When crisis hits, the cavalry isn’t coming. Build an organization that doesn’t need one.
Strategic Corporate Crisis Management: Building an Unconquerable Organization (Routledge, 2022) challenges the idea that a central crisis team can swoop in and save the day. Drawing on two decades in security and crisis leadership, Brendan Monahan makes the case for decentralizing crisis response — building readiness, leadership, and crisis competency across your organization, where it’s needed, when it’s needed.
from author brendan monahan
Unconquerable
High-performing organizations confronted with crisis can choose to accept the unexpected, adopt a new normal, and bring out the best in themselves and their people. In doing so, they take a position of strength that recognizes crisis as a form of change and redefines it for a better future.
This is a book about becoming “unconquerable” as an enterprise, inspiring leadership from all corners – but especially on the edges and the front lines, and in the worst of times.
reviews
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"Crises are progressively becoming more complex, frequent, and severe. As a result, your crisis preparedness and response capabilities must adapt to the new landscape when there is only one chance to "get it right." Brendan Monahan provides Crisis Management 2.0 insights that go beyond traditional preparedness and response approaches. Strategic Corporate Crisis Management: Building the Unconquerable Organization is a well written and visionary guide for handing crises of the future."
Bruce T. Blythe, Chairman R3 Continuum
(Ready, Respond, Recover)
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"As a corporate security senior leader with close to 40 years of federal law enforcement, state government, and private sector security experience, I am excited to see this book from Brendan. From his time as an intelligence analyst, crisis management and business continuity professional, Brendan has developed unique insights on the emerging and complex global risk environment facing businesses today. This book will serve as a great introduction to the next generation of crisis management and business continuity leaders. It will also serve as a clear reminder to my peer/legacy security professionals on the variety, complexity, and impact from these new threats and challenges. As Brendan’s book highlights, we should see such incidents/crisis as an opportunity for growth and betterment."
Ed Dickson
Vice President, Global Security, Fortune 500 company
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"This book serves as a cautionary message to public and private sector managers and leaders that crisis will continue to confront them, increasing in number and unfamiliarity. While public sector organizations such as fire and police departments have come to rely on the usefulness of an incident command type system and command post for managing an unfolding crisis or critical incident, it would serve them well to heed the principles and recommendations of this author. Monahan brings to the fore the criticality of public and private sector organizations being adaptive to ever changing circumstance and situations, developing competencies among organizational personnel and planning and preparations that should continue to evolve. It is beyond difficult if not impossible to plan and prepare for the type and nature of every crisis, however, the author provides thoughtful insight into how leaders and crisis team members can better serve their organizations with the goal of successful outcomes."
Russell Fischer, Retired Chief,
Miami-Dade Police Department, Miami, Florida
