Seth Kaplan, professor in the Department of Psychology and a faculty member of the Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health, co-authored and published a book in September 2024 with Mary J. Waller, a senior research scholar at Colorado State University. The book “Crisis-Ready Teams: Data-Driven Lessons from Aviation, Nuclear Power, Emergency Medicine, and Mine Rescue”, explains how teams and leaders across industries, can prepare in advance to manage crisis that suddenly pull people together to address high-magnitude events that could seriously harm their organizations. The book is based on research on crisis team dynamics, key success behaviors, and why some teams perform so much better than others by recording and statistically analyzing audio and video recordings of hundreds of hours of crisis simulations involving flight crews, nuclear power plant control rooms, mine rescues, emergency room doctors and nurses, and other contexts.
"Mary and I have learned so much from studying these highly-trained teams dealing with such incredibly challenging scenarios. Our goal here really was to share and translate that knowledge to organizations, teams, and leaders in all kinds of industries and organizations. There is a myth out there that one can prepare for every type of crisis. The reality is that we can never foresee some crises – think 9/11 - and can never fully prepare for those we could have foreseen – think COVID-19. We hope this book provides insights into preparing for and adapting to the complexity of crises," adds Kaplan.
The book was featured in the Wall Street Journal as one of the three 2024 holiday gift books for business. Michael Luca, Wall Street Journal contributor and professor of business administration and director of the Technology and Society Initiative at Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School recommended this book in the WSJ’s Holiday Gift Books of 2024 stating, “...sometimes companies need to take quick action under less-than-ideal circumstances...the authors helpfully provide enough details for readers to reach their own conclusions about how interpret them. In tumultuous times, even thinking about how one might approach a crisis can be valuable”.
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December 09, 2024