Crisis management reveals the character of a leader. This collection of quotes delves into how great leaders navigate challenges, inspire resilience, and turn obstacles into opportunities. Discover insights on adaptability, decision-making, and guiding others through times of uncertainty and change.
- “In crisis management, be quick with the facts and slow with the blame.” – Leonard Saffir
- “If you don’t choose to do it in leadership time up front, you do it in crisis management time down the road.” – Stephen Covey
- “Something we learned by experience is that in crisis communications, you have to check your ego at the door. Ego is often what gets people into trouble. In most situations, people genuinely believe that explaining their side is all it takes for people to believe them and listen to them. This is almost never the case. So, don’t be impulsive, prepare your talking points, and find the balance between overdoing it and being too restrained.” – Dominic Monn
- “It’s PR, not ER. Lives might be on the line during a crisis or emergency situation, and while getting the PR right is important, it’s not typically life-threatening. It’s going to be OK if the crisis communication isn’t perfect. What’s important is that those in harm’s way are cared for, lessons are learned, and the situation and policies improve so that this crisis doesn’t happen again,” – Jason Mudd
- “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in the moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “A saying we heard a lot in law school was ‘No response IS a response.’ This means that a lack of response provides an opportunity for the public to fill in the blanks. This can result in exaggerations, conjecture, and assumptions that can be harmful to your business or your client.” – Mark Pierce
- “True leadership creates more leaders. Show the way, lift others, and leave a legacy of growth and impact.” – Allison Dunn
- “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy
- “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.” – Charles de Gaulle
- “Any deep crisis is an opportunity to make your life extraordinary in some way.” – Martha Beck
- “In a crisis, don’t hide behind anything or anybody. They’re going to find you anyway.” – Bear Bryant
- “The secret of crisis management is not good vs. bad, it’s preventing the bad from getting worse.” – Andy Gilman
- “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets people to do the greatest things.” – Ronald Reagan
- “Conflict builds character. Crisis defines it.” – Steven V. Thulon
- “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
- “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” – Bob Feller
- “Success is a terrible teacher if it makes you forget the lessons of failure.” – Allison Dunn
- “The crisis you have to worry about most is the one you don’t see coming.” – Mike Mansfield
- “A crisis is an opportunity riding a dangerous wind.” – Chinese Proverb
- “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant.” – Jim Rohn
- “Surround yourself with great people; delegate authority; get out of the way.” – Magic Johnson
- “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” – George Washington
- “When you face a crisis, you know who your true friends are.” – Magic Johnson
- “Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” – John Maxwell
- “The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.” – Brandon Sanderson
- “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker
- “A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.” – Unknown
- “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “A leader without followers is simply a man taking a walk.” – John Boehner
- “Don’t tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” – George S. Patton Jr.
- “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” – Dwight Eisenhower
- “A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” – Nelson Mandela
- “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “A leader is a dealer in hope.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
- “Power isn’t control at all. Power is strength and giving that strength to others. A leader isn’t someone who forces others to make him stronger. A leader is someone willing to give his strength to others that they may have the strength to stand on their own.” – Beth Revis
- “Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” – Colin Powell
- “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton
- “The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better.” – Tony Dungy
- “Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best.” – Chester Nimitz
- “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” – Henry Kissinger
- “The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.” – Casey Stengel
- “Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” – Bill Bradley
- “Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.” – Harry Truman
- “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
- “The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.” – Tony Blair
- “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.” – Rosalynn Carter
- “There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust.” – Klaus Balkenhol
- “Always remember, Son, the best boss is the one who bosses the least. Whether it’s cattle, or horses, or men, the least government is the best government.” – Ralph Moody
- “Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar.” – Orrin Woodward
- “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.” – Andrew Carnegie
- “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
- “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin
- “Gaffes can be excused – Americans are a forgiving lot. But it requires an authentic admission, ‘I screwed up’ – and let’s move on.” – Lanny J. Davis
- “The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.” – Warren Buffett
- “The real-time news cycle makes it increasingly difficult for you to get ahead of a story before the story is already ahead of you. Successful crisis management depends on your team’s ability to manage these real-time challenges that this digital landscape presents to us while simultaneously managing the actual crisis in real-time.” – Melissa Agnes
- “Be quick, not hasty. When crisis strikes, response times are paramount, but a rushed reply can make matters worse. Preparation beforehand will help your team know how to respond with consideration and get ahead of the situation without looking frazzled or fractured.” – Cyndee Harrison
- “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger — but recognize the opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy
- “Always be honest and transparent. It‘s easy to make mistakes, but it’s harder to recover from them if you try to cover up or lie about what happened. People appreciate honesty, and they’ll respect you for being willing to admit your mistakes.” – Gauri Manglik
- “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” – Rahm Emanuel
- “Prepare for storms so when they strike, you can rally your crew with level-headed guidance focused on solutions. Anxiety is contagious as a leader, so project thoughtful confidence paired with a clear direction of the path ahead.” – Jason Smit
- “Don’t be afraid to lead with bad news, but always follow it with a solution.” – Dana White
- “There‘s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all crisis. In dealing with potential crises, it’s crucial to categorize them according to their possible impact, target audience, and associated stakeholders. The best recommendation I received is to construct a dynamic guide with branching tiers, a structure that allows organizations to better manage varied situations.” – Brenda Christensen
- “It’s crucial to have a small team of leaders who are capable of handling a crisis, in case one arises. Knowing which team member will guide and monitor the crisis, who will manage the response across channels, and who will keep leadership informed allows your company to respond quickly and effectively.” – Seth Besse
- “In every crisis, doubt or confusion, take the higher path — the path of compassion, courage, understanding, and love.” – Sri Amit Ray
- “All you have in business is your reputation — so it’s very important that you keep your word.” – Sir Richard Branson
- “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “Follow the three A‘s: Apologize, Acknowledge, Act. Apologize: Apologize for your part in the crisis. If you didn’t have a part in the crisis, or it‘s not the company or person’s fault, empathize with the affected people or victims. Acknowledge: Take responsibility for the crisis and own your part in it. Be honest and transparent and acknowledge that the person or company made a mistake. Act: Advise on the next steps the person or the company will take to make it right. Share what you’ll do in the future so that this never happens again. This assures the public that you have control of the situation and are working to remedy it.” – Delia Mendoza
- “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
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