The Lead Story

Exploring the qualities of positive leadership including mutual respect, innovation, inspiration, evolution, and mentorship. Now available on multiple platforms.

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The Lead Story

Episode 2: Crisis

July 30, 2023 • Sini Downing • Season 1 • Episode 2

August 2023 - The Lead Story - Episode 3: “Crisis”

How good are you at an emergency? Good leadership can really be put to the test when a crisis invades the workplace. How does a good leader prepare for the unknown? How you handle an active situation personally can really affect how everyone else responds.

Episode 2 of The Lead Story explores preparing for crisis.

Paul Downing is back with 30+ years of global experience in hotel & regional management. He’s a mentor to many (including me) and has a lot to talk about in this episode, given he’s handled bomb scares, presidential visits, natural disasters, enraged mothers-of-the-groom, and protesters in the middle of a national revolution. We chat about how to prepare for an emergency, from crisis plans and hi-vis vests to how building respect amongst your team on a day-to-day basis can really come into play when crisis strikes.

Stories include:

Crisis Plan: bomb scare in Dusseldorf

Media Training: faux terror attack in Washington DC

Crisis Centre: getting practical in the ballroom

Leadership: keeping calm after 7/7 bomb attacks in London

Back to Basics: feeding 400 during LA Riots

Lessons Learnt: real-life Die Hard hostage situation

Real or Fake: movie bombs & the Secret Service

Keeping your cool: blowing it with MI-5

Not my job: handling potential presidential troublemakers

Respect: keeping things real during Arab Spring protests

Too hot to handle: Penguins in the Venetian Lagoon