If you are in business long enough, one day you will have a real crisis or unforeseen disaster to manage. Remember “management must manage”. All crises are shocking and upsetting. Whatever caused the crisis, you will suddenly be facing monetary loss, a career in jeopardy, perhaps angry customers and employees, even reporters who are questioning your competence. It’s too late for an ounce of prevention and you’re not sure yet what the cure is. There is a lot of pressure on you , not only at work but in social situations because you “own ” the crisis.

Remember “managers must manage.” Don’t panic and don’t allow others to panic. Events may be unfolding rapidly and all your employees running for the life boats. What you have to do is take charge, no matter what the circumstances are, begin to manage your company’s reaction to the problem and redirect events in a more positive way.

Generally speaking, there’s only one way to do this. Huddle your top people together, take a team approach, because a genuine crisis usually outstrips one person’s ability to solve it. Gather all the information you need to analyze and solve the problem… there will probably be a period of ambiguity when you don’t know exactly what caused the problem or why, but if you an entrepreneur you’ve learned to accept ambiguity and control anxiety already.

You must immediately communicate with everyone involved– whether vendors, associates or the general public —and tell them exactly what is happening and , at the same time, tell them the concrete, positive steps you are taking to correct things and restore a smooth running operation. Put the most positive possible interpretation on events. After all, there is always more than one side to a story and many different interpretations, shades and nuances of any event– read the policital section of your newspaper if you want to see spin control and two starkly different accounts of the same set of facts. Above all, communicate and keep communicating. If you try to hide out, it will only make things worse and people will imagine an even worse scenario than whatever has happened.

Although it certainly will be a challenge to recognize it as the crisis is unfolding, some good may come of it. You will see who your strongest leaders are ( and we certainly hope and expect one of them will be you.) If someone had a big hand in the disaster, hopefully he will be shipped off to a small atoll near Greenland. Problems will be faced. New strategies and early warning systems will be developed. Not only will new and better systems be installed but new leaders will emerge from the smoke and din of crisis. And smart leaders don’t make the same mistake twice. So, if you’re prepared to learn, you will have been inoculated by that particular crisis and will learn not only how to avoid it in the future, but something useful about avoiding other potential crises. ( Management tip: Face problems while they’re still small and manageable. Don’t wait for them to grow up and blow fire in your face.)