1 [Weekly BIZ] Leaders must be the first in and last out… as with the pilot of the Hudson River accident Chosun Biz April 26, 2014 Hoh Kim, Head Coach at THE LAB h, Minyeong Yu, Head Consultant at Acase Reflecting upon the ‘Sewol ferry disaster’ through lessons from Harvard University’s Leadership In Crises (LIC) program Launch a designated ‘Red Team’ to investigate the accident immediately and minimize mistakes Appoint a commander based on arrival on site and level of expertise not by seniority Sit and listen to the victims side-by-side not face-to-face Deliver positive messages to cope with chaos and trauma Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University’s Leadership In Crises program is a world- renowned course on national crisis management, which was first founded in 2001 and attended by over 700 leaders from nearly 50 countries. Ten lessons learned from participating in the program for a week is introduced here in connection with the recent Sewol ferry tragedy. 1 ▲ Passengers await to be rescued atop the wings of US Airway Flight 1549 that crash-landed into the Hudson River in April 2009. Sullenberger’s wise and prompt judgment saved the lives of 155 passengers and crew members. / AP 1 This is the translation of the article printed in Weekly Biz section of Chosun Ilbo (April 26, 2014) in Korea. About 30-40% of the original article submitted by authors to Chosun Ilbo has been edited due to the space limitation. For example, the first paragraph of the original article was as follows: “We (two employees from THE LAB h and ACase) participated in the Leadership in Crises (LIC) program held from April 6 th till 11 th at Harvard Kennedy School. Launched in 2001, the program has been attended by over 700 leaders from nearly 50 countries over the past decade. In this article, we have analyzed the case of the Sewol ferry crisis by applying the case studies and crisis management principles taught at LIC, interview results with Professor Arnold Howitt of Harvard Kennedy School along with insights from various consulting projects to finally identify 10 key factors companies need to pay attention to for crisis management.” For any inquiry about this article, please contact Hoh Kim at [email protected]or Minyeong Yu at [email protected].
This is the translation of the article printed in Weekly Biz section of Chosun Ilbo (April 26, 2014) in Korea. (http://premium.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/04/25/2014042503143.html)
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1 [Weekly BIZ] Leaders must be the first in and last out as
with the pilot of the Hudson River accident Chosun Biz April 26,
2014 Hoh Kim, Head Coach at THE LAB h, Minyeong Yu, Head Consultant
at Acase Reflecting upon the Sewol ferry disaster through lessons
from Harvard Universitys Leadership In Crises (LIC) program Launch
a designated Red Team to investigate the accident immediately and
minimize mistakes Appoint a commander based on arrival on site and
level of expertise not by seniority Sit and listen to the victims
side-by-side not face-to-face Deliver positive messages to cope
with chaos and trauma Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
Universitys Leadership In Crises program is a world- renowned
course on national crisis management, which was first founded in
2001 and attended by over 700 leaders from nearly 50 countries. Ten
lessons learned from participating in the program for a week is
introduced here in connection with the recent Sewol ferry tragedy.1
Passengers await to be rescued atop the wings of US Airway Flight
1549 that crash-landed into the Hudson River in April 2009.
Sullenbergers wise and prompt judgment saved the lives of 155
passengers and crew members. / AP 1 This is the translation of the
article printed in Weekly Biz section of Chosun Ilbo (April 26,
2014) in Korea. About 30-40% of the original article submitted by
authors to Chosun Ilbo has been edited due to the space limitation.
For example, the first paragraph of the original article was as
follows: We (two employees from THE LAB h and ACase) participated
in the Leadership in Crises (LIC) program held from April 6th till
11th at Harvard Kennedy School. Launched in 2001, the program has
been attended by over 700 leaders from nearly 50 countries over the
past decade. In this article, we have analyzed the case of the
Sewol ferry crisis by applying the case studies and crisis
management principles taught at LIC, interview results with
Professor Arnold Howitt of Harvard Kennedy School along with
insights from various consulting projects to finally identify 10
key factors companies need to pay attention to for crisis
management. For any inquiry about this article, please contact Hoh
Kim at [email protected] or Minyeong Yu at [email protected].
2 Leadership 1. Wear the commanders hat wisely In the US, the
commander-in-chief is appointed either based on who arrived at the
site first or has the deepest level of expertise. A fire broke out
when the Pentagon was attacked on September 11, 2001. At the time,
James Schwartz who was number two in command at the Arlington
County Fire Department (ACFD) was the first to show up at the
scene. As a result, Scwhartz was appointed to take command instead
of Rumsfeld, then Secretary of Defense. Even his senior from ACFD
supported him saying, You have a better understanding of what
happened here so you should take the helm. On the contrary, people
who had no idea of the accident or expertise wore the commander hat
for the Sewol ferry accident turning it into a shambles. 2. First
In, Last Out Now retired Captain Chesley Sullenberg saved the lives
of all 155 passengers and crew members by boldly ditching the plane
in the Hudson River when its engines broke down midair in New York.
Sullenberg double-checked the aircraft to make sure there was no
one left behind before he finally evacuated. New York firefighter
John Salka gave the title First In, Last Out on his book about
leadership lessons from the New York Fire Department. Taking full
responsibility commensurate to ones name and title is what true
leadership should be about. Judgment 3. Demonstrate instantaneous
resilience Realizing the engines were in trouble, Sullenberg drew a
three dimensional map in his head peering down at New York City.
While air traffic control advised him to attempt landing at a
nearby airport, he quickly recognized that flying so close to New
Yorks skyline could result in a more devastating disaster and
landed the plan into Hudson River instead. This was a wise and
prompt decision. We call this experience and training based
instantaneous resilience. Sullenberg had piloted nearly 19,500
hours and received regular crisis training. Moreover, while the
trainings took place in a classroom he also did exercises on
emergency landing into water. Many multinational companies offer
routine crisis management simulation courses for its CEO and
executives and these types of trainings are more often found in
industries prone to higher risks such as chemicals, pharmaceutical
as well as food and beverage. 4. Avoid Head First responses Credit
card companies were helpless in the wake of massive private
information leaks. They had never braced themselves with crisis
management training, were incapable of putting together a response
strategy and did not have any experts on standby. Consequently all
they appeared to do was keep their heads low and deny their
wrongdoings or make up excuses upon official briefings and news
coverage. This kind of behavior is known as the head first (rash
and unconscious reaction) response. Always make a War Room in case
of a crisis outbreak. And no matter how hard a blow you are dealt
with, get to the bottom of the case and develop a strategy and goal
for it accordingly. System Management 5. Manage expectations On the
day Sewol ferry capsized, the government initially announced that
368 passengers were rescued
3 only to later continuously correct their statement to
164174175176 and finally 179 people. The Korean government taking
back its original statement from mostly rescued to mostly missing
will go down in history as the worst ever mistake. By nature, human
feel a relatively higher degree of devastation and anger when
expectations are set high and suddenly lowered dramatically because
of the significant rift between positive expectations and tragic
reality. This is the very reason the UK government kept on delaying
the official disclosure on the number of victims after the
terrorist attacks on the London Underground. With no exception, the
very first step in crisis management at global companies is always
fact checking. 6. Build a Red Team In the TV drama Newsroom, the
news bureau chief asks the main anchor to oversee the Red Team. In
simple terms, the Red Team pokes holes in the facts covered by the
White Team to ensure that it is fact-based and error-proof. This
kind of practice is exercised in order to avoid editing facts in a
way people want to believe in. Likewise, global companies play a
so-called terrorist game to arm themselves from potential crises.
In this game, the CEO and executives serve as consumers, government
officials, civil activists and members of the press so that they
can identify any loopholes that may become targets by these
stakeholders. 7. Dont create a crisis out of crisis management' In
general, a risk triggers two crises simultaneously. One is the risk
itself and the other is the crisis caused by handling the risk at
hand. Earlier this year, two oil tanker accidents occurred off the
coasts of Yeosu and Busan. While the Busan accident suffered a
larger oil spill and hence more critical, it had less of a negative
public reaction thanks to swift initial responses. However, the
Yeosu oil spill still looms large because of poor response by the
coast guard in the wake of the accident. In fact, people mostly
talked about the touching story of two coast guards who sacrificed
themselves on the tankers while covered in oil after the Busan
accident. A downpour in the name of a crisis can turn either into a
storm or can go away depending on how you handle the situation.
Communication Relationships 8. Do not exchange business cards at
the scene of a disaster Be on a first name basis This is a quote by
Richard Serino, former senior executive at the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA). An emergency situation requires close
cooperation of government organizations, armed forces, police and
corporates however, if people meet for the first time and exchange
names only after the accident occurs, teamwork can never really
come into effect. Last year, Park So Ryoung of Harvard University
highlighted the first name basis relationship by observing what
happened before and after the Boston Marathon bombings. The
responders to the devastating crisis were already close as they had
attended the emergency trainings hosted by the Massachusetts
Emergency Management Agency together following the 9/11 attacks,
which resulted in a meaningful synergy effect. 9. Engage in quick
and frequent communication for cooperation Professor Arnold Howitt
of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University taught
four communication elements governments must engage in under an
emergency situation as follows: Only speak of known facts. While
only facts that have been verified as true must be disclosed to the
public, this is where the Korean government first made its
mistake.
4 Disclose the measures that are being taken. Frequently
communicating what measures are being made is equally important as
acting upon it. Explain what citizens should do. It is critical to
deliver a clear message on what the people at the site of the
accident, families of the victims, government, politicians as well
as citizens need to do. The fact that stakeholders from dozens of
emergency offices as well as the marine company released separate
statements of their own was a catastrophic mistake. A joint
statement as in the case of the Boston Marathon bombing is what is
needed. Offer an executive interpretation of the crisis. When a
national disaster occurs, leaders must be able to build their
opinion to help their people cope with chaos and trauma. After the
September 11 attacks, then President George Bush delivered a
message on strong America and six days after asked Americans to
return to their lives and routines. Meanwhile, while there is no
shortage of messages filled with condemnation and punishment for
those involved in the Sewol ferry sinking, it is hard to find any
determination on overcoming (the crisis) as a single team. 10. Keep
an internal listener Taking care of victims is the most important
part of crisis management and yet often gets overlooked. Along with
nimbly preparing rescue measures, there also needs to be
appropriate plans for the victims and their families as well. This
plan must include a person to act as an internal listener. The role
is to offer emergency medical support for both their physical and
psychological wellbeing by empathizing with their feelings of loss
and panic. In the US, doctors and/or hospital officials are
required to sit with the patient and their families when a medical
accident occurs so that they can look at the situation in their
shoes. ###