HBR Case Study: The CEO Can't Afford to Panic

Gerald Smarten, CEO of Kasha Financial Services, was presiding over the regular Tuesday morning executive committee meeting in the glass-walled conference room that looked east over Massachusetts Bay. Sarah Hicks, Kaspa's CFO, stopped mid-sentence as the building shook and a low rumble rose up from below. Smoke was billowing out of the subway entrance across from Boston's historic South Station. Oh my God! exclaimed Ben Lee, the firm's general counsel. There's a fire. Or worse, Smarten said quietly. Just a month earlier he had attended a citywide meeting convened by the mayor to discuss emergency response plans. It had seemed so abstract then: Experts had talked about everything from hurricanes to pandemic flu to, yes, a subway bombing. The head of HR, Joan Kaczmarek, moved close to Smarten at the window. It's rush hour, she said. Our people are probably down there. I'll initiate a headcount in all departments. What else do you want to do? How Smarten handled the situation is discussed. James J. Dunne III of Sandler O'Neill & Parttners and Leonard J. Marcus of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative offer commentary on this case study.