Truly effective crisis management is―or should be―proactive. Burnett uses this guiding concept to offer managers in organizations of all types and sizes a system for handling crises more soundly, and with greater dexterity. He puts crises on a continuum, with minor events at one end and catastrophes at the other, creating a universal matrix that can be overlaid onto businesses of any kind.

Burnett's methods of crisis management are already well recognized and are analogous to other types of management processes. This book focuses on managing crises proactively, but also includes the more common reactive strategies. Burnett begins by discussing the history and traditional concepts of crisis management, offering a rationale for adopting his own notions of proactive strategy. Chapters provide readers with a set of tools for classifying crises in any type of company. This book will add a new dimension to our understanding of what crises really are, how to evaluate them, and ultimately how to respond to and cope with them more successfully.