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.

  The Upside to Adversity
      (Dayton Fandray, Continental, February 2006)

I never considered Doors vocalist Jim Morrison to be much of a poet. But I must admit that one of his couplets has come back to me time and again over the years. "The future's uncertain/the end is always near," Morrison warned in "Roadhouse Blues." And even if it isn't exactly great poetry, it is a reasonably succinct statement of the human condition.

Morrison's warning seemed especially apt in 2005. From tsunami to hurricane to flood to earthquake, the forces of nature battered the planet with staggering ferocity. It was a year that reminded us just how dangerous a place the world can be, and how important it is to react decisively when disaster strikes, as it inevitably will.

That inevitability is something few of us want to think about. And that's the reason our response to crisis situations is often found wanting.

"It's human nature to not want to prepare for crises," says Bruce T. Blythe, CEO of Atlanta-based Crisis Management International. "None of us like to think deeply about bad things happening to us. The paradox, though is that people who think deeply about the crises that can happen, and what they would do to deal with them, tend to have much less anxiety than the people who are unwilling to think about it."

Before disaster even strikes, Blythe says, every organization should draw up a list of foreseeable risks. A hurricane like Katrina, for example, is a foreseeable risk for any company that does business in the states that border the Gulf of Mexico. It is not enough, however, to acknowledge that hurricanes constitute some sort of amorphous threat. That threat must be evaluated in terms of its potential impact on actual business operations.

"Obviously Target Corporation is going to have different risks than an oil and gas company that is drilling out in the Gulf," says Blythe. "So you say, 'What are the things that are most likely to happen, and are they severe enough that we need to pay attention to them?' You don't have to prepare for everything exactly. You just need to prepare for the foreseeable risks. And if other things happen, you'll be much better off and better able to handle them."

Truly exceptional leaders go beyond simply handling a crisis. They understand that a crisis, in addition to being a challenge that must be met and overcome, can also be an opportunity. "Adversity can be an incredibly energizing process," says Paul G. Stotlz, CEO of Peak Learning Inc. in San Luis Obispo, Calif. "Yes, we want to ask what we potentially do to minimize the downside. But most people miss the second question, which is, 'What can we do to maximize the upside? ' It seems blasphemous to ask yourself what are the potential advantages of adversity? But the fact of the matter is, those advantages are not just on your bottom line. They could be advantages to your customers. So getting at what is the potential upside in a disaster is a very important question."

The key here is harnessing the sense of urgency that comes in critical situations. During times of crisis, people are at their creative peak, looking at old problems in new ways and taking chances they might be afraid to take under normal operating conditions. With the old rules and strictures temporarily suspended, new ideas emerge-ideas that not only will see you through the present crisis, but could also streamline and improve your operations when conditions return to normal. The result might well be lower costs and innovations that please employees, shareholders, and customers alike.

Seizing these opportunities requires discipline. The natural tendency during a crisis is to focus on the things that are beyond our control. Stoltz believes it is far more important to focus on the things we can control. Considered with a cool head, this list might well turn out to be longer than it first appears. And once the factors that you can influence have been determined, all that remains, really, is setting your priorities and rolling up your sleeves.

"That immediately shifts the focus," says Stoltz. "There are things we can't control, but we can influence almost every factor that determines our eventual success. It's just a question of setting priorities. Of all the things we can potentially influence, what are the two or three that are most important to us?"

Citing the wisdom of the I Ching, the ancient Chinese "book of changes." Stoltz advices that the event itself is irrelevant. It's our response to the event that matters. ""Bad news," he says, "becomes good news if you just know how to harness it."

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