The Crisis Leadership and Decision Making seminar is an executive-level presentation for the nation’s senior elected and appointed officials at the city, county, region, territory, tribal, and state levels. Seminar participants discuss the strategic and executive-level issues and challenges related to preparing for and responding to a catastrophic incident. The venue provides an excellent opportunity to share proven strategies and practices and apply lessons-learned from past natural and man-made disasters.

The seminar is a facilitated, free-flowing discussion of the stresses of crisis leadership and decision-making gained from an examination of a Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government case study of a catastrophic disaster. The seminar supports the national priorities and capabilities that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) encourages state and local jurisdictions to establish as articulated in Homeland Security Presidential Directive 8 and subsequent documents and policies, such as the National Preparedness Guidelines.

This seminar uses one of four case studies to examine the dynamics of crisis leadership and decision-making from an elected or senior official’s perspective. The seminar uses the case study to frame the discussion on ways to overcome leadership challenges in planning and responding to a large-scale incident. The final outcome of the seminar is the development of an individual and jurisdiction plan of actions needed to improve preparedness and emergency response.