Last week, CrowdStrike’s update sent offices, airports, hospitals, chain restaurants, digital advertising boards – in fact, most things running on a Windows system – into panic. I’d be surprised if you weren’t impacted by it in some way – that dreaded blue error page was everywhere.
Look, at the end of the day, the outage has taught many lessons.
For example, not relying on a single company, the need to bolster the clear fragility in our digital infrastructure, and so on.
But from a leadership perspective, nothing was more interesting than understanding the importance of the CEO in times of crisis.
CrowdStrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, did, admittedly, address the mistake. He jumped on Today in the US to address the public, and CNBC to address his investor base, who were left stunned as its stock took a tumble.
He also took to X.
But he’s still been criticised for not responding quickly enough.
And that’s the key. In times of crisis, the CEO, as the de facto figurehead of the company, has to be quick to respond.
So, whether you think Kurtz’s response was good, bad or meh, the whole situation has definitely shone more light on the CEO’s role in times of crisis.
That applies to all streams of their communication. In crisis mode, media engagement has to be organised immediately and strategically. Social media communication has to be considered and quick.
The CEO has to step outside of the boardroom, jump into the public eye, and work to dispel any rumour. They have to take hold of the narrative.
Of course, there are real-life implications for not taking these critical steps.
You’ll let speculation and public discourse dominate all the talk around the company.
Your own reputation will be impacted.
The more you let this run unaddressed, the harder it is to claw back the messaging in your favour.
While I certainly don’t envy him for his position, hopefully execs across the globe have taken some notes.