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Dare to Lead with Brené Brown

Brené with Erika James and Lynn Perry Wooten on The Prepared Leader, Part 2 of 2

38 min episode · 2 min read
·
Erika James

Episode

38 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Leadership, Software Development, Crypto & Web3

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Crisis vs Problem Definition: True crises are unprecedented events requiring resources you don't have, while problems have known solutions and available resources. Stop labeling daily inconveniences as crises to preserve organizational capacity for actual emergencies.
  • Trust Bank Principle: Build trust through small consistent moments before crisis hits—acknowledging contributions, checking on personal situations, showing up reliably. Leaders who wait until crisis to build trust find stakeholders unwilling to help when needed most.
  • Communication Three C's Framework: Effective crisis communication requires three elements—communicate transparently and frequently, demonstrate competence through actions, and honor the psychological contract with stakeholders. Communication alone without other leadership competencies proves insufficient during crisis.
  • Global Mindset Requirement: All significant crises have global implications regardless of origin point. Leaders must frame responses considering cultural context, international impacts, and broader community needs rather than viewing challenges through narrow geographic or organizational lenses.

What It Covers

Organizational psychologists Erika James and Lynn Perry Wooten discuss their book on crisis leadership, covering the distinction between problems and true crises, building trust before emergencies, and leading through uncertainty while managing personal challenges.

Key Questions Answered

  • Crisis vs Problem Definition: True crises are unprecedented events requiring resources you don't have, while problems have known solutions and available resources. Stop labeling daily inconveniences as crises to preserve organizational capacity for actual emergencies.
  • Trust Bank Principle: Build trust through small consistent moments before crisis hits—acknowledging contributions, checking on personal situations, showing up reliably. Leaders who wait until crisis to build trust find stakeholders unwilling to help when needed most.
  • Communication Three C's Framework: Effective crisis communication requires three elements—communicate transparently and frequently, demonstrate competence through actions, and honor the psychological contract with stakeholders. Communication alone without other leadership competencies proves insufficient during crisis.
  • Global Mindset Requirement: All significant crises have global implications regardless of origin point. Leaders must frame responses considering cultural context, international impacts, and broader community needs rather than viewing challenges through narrow geographic or organizational lenses.

Notable Moment

James reveals her biggest surprise taking over Wharton during the pandemic was discovering the school's collaborative, supportive culture completely contradicted its cutthroat competitive stereotype, with faculty and students driving diversity initiatives rather than resisting them.

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Episode Transcript

Hi, everyone. I am Brene Brown, and this is Dare to Lead. We are back with part two of our podcast with doctors Erika James and Lynn Perry Wooten. And we are talking about their new book, The Prepared Leader Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before. I love the first part of this conversation. Did you? I loved it. And now we're gonna get into some nitty gritty. Yeah. It's not easy. I mean, this whole idea that being a prepared leader is almost impossible if you're a protecting ego leader. Yeah. Yeah. You can pick. Prepared or protected ego, but you just really can't have both. They're mutually exclusive. If you listen to the first episode, which you really should listen to the first episode of this before the second one, you'll know I love this book. You'll know that we're gonna read it here. It's tactical. It's practical. It's based on such great research. I mean, they spent decades studying crisis management, what to do and what not to do and how it works. It's great relatable stories. And then you just things that I love, like chapter recaps at the end and tables that show everything that they're talking about. It's just so good. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start? Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin, or what that clunking sound from your dryer is? With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all on the app. Download today. Support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e commerce and more. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try Odoo for free at odoo.com. That's odoo.com. So quick bio. If you are just joining us, we are talking with doctor Erica James, who became the dean of the Wharton School on 07/01/2020. She's trained as an organizational psychologist. She is an expert on crisis leadership, workplace diversity, and management strategy. Before being at Wharton, she was the dean at Emory University's Goizueta Business School for six years. She is an educator. She is an academic. She's a scholar. She's a theorist. It's just she has so much to share with us. Joining us is doctor Lynn Perry Wooten, who is a seasoned academic, an expert on organizational development and transformation, and is the ninth president of Simmons University and the first African American to lead the institution. Before …

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  • by Erika James and Lynn Perry Wooten

    Organizational psychologists Erika James and Lynn Perry Wooten discuss their book on crisis leadership, covering the distinction between problems and true crises, building trust before emergencies, and leading through uncertainty while managing personal challenges.

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