Leadership in Crises

On Campus

Session Date

April 01, 2024 - April 06, 2024

Application Deadline

February 05, 2024

Program Fee

$10,200

Faculty Chair

Herman B. (Dutch) Leonard

Arnold Howitt

Program Director

Cindy Wong

Request Brochure

Apply

Program Fee: The program fee includes tuition, housing, curricular materials and most meals.
Executive Certificate: This program is a core program in the Public Leadership concentration. This program can also be used as a third program for any concentration in the Executive Certificate series.
Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs): This program aligns with one or more Executive Core Qualifications.

Program Overview

Public health emergencies. Natural disasters. Infrastructure failures. Major technology breaches. Terrorist attacks. These are the kinds of extraordinary challenges that leaders like you face every day. Do you feel fully prepared to handle them?

Leadership in Crises is a five-day executive program designed to prepare you to successfully manage, survive, and recover from the unexpected. During the on-campus program, you will learn how to build the expertise needed to ensure a more successful crisis management process. You will also learn how to effectively gather critical information, adapt to unique circumstances, and prioritize effectively.

Led by faculty chairs Herman B. (Dutch) Leonard and Arnold Howitt, the curriculum explores how to build bridges across boundaries—presenting perspectives on planning, training and implementing—so that senior managers like you can have systems in place in advance of a critical event.

PROGRAM CURRICULUM

The on-campus program features intensive, interactive discussions using the Harvard case-study method, supplemented by lectures with faculty, and group exercises.

Through the use of case studies, Leadership in Crises will task you with tackling real-world issues. Together with a global cohort in the classroom, you will work through possible approaches and solutions to problems that actual managers have confronted. The case teaching reveals the power of a diverse learning group and makes for open and lively discussion.

Samples of cases used during Leadership in Crises include:

The Triple Catastrophe: Japan’s Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Crisis
Ready in Advance: The City of Tuscaloosa’s Response to the 4/27/11 Tornado
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: The Politics of Crisis Response
Columbia’s Final Mission

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Leadership in Crises will provide you a with a greater understanding of:

Dynamics of emergencies overall and what differentiates crisis situations from routine emergencies
Role leadership plays in crafting and executing appropriate responses and preparing organizations in advance of a crisis
Multiple dimensions of situational awareness
Skills leaders need for working decisively in the highly concentrated timeframe of an emergency, while maintaining a focus on managing and motivating a team
Critical coordination demands of large-scale crises that engage multiple response organizations from many jurisdictions and levels of government
Tensions that frequently arise between senior emergency management professionals and political leaders and how they can work together effectively

Application Information

Recommended Applicants

Leadership in Crises is designed for experienced professionals, which fosters a spirit of lively and informed conversation.

Recommended applicants include:

Local, state, and federal officials in departments including but not limited to public works, public health, emergency medicine, transportation, homeland security, and education
Elected officials who oversee emergency preparedness or participate in crisis response
Senior leaders of first-response agencies
Foreign Service, State Department, and other federal officials who craft or carry out responses to international humanitarian and diplomatic crises
Active-duty military, Coast Guard, National Guard, or reserves who play roles in planning for or responding to disasters
Executives in the corporate and nonprofit sectors with responsibility for disaster planning, management, or recovery, or those who oversee large public events

Sample Schedule

Immerse yourself with a cohort of fellow emerging leaders on Harvard’s historic campus. View the draft program schedule from a previous session. Note that module titles, speakers, and sequence may change.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS ARE SAYING

“This program led me to reevaluate many of my current practices and views. I left with a renewed understanding and will return to my job reinvigorated.”

JIM FEATHERSTONE, GEN. MANAGER, EMER. MGMT. DPT., CITY OF LA

Hear From the Faculty Chair

What have we learned since 9/11 about organizing responses to large-scale and novel attacks and other large-scale emergencies? Faculty Chair Dutch Leonard and co-authors reflect on the topic in this short essay.