The Prepared Leader

Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient than Before

By: Erika H. James, Lynn Perry Wooten

Narrated by: Julienne Irons

In no other time in recent history have leaders in every industry and on every continent grappled with so many changes that have independently and simultaneously undermined their ability to lead. The Prepared Leader encapsulates more than two decades of the authors' research to convey how it has positioned them to navigate through the distinct challenges of today and tomorrow. Their insights have implications for every leader in every industry and every worker at every level.

In their must-listen, actionable book, James and Wooten provide tools and frameworks for addressing and learning from crises, and they provide insight into what you need to know to become a Prepared Leader, including: the five phases of crisis management and the skills you need for each phase; making the right decisions under pressure and how to avoid common mistakes; and building a crisis leadership team and how to lead one that you've inherited.

James and Wooten argue that—in addition to people, profit, and the planet—prepared leadership should be the fourth "P" in a company's bottom line. They bring decades of world-renowned research on crisis leadership, diversity and inclusion, management strategy, and positive leadership to the table to help leaders better prepare themselves to lead through crises—and for whatever lies around the corner.

©2022 Erika H. James and Lynn Perry Wooten (P)2022 Ascent Audio

Timely. Hits The Mark.

Both timely and honest.
Hits the mark on the fourth “P” for elevated leadership in today’s world.

Leaders need to read this!

Perfectly and well written book. Something for everyone to learn and implement. This book is especially useful for education leaders. It emphasizes the trust to think of the worst possible scenarios. If we didn’t learn anything from the pandemic, this will certainly aid in our planning for the next worldwide disaster.

I am better prepared!

This was an excellent guide to understanding, reframing, planning, execution and taking action, particularly for college campuses. The authors are very transparent, and their wisdom came through clearly in the writing. Not too long. I purchased a book after the audiobook so that I could make notes and grab it off the shelf if needed.

Handy reference for leading through crisis

This is a succinct leadership reference with great examples of successes and failures of leaders during crisis. The narrator’s speaking style was a distractor for me.

Great information, but unengaging reading

I thought the ideas presented in the book were valuable and actionable. The book is also well organized. The book does reference a number of figures, and I don't think there is an accompanying pdf with that info, so some content is lost in the audio version. The only other problem I had was with the narration. The performance, while very clear and understandable, felt lacking in emotion which, at times, made it tough to stay focused on the content.

Crisis leadership with good examples

Good points on crisis leadership during the pandemic. I work in crisis management Most material was relatable and enjoyed the point of view.
Made a few notes but the computer voice narrator was so distracting! Gosh-it was so hard to concentrate. Would be so much better with someone reading the material. The voice is horrible.

Skip this one.

Very hard to stay attentive to the book, as it was read by someone trying to emulate an Automated voice. Most of the content was either pulled from a motivational cat poster (“learn to view problems as opportunities”) or was simply wrong (“resiliency is about enabling your workforce to make decisions”). I would not recommend wasting a credit here, there are too many better options.