Gisli Olafsson

The Crisis Leader – A New and Revised Version

A new and revised edition of the most popular textbook on Crisis Leadership. In a world increasingly shaped by disruption, uncertainty, and “permacrisis,” the ability to lead through chaos is no longer a niche skill, it is a core leadership…

Why Crisis Leaders Must Be Vulnerable

The Marble Statue Myth There’s an old myth that in the worst hour, the best leader is the one who feels nothing: jaw set, voice clipped, eyes dry, the marble statue in the storm. Real life contradicts that myth every…

How to Build Rapport Fast in a Crisis Situation

When the room is hot with fear, your most powerful tool is not a perfect plan or a heroic speech. It’s rapport, the felt sense…

The Leader Who Had No Title: Influence from the Ground Up

Crises have a way of reordering the world’s assumptions. Systems that look strong on paper bend under pressure; ten-step plans collapse under the weight of…

Storytelling in a Crisis: How to Inspire Through Vision

Sirens don’t move people. Stories do. When uncertainty spikes and information fragments, a clear, human story becomes the operating system of a response. It explains…

Talk Straight, Listen First: The Role of Honest Communication

In a crisis, information is oxygen. When people can’t breathe, they can’t think; when they can’t think, they can’t act. That is why the most decisive advantage a leader can create in the first hours and days of disruption is…

Building Trust in the First 24 Hours of a Crisis

Trust is the speed at which people will follow you into the unknown. When a crisis arrives, clocks stop being polite suggestions and begin to…

The Power of Influence in Times of Chaos

When the sky falls in, people don’t instinctively run to the org chart. They run to the person who calms them, the one who acts,…

Why True Leaders Emerge from Any Level of the Org Chart

Crisis has a way of exposing the truth about leadership. It strips away the safety nets of titles, hierarchies, and org charts, revealing who can…