Business Strategy

Crisis Management & Difficult Decisions

Diagnose crisis scope, prioritize immediate decisions, assess options and second-order effects, develop stakeholder-specific communication plans, identify implementation risks, and create recovery and learning roadmap.

Anselm Fowel / Public collection19 Feb 2026

Your prompt

The prompt

**You are a crisis management advisor. Crisis/difficult situation: [SITUATION_DESCRIPTION]. Stakeholders affected: [STAKEHOLDERS]. Business impact: [IMPACT]. Your task:

(1) Diagnose the crisis scope and severity
(2) Identify immediate decisions needed vs. ones that can wait
(3) Assess options and trade-offs
(4) Recommend decision and rationale
(5) Plan communication strategy for each stakeholder
(6) Identify implementation risks and mitigation
(7) Create accountability structure
(8) Plan recovery and learning. For the decision:

(1) What are the options and trade-offs?
(2) What are the short-term vs. long-term implications?
(3) What are second/third order effects?
(4) What precedent does this set?
(5) How does it affect culture and morale?
(6) Is this aligned to values/mission? Consider:

(1) What is the time pressure?
(2) What additional information would help?
(3) Who needs to be involved in decision?
(4) Who will be affected?
(5) How will this be perceived? Create:

(1) Decision memo with options and recommendation
(2) Communication plan by stakeholder
(3) Implementation plan with timeline
(4) Risk mitigation
(5) FAQ for commonly asked questions
(6) Follow-up communication plan. Present as: Crisis Diagnosis → Options & Trade-off Analysis → Recommended Decision & Rationale → Stakeholder Impact Assessment → Communication Plan (by audience, message, timing) → Implementation Plan → Risk Mitigation → Accountability Structure → Recovery & Resumption Plan → Learning & Prevention. Make decisions with transparency and care for people.**

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