“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” — Mike Tyson
In my conversations with business owners, one pattern shows up again and again: nobody plans to have a crisis, and almost every company eventually faces one. When business is good, leadership feels straight forward. When something goes wrong — fast, publicly, with incomplete information —it feels like a different job entirely.
You can’t predict every crisis. But you can decide, ahead of time, how you’ll respond. The ideas below draw on crisis-management guidance from Rob Weinhold, CEO of the Fallston Group and author of The Art of Crisis Leadership, filtered through what I’ve seen matter most for the owners I work with.
What counts as a business crisis?
More than you might think. Some are the familiar ones — a lawsuit, financial distress, a labor dispute, a product recall, negative press, a natural disaster, or a falling-out among partners. Others are newer: data breach, cyberattack, a social media controversy, a technology failure, or a workplace safety event.
What they share: pressure, incomplete facts, and consequences for your employees, customers, finances, and reputation — sometimes all at once.
What should you do first?
Acknowledge it. One common early mistake is minimizing it, hoping a manageable problem resolves itself while it quietly becomes a bigger one.
Acknowledging a crisis doesn’t mean assuming the worst or accepting blame before the facts are known. It means treating the situation as something that deserves attention, resources, and a structured response. Make an objective assessment: What happened? Is its sill developing? Who needs to be in the room?
Who should you call?
Probably someone outside your own leadership team. Depending on the event, that maybe legal counsel, a cyber security specialist, your insurance professional, an HR consultant, a crisis-
communications firm, or emergency responders.
Outside advisors bring something you can’t manufacture internally: objectivity. No professional can guarantee an outcome, but involving people with relevant experience may help you evaluate options fully instead of deciding one motion or fragmentary information.
What do you say — and when?
In some situations, prolonged silence can allow rumors and speculation to shape the story before accurate information is available. Weinhold suggests organizing communication around the five questions people naturally ask in an adverse event:
• What happened?
• What caused it?
• What are the effects — and what else might reasonably follow?
• What is being done about it?
• What may need to be done in the future?
You won’t have every answer immediately, and that’s okay to say. “We’re still gathering facts, and here’s when we expect to know more” is a legitimate— and credible —statement. Before speaking publicly, gather the facts: talk to the people involved, review records, preserve relevant information, and coordinate anything sensitive with legal counsel. Being first should never out rank being accurate and claims you can’t support could cost you more credibility than the crisis itself.
How do you hold yourself together in the middle of it?
This part gets skipped inmost crisis playbooks, and it shouldn’t. Your people take their cues from you. Stress, exhaustion, and fear may lead any of us to react emotionally, communicate poorly, or rush decisions.
The practical version: protect your sleep and meals where you can, take brief breaks, avoid unhealthy coping, lean on trusted advisors, and delegate rather than carrying everything alone. Staying steady doesn’t guarantee a quick resolution — but it may be the single biggest influence on how everyone around you responds.
How do you prepare before anything happens?
Consider a crisis audit —a structured look, in calm times, at where your company is exposed. It might examine cybersecurity and data privacy, workplace safety, employee conduct, customer and product risks, regulatory obligations, financial vulnerabilities, business continuity, leadership succession, and who is authorized to speak for the company publicly.
Then practice. A written plan employees have never rehearsed may have limited value; periodic walk-throughs tend to reveal unclear instructions, outdated contacts, and gaps —before you discover them under pressure. Revisit the plan whenever leadership, technology, facilities, or regulations meaningfully change.
One next step worth taking this month
Don’t try to build the whole framework at once. Block ninety minutes on your calendar, pick the one risk that worries you most, and write down three things: what would need to happen in the first 24 hours, the first three people you would call, and who speaks for the company. That single page can puts you ahead of most businesses — and it’s a natural conversation to bring to your advisory team, since a crisis plan for the company and a financial plan for the family tend to be more connected than they may first appear.
This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment, legal, tax, cybersecurity, insurance, crisis-management, or other professional advice. Crisis-response decisions should be made in consultation with the appropriate legal, emergency-management, cybersecurity, insurance, communications, or other qualified professionals.
Advisory services are offered through Lee Johnson Capital Management, LLC d/b/a Sorensen Wealth Management (“SWM”), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author as of the date of publication and are subject to change without notice. No client or prospective client should assume that any discussion contained herein serves as the receipt of, or a substitute for, personalized advice from SWM or any other professional.
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