Everyday Crisis Management: How to Think Like an Emergency Physician

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Summary: Everyday Crisis Management
Review: As a crisis management consultant myself, I try to read as much as I can on the subject. It was refreshing and informative to read about the subject from the perspective of a man who spends his professional life handling crisis situations. The principles are applicable to those in any type of business who might encounter various "bad news" situations. You would be well served to add this to your collection of books that can help you act more effectively the next time you face a crisis.

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Summary: A new perspective on crisis management
Review: As a crisis management consultant myself, I try to read as much as I can on the subject. It was refreshing and informative to read about the subject from the perspective of a man who spends his professional life handling crisis situations. The principles are applicable to those in any type of business who might encounter various "bad news" situations. You would be well served to add this to your collection of books that can help you act more effectively the next time you face a crisis.

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Summary: Essential to Every Executive's "Tool Box"
Review: I cannot think of a better model for designing, establishing, and maintaining crisis management resources and capabilities in any organization than that provided by a medical emergency room. Those already familiar with the highly acclaimed television series, E.R., no doubt recall especially dramatic portrayals of (quite literally) life-or-death crises. Members of real-world emergency room staffs confirm such moments really can and often do occur. They will also tell you about extended periods when there are few (if any) persons in need of medical care. In this context, I am reminded of fire departments where hours of boredom are interrupted by sudden emergencies. Most of the time, most organizations seem to function crisis-free until....

What Friedman has written is a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective response to this important question: Which resources, strategies, and tactics are essential to prepare for, cope with and then learn from a crisis?

There are other excellent books on the same general subject. For example, Blythe's Blindsided, Fink's Crisis Management, Lukaszewski's First Response, Myers' Manager's Guide to Contingency Planning for Disasters, and Harvard Business Review on Crisis Management. Most of them tend to focus on crises in major corporations. In addition to its value for such large enterprises, Friedman's book will be extremely valuable to family-owned businesses, smaller organizations, and individuals. A loss of power or a fire in a department store certainly qualifies as a crisis but corporate resources ensure financial recovery of the given location. That is not always true if a family-owned business were to encounter the same crisis even if it were sufficiently insured. The loss of day-to-day revenue could be fatal.

I also think Friedman's book will be highly beneficial to decision-makers in small-to-midsize companies which provide products and services to a major enterprise such as an airline, large office building or automobile manufacturer. Crisis management for clients who depend on us may be even more important than crisis management for our own organization. In fact, I think all such initiatives should be coordinated, indeed integrated, within a program guided and informed by Friedman's book. As he observes, each component of any crisis management program requires appropriate answers to the same two questions: "What if?" and "Then what?"

The Chinese character for the word "crisis" has two different meanings: peril and opportunity. As Friedman quite correctly suggests, crisis management worthy of the name must accommodate both.

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Summary: Great Book for Pro-active People
Review: I felt compelled to recommend this book to Amazon readers. All Americans are searching for what they personally can do in the wake of 911. This book provides a blueprint for personal action. Everyday Crisis Management offers techniques and advice that will never go out of style.

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Summary: Good for Business Leaders Too
Review: If you are a business leader and want a different perspective on crisis, check this out. It's written by an emergency room physician.

Although the author deals with the grand crises, what I found interesting was his understanding and recommendations on the small crises. Most of us deal with everyday crises, and Friedman covers that thoroughly (including a family disaster plan).

Naturally, the author uses too many medical examples, but little is lost to the reader. The book is structured logically. He begins with a definition of crisis and covers such important topics as, planning for crises, prevention, crisis skills, mistakes, and the one often overlooked, chronic crisis.

Friedman provides his best advice in simple formulas or checklists (much needed in a crisis situation). For example, he provides a checklist to determine quickly if you have a crisis. He supplements the checklists with an overview of both organizational and personal skills.

In a crisis people are sometimes the last item considered. Friedman will remind the reader of the human element. He even discusses how important it is for leaders to "plant the seeds of hope." He also covers many of the peripheral problems that often complicate a crisis, for example stress management during a crisis.

The latter third of the book covers terrorism and offers many suggestions on how to cope. Nested in this section is a discussion of major crisis in business, a section all senior managers should review. It is worth reading

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Summary: Everyday Crisis Management
Review: May 2003 - Vol 8 No. 5
Reviewers Roundup

Thinking Like an Emergency Physician-----------------------------
By Mike Taigman

It seems like it's no longer possible to make it through a full day without becoming aware of some crisis in the world. As I travel around the world I hear people in restaurants talking about post-war Iraq, the possibility of suicide bombers in America, people being laid off in the travel industry, and states with billion dollar deficits. Those of us in EMS are pretty good at handling things that get thrown in our direction-but that doesn't mean we can't improve our skills.

In his book Everyday Crisis Management: How to Think Like an Emergency Physician, veteran emergency medicine physician, professor, and entrepreneur Mark L. Friedman, M.D., shares his strategies for crisis management. Mark has deeply explored the phases of crisis management, as is evident in his chapter on crisis preventions. He says, "As a long time advocate, I can tell you that prevention as a strategy suffers from one major shortcoming. It lacks drama. You don't see the heart attack you prevented or the crime that's never committed. People uninjured in a motor vehicle crash often ascribe their avoidance of injury to 'good luck' rather than good automotive design."

He applies his strategies to event management, business crisis, personal crisis, disaster management, and terrorism. He shares tips and tricks for managing crises in all forms by packaging them in the kind of real life emergency medicine stories we used to tell each other at Denny's before HIPAA.

Friedman has also included exercises at the end of each chapter to help drive your learning home. As I read through the exercises it became apparent that if someone in a leadership position at an EMS organization went through them step by step, they would have produced a practical media crisis response plan, a disaster plan, an event management plan, and would have increased their personal ability to handle a crisis. Pretty good results from an easy to read book packed with good stories.

Mike Taigman is an obsessive student, a thought provoking educator, and a prolific author. He peruses the latest business books, management journals, and cutting edge conferences searching for concepts that EMS leaders can use to cultivate their effectiveness. Additionally he has run over 23,000 EMS calls as a paramedic. ...

Rating:
Summary: Everyday Crisis Management
Review: This book was not only entertaining reading, but has actually helped me to deal with some real crisis situations which have occurred since I read it. The author does a great job of constructing a didactic framework upon which he tells a series of stories that illustrate his points.

While the purpose of the book is to teach the reader useable real life skills I found the stories to be the best part of the book. The accounts of 9/11/01 were particularly inspiring and revealed events I had not previously seen published. Some of the other stories really hit close to home and I could easily see myself in a similar situation.

I recommend this book without reservation to individuals or to managers of a business or other organization.

In a certain respect this book is ammunition for the average citizen in the war on terrorism.