LEAD Webinar on Crisis Management with GSB Faculty Steve Callander

Introduction to Crisis Management [00:43]

• The webinar begins with participants being invited to join on camera and introduce themselves via the chat, showcasing global representation.
• Marina welcomes attendees and introduces the Stanford LEAD program and the topic of crisis management.
• She provides context on the LEAD program, highlighting its academic rigor, flexible learning environment, and its relevance for working professionals.

  "We're just so delighted to have you joining us today to get a taste of LEAD through this webinar on crisis management."

The Stanford LEAD Program [02:42]

• The LEAD program is Stanford GSB's flagship online offering, designed to reflect the best of the school's academic rigor and community.
• It combines online learning with a supportive, connective, and flexible environment, allowing immediate application of new ideas.
• The program requires completion of eight courses, including foundation courses, a leadership core course, and five electives, allowing for customization.

  "This program combines Stamford's academic rigor with a highly supportive, connective, and flexible learning environment, and it takes full advantage of the online format where it makes it possible for working professionals like many of you to learn, connect, and immediately apply new ideas while balancing the demands of work and life."

Experiential Learning and Community in LEAD [04:15]

• LEAD courses are taught by senior tenure faculty from the MBA and executive programs, using a unique experiential learning model.
• Participants master content through hands-on assignments and capstone projects, seeing immediate results.
• Course facilitators act as a blend between executive coaches and teaching assistants, providing personalized feedback.
• The LEAD community, comprising over 6,000 participants in 110 countries, is a significant strength, fostering diverse perspectives and professional networking.

  "While LEAD is delivered fully online, the learning experience is intentionally designed to be interactive, social, and deeply connective."

Flexibility and Career Impact of LEAD [06:32]

• The program's design prioritizes flexibility for busy professionals, allowing them to balance rigorous education with work and life demands.
• The one-year, part-time, fully online schedule typically requires 5-10 hours per week, with options to scale back or extend enrollment.
• LEAD is described as a meaningful inflection point in careers, helping individuals move beyond functional expertise into broader leadership.

  "This program was built specifically for busy professionals, allowing you to pursue a rigorous Stanford education while realistically balancing a demanding professional and personal responsibilities."

Introduction to Crisis Management by Professor Callender [08:45]

• Professor Steve Callender, who teaches the crisis management course, introduces himself and his extensive experience in the field.
• He emphasizes that crises are not rare events but happen frequently and can have significant impacts on organizations and people.
• Callender predicts with 100% probability that individuals will face crises in their careers, stressing the importance of preparation.

  "So the first thing I should start with is just by pointing out that crises are happening all of the time."

Examples of Crises and Their Impact [13:37]

• Professor Callender presents examples of crises from recent years: Astronomer (CEO and HR head on kiss cam), Boeing (door plug incident), and Bud Light (boycott).
• He also discusses classic crises like BP's oil rig explosion and the Sanlu baby formula contamination in China.
• These examples illustrate the variety of crises, their significant financial and reputational costs, and the potential for severe consequences, including job loss for executives and company bankruptcy.

  "So these crises are not just big, they not just last a long time, but they can be very intense experiences for the executives involved in the crisis."

The Nature and Scope of Crises [28:40]

• Crises can be self-inflicted, accidental, external, or deliberately generated by activists.
• Managing crises involves a broad array of stakeholders, including the media, public, regulators, and politicians, making them complex.
• Crises can occur at various scales, from corporate-level to within subunits, and crisis management is a responsibility for all managers.

  "The third category for crisis is maybe the hardest to manage and that's where a crisis is generated deliberately against you."

The Difficulty of Crisis Management [32:54]

• Crisis management is inherently difficult, even for smart and talented leaders, as evidenced by the frequent downfall of CEOs during crises.
• Simple rules of thumb like transparency are insufficient; a strategic, holistic approach with a framework and tools is necessary.
• Crisis management is not simply normal operations sped up; it requires a different set of tools and a proactive, strategic mindset.

  "Crisis management is hard. There's lots of advice out there about you should just be transparent or you should just get out ahead of the issue or so on, right?"

Crisis Management as a Strategic Responsibility [35:21]

• Crisis management is a core management responsibility that cannot be delegated to PR, legal, or engineering functions.
• Managers must make company-wide decisions and act as strategic players in crisis situations.
• The LEAD course emphasizes active, experiential learning, providing frameworks and tools to practice crisis management skills.

  "It's not enough when a crisis happens to just throw your hands up in the air and say oops who could have predicted that."

Toyota Crisis and Course Application [37:01]

• The Toyota sudden acceleration crisis is used as an example of how a company might respond, including apologies and recalls.
• The course aims to provide participants with frameworks and tools to understand and manage crises strategically.
• Professor Callender highlights that the knowledge and skills gained are valuable for managers at all levels and industries.

  "So what we do in this course is we give you the framework to understand crisis strategically and we give you the tools to manage that problem because as I promised at the start you will face a crisis in the future and in the future these tools will become very valuable to you."

Role of Course Facilitators [41:49]

• Roshene Bryan, a course facilitator, explains her role as a hybrid of a teaching assistant and executive coach.
• Facilitators are deeply familiar with the content, provide personalized feedback, and support participants in meeting course requirements.
• They offer practical insights based on their own professional experience, helping participants apply learnings to real-world scenarios.

  "So from the teaching assistant side, we're deeply familiar with the content and the course guidelines."

A Week in Crisis Management Course [48:42]

• The crisis management course is structured with modules, a crisis simulation, and reflections on leadership.
• Modules 1-4 build the crisis management playbook, focusing on sense-making, media response, and intentional crises.
• Module 5 features a 70-minute crisis simulation where teams develop a crisis strategy document.

  "So weeks one to four is really the crisis management playbook and then we bring this all together and we integrate it in module 5 in a crisis simulation."

Participant Testimonials [57:08]

• Tom, a lobbyist, describes the crisis management course as a phenomenal, exhilarating, and highly beneficial experience, emphasizing the real-world learning and global team collaboration.
• Roomi, in global safety and recall management, highlights the practical tools like the 'premortem' and the importance of team building, stating the course is life-changing and offers opportunities to turn crises into advantages.

  "I want to echo that from the professor. Thanks very much for being here. This is the best investment you could ever do for your career, your job, your company, whatever you want to call it, but this is it."

Program Schedule and Flexibility [01:21:50]

• The LEAD program runs part-time, fully online over one year, requiring an average of 5-10 hours per week.
• It offers flexibility with options to scale back course load, take leaves of absence, and extend enrollment up to two years.
• Participants and facilitators emphasize the importance of communication and the supportive community in balancing the program with personal and professional commitments.

  "Now when we look at the full program and you can see a schedule on your screen, it runs over a period of one year, it's part-time, fully online, and participants are generally on average investing about 5 to 10 hours per week to complete the program requirements."

Investment and Value of LEAD [01:30:16]

• The program tuition is billed in four quarterly installments, with options for payment spreading over multiple years.
• Participants overwhelmingly find the program to be worth the investment of time, energy, and resources.
• Ambassadors Tom and Roomi strongly endorse the program, highlighting its transformative impact on their careers and personal lives.

  "Was Stanford Lead worth the investment for you? Whether that's time, money, or opportunity costs. Share very quickly your perspective on that."