This article focuses on crisis management and leadership by executives, boards, and institutions and applies research on resilience, power, and sensemaking in the analysis of the ousting and subsequent return of a chief executive by the board of directors. Insights are shared on the transparency of information, the power of social media, the role of leaders in a crisis, and the ability of different voices to be heard and exert influence in our social media age. This case study provides a set of recommendations for leadership and crisis management in the contemporary business environment by showing how a crisis can be fueled by social media. Twitter is analyzed as a source of real-time news and information, which can have a significant impact on organizations and their strategies. Furthermore, implications for new executives are highlighted, with a focus on how their initial sensemaking process shapes the ability to respond to a crisis.

In early 2013, the ongoing controversy involving cyclist Lance Armstrong's use of performance-enhancing drugs was taking its toll on the nonprofit LIVESTRONG Foundation, which Armstrong himself had founded years before after being diagnosed with cancer. Armstrong had already been stripped of his titles, including six Tour de France medals, and was about to appear on a television interview where he presumably would admit to doping. LIVESTRONG CEO Doug Ulman and his leadership team had to figure out how to meet the various challenges that now confronted the organization: a continued drain on the organization's time and energy, bad publicity, media scrutiny, and the erosion of financial support. The organization had helped hundreds of thousands of cancer survivors over the years and Ulman and the others wanted to make sure that LIVESTRONG remained strong and viable.

To retain competitive advantage in uncertain times, a leading investment bank aligns HR practices with its corporate values and mission through a new 360-degree assessment system. Rolled out among officer-level employees, the Performance Management System is put to the test at promotion time. This case supports the exploration of unconscious bias in decision making.

Volatility can emerge in any working group, particularly in a flat hierarchy with no established leader; add diversity and exhaustion to the mix, and a group is vulnerable to buckling under the pressure of its own goals. This fictional account of a contentious learning team at a business school dramatizes both the words and thoughts of the participants as frictions lead them to consider disbanding. It provides a means of discussing the nature of leadership among peers and in particular the critical but easily overlooked role of personal energy management--mental, physical, and emotional; even when the strengths of diversity are leveraged proactively, interpersonal interaction still requires a significant reservoir of positive energy, whereas its depletion can sabotage even the best of intentions.

This five-case series, sold as a package, presents an opportunity for students to understand that having the leadership mindset is not about going from crisis to crisis, but anticipating and shaping your organization. Through four case scenarios, students learn the need to recognize when there is a crisis situation, explore problems that often occur when issues are ignored, and take appropriate actions to remedy the situation. In the (A) case, students become a member of the senior executive team at Treading H2O Inc., a water-treatment equipment company located in the Midwestern United States, at a meeting to discuss a recently released World Health Organization (WHO) report. The statement announced that there was indication of human-to-human transmission of the Avian Flu in rural China near Shanghai. The company's regional sales manager sent information stating that the Chinese government had closed off access to the region?a key area for sales. On top of that, there are several Treading H2O employees in the same area. Students must determine what, if anything, needs to be done.

This five-case series, sold as a package, presents an opportunity for students to understand that leadership mindset is not going from crisis to crisis, but anticipating and shaping your organization. Through four case scenarios, students learn the need to recognize when there is a crisis situation, explore problems that often occur when issues are ignored, and take appropriate actions to remedy the situation. In the (B) case, one month has elapsed since executives at H2O Inc., first learned of an Avian Flu outbreak in China and Indonesia. More cases have surfaced in Europe and now the United States. The leadership team meets to discuss the contents of an e-mail from the plant manager. The team must now prioritize what needs to be done based on the latest challenges.

This chart can be used to help students reflect on and document their feedback conversations. In the course of giving or receiving feedback, we often become so embroiled in what we are saying or in what is being said to us that we fail to reflect on the quality and impact of the communication. Though intended to accompany the technical note "Feedback" (UVA-OB-0746), the chart is useful with many other materials on assessing performance.

During a discussion, a physician once pointed to the name on his lab jacket and said, "MD-makes decisions!" One of the greatest challenges we face in cultivating leadership competence is being centered and skillful in the midst of difficult and upsetting situations, or during times of crisis. Each of the three vignettes in this case offers an opportunity to practice decision-making in challenging situations. The material helps students focus on decision-making. What guides effective decision-making? The vignettes present situations that can be used to describe common approaches to decision-making and explore problems or challenges with traditional decision-making.

Crisis as a source of opportunity and change? How does that happen? This case describes the difficult situation the new dean of the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana faced after Hurricane Katrina hit the city in the late summer of 2005. With a state of emergency declared statewide, in a city with only a shell of their former infrastructure intact, in a university that suffered water damage, and in a community of students and faculty scattered and separated throughout several different cities and states, how was Dean DeNisi supposed to lead-let alone implement his vision? The A case challenges students to think about how DeNisi should proceed in the immediate months to ensure both the return of current students and the survival of the business school. What would all this mean to attracting future Freeman students? The B case describes how DeNisi seized opportunity while in a time of great crisis. The material offers a rich discussion that should evolve into the recognition that leaders who are able to frame crises as potential opportunities will likely manage organizations in a way that will make them more resilient and sometimes better off after the crises.

Being in charge of cleaning up the March 24, 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill accident, meant that Otto Harrison, the general manager of Exxon International Alaskan Operations, was there when the storm clouds over the event were thick. Despite years of learning, wisdom, growth, and dealing with success and failure, Harrison had never faced a challenge of this magnitude. He was sure his experiences would be utilized in full force. The questions he thought about included whether three different governing bodies, the state of Alaska, the federal government, and Exxon, a publicly held corporation, could work together toward a common goal-to leave few signs of the biggest oil spill ever to occur in North America. What type of help was most needed now? Would Exxon's plan satisfy the numerous stakeholders? How would the plan be viewed publicly? What impact would the cleanup plan have on Exxon's business? In the (A) case, the Exxon Valdez accident and immediate challenges are described so students can put themselves in Harrison's place to lead through the crisis. The (B) case (epilogue) outlines more problems and includes actions taken to try to clean up the oil as quickly and effectively as they could. The tragedy changed the oil industry in many ways-some of which are described in the epilogue.

This technical note examines types of organizational crisis and five phases through which nearly all crises pass. Students are encouraged to move from a mindset that manages crisis to one that generates crisis leadership. Between corporate fraud, scandals, ethical dilemmas, mismanagement, national disasters, and workplace violence, organizational crises have become all too common in recent years. The corporation's reputation with stakeholders, financial well-being, and survival are all at stake. While the actual crisis situation itself is troublesome for the firm (e.g., faulty product leading to a product recall), often the real potential damage to an organization's reputation results from the (mis)/management of the crisis issue.

Sixty-year-old Martha Stewart, founder and former CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., was charged with four legal actions alleging she breached her fiduciary duties to MSO when she made "materially false and misleading statements" about her involvement in trading ImClone stock. Although Stewart's firm was not accused of any crime, she and her company were being likened to corporate villains such as Enron and WorldCom. The A case outlines events and Stewart's initial reactions, providing students an opportunity to examine issues of crisis containment and communication. Through the disaster, what might she anticipate for herself, for her role at MSO, and for the survival of the company she created? How should Stewart deal with unwanted media attention and negative attacks? And what audience was Stewart speaking to when she finally did appear publicly?

Can you really change your behavior at work? What if you believe your approach has served you well in the past and helped you succeed to where you are today? This series of cases features Nicholas Gray, a Norfolk Southern Railroad (NS) executive and his experiences in implementing change from a middle manager position. The A case (UVA-OB-0773) begins with Gray identifying a change effort to build a better relationship with colleagues in other departments at NS. As the story unfolds, Gray's management style and some challenges he faces take shape. In the B case, Gray works through his action plan and the implementation of his change initiative. These cases provide an insight into the challenges of being a change agent at both personal and organizational levels.

Can you really change your behavior at work? What if you believe your approach has served you well in the past and helped you succeed to where you are today? This series of cases features Nicholas Gray, a Norfolk Southern Railroad (NS) executive and his experiences in implementing change from a middle manager position. The A case (UVA-OB-0773) begins with Gray identifying a change effort to build a better relationship with colleagues in other departments at NS. As the story unfolds, Gray's management style and some challenges he faces take shape. In the B case, Gray works through his action plan and the implementation of his change initiative. These cases provide an insight into the challenges of being a change agent at both personal and organizational levels.

This exercise is designed to help students identify patterns of trust within their network of work and/or personal relationships. The exercise examines three types of trust (coomunication-based, contractual-based, and competence-based), and is intended to help students gain insight into their own propensity to trust others, as wellas their perception of the trustworthiness of the important people with whom they interact most often. The exercise is a self-assessment tool and may be used with MBA and executive audiences.