We Can’t Always Prepare for a Tsunami

On March 11, 2011, the ground under Japan moved. You know what happened next. The earthquake. The tsunami. The Fukushima nuclear plant. The world watched Japan face one of the worst compound disasters in modern history. And somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a Swedish clothing retailer had to figure out what to do with its Japan operation. H&M's acting CEO in Japan — a man named Hans Anderson — called headquarters in Stockholm. He needed instructions. He needed a plan. And headquarters told him: "We don't have one."