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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajiving. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul

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<v Speaker 1>fella Aledo. Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute

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<v Speaker 1>Leadership Podcast. It's episode six twenty two. Let me take

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<v Speaker 1>you into a moment. Every leader eventually faces the phone

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<v Speaker 1>rings earlier than it should. A text hits your screen

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<v Speaker 1>with too few details. Someone says we've got a situation.

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<v Speaker 1>Your heart rate jumps, your brain races ahead to worst

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<v Speaker 1>case outcomes, and people look at you waiting. Here's the

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<v Speaker 1>part most leadership books never prepare you for. Crises are

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<v Speaker 1>not one in the first ten hours. They are one

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<v Speaker 1>or lost in the first ten minutes. I call this

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<v Speaker 1>the first ten minutes crisis protocol. It's not fancy, it's

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<v Speaker 1>not theoretical. It works in boardrooms, hospitals, fire scenes, airlines, nonprofits, startups,

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<v Speaker 1>and family businesses. I learned this on the front lines,

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<v Speaker 1>where confusion multiplies fast in bad decisions, age poorly. So

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<v Speaker 1>let's walk through it. Minute one is about stopping the

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<v Speaker 1>mental free fall. The biggest threat in the opening minute

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<v Speaker 1>of a crisis is not the problem itself. It's panic

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<v Speaker 1>dressed up as urgency. Your job in minute one is simple.

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<v Speaker 1>Slow yourself down before you speed anything else up. Take

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<v Speaker 1>a breath that you can feel in your chest, Sit

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<v Speaker 1>or stand still, Say nothing for five seconds longer than

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<v Speaker 1>feels comfortable. That pause is not weakness, It is command presence.

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<v Speaker 1>Leaders who rush to usually regret the first things they say.

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<v Speaker 1>Leaders who pause set the tone for everyone else. Minute

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<v Speaker 1>two is about owning the moment. You do not need answers,

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<v Speaker 1>yet you need ownership. Say this out loud, clearly, I've

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<v Speaker 1>got this. We're going to work the problem. That sentence

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<v Speaker 1>does two things. It anchors the room and it tells

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<v Speaker 1>your team someone is at the wheel. Avoid blaming language,

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<v Speaker 1>avoid speculation, avoid storytelling. Ownership does not mean you caused it.

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<v Speaker 1>Ownership means you're responsible for what happens next. Minute three

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<v Speaker 1>is about defining what actually matters. Crises create noise, emails, texts, opinions,

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<v Speaker 1>and panic flood in all at the same time. Your

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<v Speaker 1>job is to cut through it. Ask three grounding questions slowly.

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<v Speaker 1>What happened, What is happening right now? What will get

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<v Speaker 1>worse in the next hour? If we do nothing, that's it.

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<v Speaker 1>Not ten questions, not a full briefing deck. These three

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<v Speaker 1>questions for uce clarity when chaos wants to take over.

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<v Speaker 1>Minute four is about stabilizing people, not fixing the problem.

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<v Speaker 1>Most leaders make this mistake. They rush to solutions before

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<v Speaker 1>they stabilize their team. In minute four, your only goal

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<v Speaker 1>is this lower the emotional temperature. Look at your people,

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<v Speaker 1>Acknowledge the stress without amplifying it. Say things like, I

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<v Speaker 1>know this is tense. We're going to take this step

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<v Speaker 1>by step. No one is alone in this. When people

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<v Speaker 1>feel steady, they think better. When they think better, outcomes improve.

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<v Speaker 1>Minute five is about assigning a single point of control.

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<v Speaker 1>Every crisis needs one operational lead, not a committee, not

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<v Speaker 1>a group. Chat one person. That person might be you,

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<v Speaker 1>it might not be you. Say their name, say their role,

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<v Speaker 1>say that decisions flow through them. This prevents duplication, turf

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<v Speaker 1>wars and well meaning chaos. Clarity here saves hours later.

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<v Speaker 1>Trust me on that one. Minute six is about protecting

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<v Speaker 1>the edges. Crises leak information, leaks, emotions, leak rumors leak.

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<v Speaker 1>Minute six is when you decide what does not leave

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<v Speaker 1>the room yet, who speaks externally, What information is confirmed,

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<v Speaker 1>What is off limits? Until verified. This protects your credibility.

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<v Speaker 1>One's credibility is damaged. No protocol fixes that. Minute seven

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<v Speaker 1>is about buying time the right way. Not all time

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<v Speaker 1>is created equal, sometime creates option, sometime creates damage. In

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<v Speaker 1>minute seven, you choose one small stabilizing action that buys

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<v Speaker 1>you thinking room, pause a process, secure a system, pull

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<v Speaker 1>a team out of harm's way. It does not solve

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<v Speaker 1>the crisis, it prevents it from accelerating. Minute eight is

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<v Speaker 1>about setting the next checkpoint. Crises feel endless when there

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<v Speaker 1>is no horizon. Set a clear near term checkpoint. We

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<v Speaker 1>regroup in thirty minutes. We reassess at the top of

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<v Speaker 1>the hour, or I'll update everyone by three pm. This

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<v Speaker 1>gives people psychological oxygen. They know when the next moment

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<v Speaker 1>of clarity is coming. Minute nine is about documenting reality, memory, lies,

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<v Speaker 1>under stress. Write things down, what decisions were made, who

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<v Speaker 1>owns what? What facts are confirmed? This protection you later

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<v Speaker 1>when emotions fade and narratives try to rewrite events. Minute

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<v Speaker 1>ten is about leadership visibility. Before you move on, be seen,

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<v Speaker 1>walk the floor, make the call, show your face. Presence

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<v Speaker 1>is not micromanagement. Presence is reassurance. People do not remember

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<v Speaker 1>every decision you made in a crisis, they remember whether

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<v Speaker 1>you showed up. And here's the truth. Most leaders learn

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<v Speaker 1>the hard way. If you handle the first ten minutes well,

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<v Speaker 1>the next ten hours become manageable. If you blow the

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<v Speaker 1>first ten minutes, you spend weeks cleaning up secondary damage.

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<v Speaker 1>The first ten minutes crisis protocol is not about being perfect,

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<v Speaker 1>it's about being steady. You will never eliminate crises, you

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<v Speaker 1>can control how they start under your watch. So if

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<v Speaker 1>you take nothing else from this episode, please take this.

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<v Speaker 1>In the first ten minutes of a crisis, your calm

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<v Speaker 1>becomes the ceiling for everyone else. Your clarity becomes the map,

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<v Speaker 1>Your presence becomes the anchor train for those ten minutes

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<v Speaker 1>before you need them, because when the call comes, there

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<v Speaker 1>is no time to learn, only time to lead. This

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<v Speaker 1>has been the seven Minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank

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<v Speaker 1>you for listening. For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>visit paulfellowalito dot com.