A Conversation with Ian Mitroff, Crisis Management Guru By Ed Baker & Dan Briody
Preparing for crises isn't just prudent, it's good business
Nobody likes to think about worst-case scenarios. But for Ian Mitroff, a professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, it's more than just a preoccupation - it's his job.
itroff is an expert in crisis management, and given the sheer volume of full-blown crises the U.S. has endured in just the past five years - from Sept. 11 to corporate scandals-the time to start planning for the next crisis is upon us. And the benefits of preparing for disaster go far beyond being prepared when panic sets in. The process can help to identify inherent weaknesses in any organization. CIO Insight Editor Ed Baker and Executive Editor Dan Briody discussed the importance of crisis management with Mitroff.
CIO INSIGHT: How do you define a crisis?
MITROFF: There is no exact definition. A lot of people want to make it predictive, and you can't do that. I deal with academics all the time, and they want an exact definition, but that's not what you're going to get. Different stakeholders define it differently.
