Crisis Leadership and How to Get Out of the Basement of Your Brain with Dr. Leonard Marcus

CONNECT WITH JESSI ON LINKEDIN >>> HERE!When crisis hits, leaders do not magically become ready.They either have the tools, relationships, and emotional discipline to respond, or they create a vacuum.In this episode of At Work, Under Pressure, Jessi Beyer sits down with Dr. Leonard Marcus of Harvard’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative to talk about crisis leadership, meta-leadership, emotional response, chain of command, swarm leadership, and what workplace leaders can learn from major disasters.Lenny shares how his work studying Hurricane Katrina, COVID, the Boston Marathon bombings, emergency response, public safety, healthcare, and national preparedness shaped his understanding of what leaders need when pressure is highest.In this episode, Jessi and Lenny discuss:What Hurricane Katrina taught Lenny about leadership vacuums in crisisWhy people go to the “basement of the brain” when they perceive threatHow leaders can regain agency by moving into concrete actionWhat meta-leadership means and how to lead down, up, across, and beyondWhy chain of command still matters while influencing beyond authorityHow emotional support after traumatic events helps responders keep doing the jobWhy leaders need trusted relationships before the crisis, not business cards during itThis episode is for executives, HR leaders, safety professionals, public safety leaders, healthcare leaders, emergency managers, and anyone responsible for guiding people through moments when stress, trauma, uncertainty, and urgency collide.Because in a crisis, leadership is not just about being in charge.It is about helping people get out of the basement, rebuild agency, and move together.CONNECT WITH DR. MARCUSLinkedInNPLI at HarvardYou're It: Crisis, Change, and How To Lead When It Matters Most