Forging the Next Generation of Crisis Leaders
By Pete Gaynor, former FEMA Administrator
June 2024
In the last ten years, we have witnessed a parade of historic and destructive hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and droughts—not to mention enduring a global pandemic. We can hardly comprehend one crisis before the next one starts. The world is becoming increasingly complex and interconnected, and new challenges are emerging constantly. From pandemics to natural disasters, technological disruptions to geopolitical tensions, crisis situations are becoming more frequent and diverse.
We can't cross our fingers and hope the right crisis leader will appear at the right time. The more difficult situations we face, the more it is that we have leaders with the needed skills and mindsets to guide us through uncertainty. We must be proactive and intentionally develop the next generation of leaders to navigate these crises. Otherwise, we'll find our nation fumbling its way through tricky, high-stakes situations with inadequate leadership.
The disasters show no signs of slowing; in the coming years, the parade of suffering, damage, and destruction will march on. To make things even more complicated, climate change is adding a new layer to the traditional hazards we have come to expect. As our climate continues to evolve, disasters will become more frequent, more costly, more complex, and more exacerbated. Our ability to manage and problem-solve the wide range of growing disasters and crises will be challenged. Our limited resources will be eroded.
Not only do we need to be prepared to manage the events we've come to expect—hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and droughts—but we also must be ready for disasters we have not fully imagined—those disasters and crises that fall outside the traditional skill set for today’s emergency managers and crisis leaders. For all the challenges ahead, both known and unknown, we need a new kind of crisis leader.
Historically, the focus in emergency management has been for emergency managers to gain proficiency in technical processes and procedures required during routine disasters and emergencies. Teaching these leaders the skills and strategies needed to navigate an unexpected, unusual crisis has been an afterthought.
We know that any time a crisis strikes, it leaves destruction and hardship in its path. And yet, even in the face of increasingly complex crises and new levels of devastation, both throughout our nation and around the globe, the emergency management field has failed to keep pace. There has been no focused investment in developing leaders who are ready for the crises of tomorrow.
This is an unacceptable risk—both to the profession and to our country.
To successfully navigate and manage these future crises, we must rethink how we approach the development of emergency management professionals. We must cultivate today the crisis leader we will need for tomorrow.
Good leadership does not happen by accident.
We must choose to invest in our future by preparing and training the next generation of crisis leaders.
First, we must acknowledge the current leadership deficiency. We must name what is at risk—the future ability of our country to effectively respond to an array of disasters. Then we must make a long-term investment, training our future leaders in the skill sets that will be necessary for their success.
This approach requires a change in paradigm. Our future leaders need to be trained, educated, hardened by experience, and tested under fire well before they are put in charge during a crisis. We need to start developing these future crisis leaders early in their careers.
Consider how we prepare our military leaders. Our nation’s military generals and flag officers are required to go through years of training while receiving professional education. Before we allow them to lead corps, fleets, joint forces, or our allies, we ensure they have extensive experience. We don’t place untested and unproven junior officers in charge of divisions or battle groups. So why haven’t we developed a similar path for our civilian crisis leaders? Isn’t providing leadership excellence just as crucial for a crisis in the homeland as it is for our armed forces facing potential adversaries overseas?
When you compare the training between our military leaders and our emergency management professionals, the difference is stark.
There are two questions we should be asking:
What kind of crisis leader will we need in twenty-five or thirty years?
How do we create that kind of emergency manager and crisis leader—one that will be ready for the unknown challenges of the future?
Continued…
