Blindsided is the authoritative guide to crisis management.

This "how to" handbook gives essential advice that every manager needs to know when a crisis hits. Written by CMI Founder/CEO Bruce Blythe, it's a fascinating, easy-to-read guide that draws on Blythe's 20+ years of experience as a pioneer in crisis management.

  And the Winner Is...
Catalyst Magazine presents the Second Annual Catalyst Awards, 2002



It's that time of the year again... time for the Second Annual Catalyst Awards. Last year we honored a number of heavy hitters for Not-Com of the Year (HomeBanc), Agent of Change (Robert Edge and Phillip Cook, Alston & Bird), Deal of the Year (Future Networks), Built to Last (Internet Security Systems) and Catalyst of the Year (Georgia Tech). But last year was last year, a time when we, like most Atlantans, were optimistic the implosion of the high-tech space would reverse itself and once again explode. Despite the outpour of optimism, no one dared to project when the comeback would occur. Today, any bold predictions of comebacks are dated beyond 2004. During times of economic instability, the resilience- no only to survive, but also to thrive-is a must for any successful company. Catalyst, too, has survived and thrived, by re-positioning the content from the high-tech space to the small and medium-sized brick and mortar business space.

This year, it is our privilege and our pleasure to recognize small and medium-sized businesses based in Atlanta that have stared economic uncertainty in the eyes and walked away unscathed, grinning. These awards honor companies and individuals who have shown leadership in industry innovations, effective management and excellence in business. They are agents of change whose actions continue to raise the standards of Atlanta business.

This past summer, Catalyst received more than 100 nominations for the four award categories: Catalyst of the Year, Built to Last, Agent of Change and Deal of the Year. At the discretion of the editors, one company is chosen as Catalyst of the Year for its significant impact on Atlanta businesses. The Built to Last award is given to a company that has overcome immense challenges and has risen to the top of the market. The Agent of Change award is granted to an executive who sets an example through his or her community service. The Deal of the Year award is given to a company for a big business deal- either a merger, acquisition, partnership, IPO or round of funding-which was significant to the company and the Atlanta business community.

The finalists are:

Built to Last-Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, The TriVeritas Group; Lowden & Associates; and Emory Vision Care.

Agent of Change-James E. Dockter, chairman and CEO of PBD Worldwide Fulfillment Services; Robert E. Mathis, CEO of Peachtree Planning Corporations; and Lewis Massey, president and CEO of SciTrek.

Deal of the Year-Inhibitex, NetBank, TRX and Interland.

And the winners are...

Catalyst of the Year

Bruce Blythe, Founder and CEO, CMI
Bruce Blythe compares his job as founder and CEO of Crisis Management International to controlling a car with a loose steering wheel while driving down a busy intersection. "Your job is not to hit the guardrail," he says. On Sept. 11, 2001, Blythe's theory about loose steering wheels and guardrails was tested to its fullest.

"When the airplane hit [the north tower of the World Trade Center], we weren't thinking it was a major terrorist act," says Blythe. "We thought some crazy person has attempted suicide. When the second [plane] hit, I said to the staff, 'This is a terrorist situation; we need to think about what we should anticipate."

The 14-year-old international company quickly switched gears and began to estimate fatalities. "We has worked with the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, and we knew how many people worked in these buildings," says Blythe, adding that his company dispatched several members of its crisis management network to New York City.

It wasn't until the next day, says Blythe, adding that the phone calls began pouring in and Blythe had no choice but to be prepared. "As the calls started coming in, we ramped up our efforts and stayed ahead of the curve," says Blythe. Staying ahead of the curve meant taking over Park South Hotel in Manhattan. In addition to providing crisis management for more than 204 companies in New York and logging more than 12,000 man hours during the first three weeks following Sept. 11, Blythe says his team was called in by other cities as well.

"We were called in by cities and companies you wouldn't readily think about - places such as the Sear Tower [in Chicago], Los Angeles and Boston," says Blythe. "We were literally all over the country." Since Sept. 11, Blythe says he's seen a change in corporate behaviors, particularly an awareness of what he calls "new normal." "It's exactly what it implies," says Blythe. "The 'new normal' means we're moving on, but we're not forgetting about what happened. There definitely seems to be a change in behavior."

Blythe has witnessed that change firsthand. On the personal side, Blythe's recently released book, "Blindsided: A Manager's Guide to Catastrophic Incidents in the Workplace," was catapulted into print in August, only one year after he began working on it. Professionally, Blythe has seen a change in the way companies are preparing for crises.

"Every [crisis] doesn't come out of the blue," says Blythe. "Eighty percent of the crisis that could happen to a company, you could sit down and figure out right now. But you can't anticipate everything. When we work with a company, we ask them, 'If you were a terrorist, and you wanted to take this company to its knees, how would you do that?"

And while Blythe is in the business of being prepared for any crisis, he-and his team-believe their jobs serve a higher purpose. "One of the things this company is set up to do is make the world a better place," he says. "At CMI, our people are committed to that. We realize there's a higher purpose... that we're out there to help people, and we realize that's an obligation we need to fulfill."