16 Instructional Hours

Leading Through Turbulent Times

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 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 learn to use 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 program, 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.

Penelope Naas

Penelope (Penny) Naas is UPS President for International Public Affairs and Sustainability. Penny began her UPS career in May 2012, managing the Public Affairs team for the EMEA Region, where she enhanced governmental understanding of UPS and the issues impacting the logistics industry. In 2014, Penny was also asked to oversee sustainability in Europe and has worked to advance internal and external appreciation of the importance of sustainability for UPS. She then served as UPS Vice President and District Manager for International Public Affairs and Sustainability from January 2015 until early 2020.

Penny worked for Citigroup in the Global Government Affairs team from 2006-2012. She moved to Europe in 2007 and opened Citigroup’s first government affairs office in Brussels, Belgium, where she oversaw the various legislative and regulatory issues that arose after the 2008 financial crisis. Penny started her career at the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), where she worked for 13 years in various roles covering international trade and commercial issues. Her roles included leading the Office of Europe and creating strategies to help U.S. companies facing market access challenges in Europe, as well as working in both the Clinton and Bush White House on task forces to pass trade deals. She started her career at the Department of Commerce conducting anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations on foreign companies.

Penny has a Bachelor’s degree in economics and a Master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She co-chairs the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Trade and Investment. She is a former board member of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU and the University of Michigan Alumni Board, the American European Community Association, and the Fulbright Commission for Belgium and Luxembourg. She is active in UPS’s Women’s Leadership Development program. Her husband, Niels, is a Danish diplomat and they have three children. Penny enjoys playing sports and travel.

Katie Parks

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

Considering the program?
Save your spot while you decide.

Upcoming Sessions

    Remote Learning, Canada

  • Jun 3 to Jun 4  - Module 1
  • Jun 10 to Jun 11  - Module 2

  • Schedule Details

Fees

$1,775 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