2-Day Program

Leading Through Crisis

Learn how seasoned leaders make it through the valley of chaos

About the program

A crisis is a make-or-break moment in the lifetime of your team, business unit or organization, requiring immediate action from leaders at every level.

And yet, the majority of those trusted to navigate tumultuous times have developed leadership skills throughout a career defined by far less dire circumstances, and hired based on success within the status quo.

It's no surprise that leaders are often caught unaware and unprepared in the moments where their ability to rally a team or turnaround matters the most.

This 2-day crisis leadership program combines hands-on global executive leadership expertise with recent theoretical research from diverse disciplines, delivered via interactive remote learning.

In this program you will learn:

  • Practical frameworks and industry best practices that can immediately be applied to crisis situations, including the current COVID-19 pandemic
  • To understand the value of a crisis
  • The six behaviours of effective crisis leaders
  • To leverage the power of a leader's optimism to inspire in despair, while avoiding the "optimism trap"

Who should attend

This program is designed for managers and executives from all industries and functions who may be tasked with responding to crisis events within business units, functional teams or the larger organization.

Personal benefits

  • Gain an appreciation for the importance of how a leader’s presence, practice and passion impact performance in a crisis
  • Improved situational and personality awareness, along with an understanding of how these affect behaviour during a crisis
  • Identify specific areas of improvement by reflecting on past crisis experiences

Organizational benefits

  • Adopt best practices curated from successful crisis leaders
  • Improve crisis leadership competencies at all levels of the organization
  • Limit the damaging effects of crises and leverage opportunities inherent in turbulent times
  • Improved ability to identify, plan for and avoid crises before they occur

The Program covers the following curriculum:

  • The Value of Crisis: A crisis is notorious for its catastrophic impact on three critical aspects of the organization, namely, brand, finances, and stakeholder relationships. However, hidden inside the palpable gloom and desperation of a crisis are the often-missed gems of crisis. Participants will the three phases of crisis and uncover the treasures in the pressure of crisis and their implications to the organization.
  • The Optimism Trap: Generally, humans are innately optimistic. Optimism makes the business world go round. Attendees will learn to differentiate between the type of optimism that powers business success in non-crisis situations and the kind that creates the optimism trap that leads to the mismanagement of crisis. Discussions will focus on the interpretations, impairments, and implications of the optimism trap in the context of crisis leadership.
  • Leveraging Pragmatic Optimism: Participants will explore the pragmatic optimism model developed from empirical research for leaders in crises. Discussions will cover the definition, descriptors, and drawbacks of the model and how it drives leadership behaviour in a crisis.
  • Six Behaviours of Effective Crisis Leaders: Learn the six behaviours adopted by highly productive leaders in various crises. This behavioural model is founded on experiential research of senior executives located around the world. Participants will reflect on their crisis behaviours in comparison with the model.
  • Shining in the Darkest Hour: The current Industry 4.0 exposes organizations to newer, more frequent, and more intense crises. Technological advances notwithstanding, a leader is most needed during a crisis. Therefore, a manager that cannot lead in a crisis cannot lead. Period. This concluding part stitches together all the components of the course, using relatable real-life scenarios to engage participants and equip them to lead when all eyes are on them – in crisis conditions.

Session Leaders

Session leaders include senior professors from Smith School of Business and knowledgeable experts from industry. These outstanding teachers are constantly in touch with today's business world through real-world business experience, Board memberships and their own consulting practices.

Daniel Monehin

Daniel heads Resolut Consulting, a global leadership development firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with associate consultants located around the world.

Over the course of his nearly 30-year career, Daniel held various leadership roles in diverse businesses including global firms across wide-ranging industries - banking, professional services, manufacturing & distribution, computer hardware and financial technology. As a global executive, he championed hands-on and transformational leadership in Fortune 500 and S&P 100 companies.

In his last role at Mastercard Inc., Daniel led enterprise-wide businesses as Executive Vice President (EVP), overseeing Remittances and Financial Inclusion across over 210 countries and territories. There, he drove the global adoption of digital technology that opened new markets, generated growth and transformed key aspects of economies around the world by addressing multi-million-dollar opportunities. Before that, he established and rapidly grew new businesses across 45+ countries in the Middle East & Africa Region as EVP/Division President and prior to that, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Mastercard Canada.

Daniel received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Queen's University, Canada, and a Bachelor of Science (Honors) degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (FCPA, FCMA), a U.S. Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA). He is on track to graduate from a 5-year doctorate degree program this year at the University of Manchester, U.K.

His doctorate study in Crisis Leadership is currently being adapted into a book for organizational decision makers and will be published this year.

Daniel serves on an advisory committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in New York. The IFAC is the largest global accounting body, representing approximately 3 million certified accountants in over 130 countries.

Guest Speakers

Daniel Tisch

Daniel is widely known as a leader in the Canadian and global communications community. He is the CEO and principal owner of the Argyle Group, one of Canada's largest communications consulting firms, and previously served as chair of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the confederation of the world's public relations professional associations.

Dan began his career in the Canadian government and served in progressively more senior roles, culminating in a post as Senior Policy Advisor and Acting Chief of Staff to the Canadian foreign minister in the 1990s. In more than two decades as a consultant, he has advised a long list of Global 500/Fortune 500 companies as well as both Canadian and international government leaders. Dan is particularly well-known for expertise in reputation, issues and crisis management, including serving as lead communications advisor to an industry affected by the largest food recall in North American history. His other areas of practice include reputation management strategy, stakeholder engagement, governance and executive leadership communications.

Under Dan's leadership, Argyle has grown from a small Toronto-based consultancy in 2003 to a team of more than 100 full-time professionals with offices in five major Canadian cities. Argyle was recently named 2020 Canadian Agency of the Year by PRovoke Media, the leading source of news and analysis on the global public relations industry. Other recent honours for Argyle include being named Global Mid-Sized Agency of the Year by the International Association of Business Communicators in 2017 and 2018, and listed on the Globe and Mail's inaugural ranking of Canada's Top Growing Companies in 2019.

Dan speaks English, French and Spanish and holds a BA and an MBA (specializing in marketing) from Queen's University. He is the Vice-Chair of the Queen's University Board of Trustees and a frequent guest lecturer at the Smith School of Business.

Ann Cairns

In her role as Executive Vice Chairman Ann represents Mastercard around the world, focusing on inclusion, diversity and innovation. She plays the important role of senior ambassador and executive leader and sits as part of the company’s global management committee. Prior to her current appointment, Ann was President of International Markets responsible for the management of all Mastercard customer-related activities in over 200 countries.

Ann brings more than 20 years’ experience working in senior management positions across Europe and the U.S. Prior to joining Mastercard in 2011, Ann was head of the Financial Services Group with Alvarez & Marsal, CEO of Transaction Banking at ABN- AMRO and held senior positions at Citigroup.

Ann is currently chair of ICE Clear Europe, owned by the Fortune 500 company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). She is also global co-chair of the 30% Club, the chair of the Financial Alliance for Women and serves as a member of the UK government’s AI Council and the IBDE advisory board. She has a Pure Mathematics degree and honorary doctorate from Sheffield University and a M.Sc. with research into medical statistics and honorary doctorate from Newcastle University.

Enroll Now
Katie Parks

Speak to a member of our team.
Call 1.888.393.2338 or
Monday to Friday. 8:30 am - 4:00 pm EDT

Reserve a seat - pay later

Upcoming Sessions

    Remote Learning, Canada

  • Sep 29 to Sep 30
  • Schedule Details

Fees

$1,650 CAD (plus applicable taxes)
All major credit cards accepted.

Notify me of future dates

Located in Canada?

Offset part or all of program fees through the Canada Job Grant

Learn more
canada flag