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 172 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1st edition (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814405630
• ISBN-13: 978-0814405635
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #980,801 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anticipate, Prepare, and Respond, November 13, 2000

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Mitroff (with Anagnos) explains "what every executive and manager needs to know about crisis management." He correctly asserts that crises occur because "a significant amount of the overall system fails. Thus, CM is inherently the process of seeing and dealing with larger, whole systems." Moreover, "The basic or most central problem is that [because it goes sharply against the grain of of current management thought and practice] it requires cultural acceptance, and unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases, major cultural transformation." The material is organized as follows:

Chapter One: Why Crises Are an Inevitable and Permanent Feature of Modern Societies

Chapter Two: The Failure of Success: The Tylenol Poisonings, Crisis Management's "Ancient History"

Chapter Three: A Best Practice Model: A General Framework for Crisis Management

Chapter Four: Should We Tell the Truth? The Varieties of Truth and Telling the Truth

Chapter Five: Assuming Responsibility: Victim or Villain?

Chapter Six: Detecting Weak Signals: Making Sure That You Are the First to Get the Worst News!

Chapter Seven: Thinking Far Outside of the Boxes

Chapter Eight: Treating the Big Picture

Chapter Nine: Crisis Management 2002: The Challenges Ahead

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu asserts that every battle is won or lost before it is fought. Hence the great importance Mitroff assigns to anticipation and preparation. I think his book would have even greater value if read in combination with Peter Schwartz's The Art of the Long View. Given the importance of this subject to any organization (regardless of its size or nature), I also recommend Steven Fink's Crisis Management.

When concluding his book, Mitroff offers these suggestions: "Start by designing and implementing signal detection [ie early warning] mechanisms throughout your organization. Start by amplifying the signals that already exist in your organization of impending crises. In many cases, the databases that indicate signals of impending crises may already exist, but they need to be reconceptualized to show their relationship to CM." Sound advice. But ultimately, even the most comprehensive and sophisticated CM system cannot predict or suggest, much less prevent, every crisis. Once a crisis occurs, one of the most important questions Mitroff answers is "Now what?" That answer alone is well-worth the cost of this important book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice, but very academic, July 27, 2003

By A Customer

This book is well concieved, but obviously written by someone who has an academic background. The author cites lots of facts and examples, but never really takes the "how to" steps I'd expect from someone who has actually done what he's writing about.

I'd recommend Blindsided by Bruce Blythe instead. It has a tilt to the human side of crises, but is very well done and includes many practical tips. I've actually lost consulting engagements because his book gave too many trade secrets away!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Managing Crises: Short on Substance, January 11, 2001

By	Bruce Liedstrand (Mountain View, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Managing Crises has helpful checklists of things to consider and the author's Rules for dealing with crises but it is short on convincing analysis. For example, one Rule is that all crises "send out a repeated trail of early warning signals." This is probably true in many, if not most cases, but the author fails to provide a convincing analysis that it is true for all or almost all cases. The Tylenol crisis is the books primary example, but the book fails to analyze what the early warning signals were for the Tylenol crises that the manufacturer failed to detect and act on. The book is higher on salesmanship (promoting the author's business?) than on substance.